Background on iDesign Schools

With approximately 700,000 students spanning twenty-six municipalities, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second-largest school district in the country. Although the District contains over 150 of the highest performing schools in the state and has made progress in some areas, many District schools are struggling to improve student achievement and increase graduation rates.

In order to accelerate student achievement, Superintendent David L. Brewer III and the Los Angeles Unified School Board have approved the creation of iDesign Schools (formerly iDivision), to serve as a separate division for external “Network Partners” interested in facilitating school reform in families of schools (A family includes a high school and all of its feeder schools). As civic and academic institutions, the Network Partners bring technical assistance, a knowledge base, and additional resources to help schools focus on improving student achievement. With the help of Network Partners, iDesign Schools have increased decision-making authority over issues of curriculum, instructional strategies, professional development, hiring, school budgets, school schedule and school programs. The theory of change underlying the creation of iDesign Schools is that decentralization of authority and responsibility closer to the school sites creates mechanisms for sharing practices and adding the right accountabilities to monitor success.

While Network Partners work directly with the schools on instructional and programmatic areas, iDesign Schools are charged with providing operational support in a streamlined, efficient manner. Such support includes, for example, facilities, school budgets, employee processing, transportation, food services, etc. iDesign Schools will model how a central office can serve and support its schools in an efficient and accountable manner. In addition, iDesign Schools administer a performance management and accountability system of creating school scorecards on a yearly basis. Finally, iDesign Schools will document and disseminate successful practices in order to share learnings across partnerships and schools, and with the larger District.

Innovation is occurring in many of our schools on a daily basis, frequently in spite of systems that are not organized to support the innovation. Meaningful reforms too often fade when charismatic leaders move or system rules change. We don’t currently have a pathway to identify and replicate our most transformational schools. iDesign Schools are structured specifically to provide an alternative support system, identify and support strong transformational models, and make the information, tools and resources available to all LAUSD schools.

Ultimately, by partnering with civic institutions, empowering local communities, and providing streamlined service to schools, iDesign Schools will restore faith in Los Angeles schools. Moreover, iDesign Schools will revive public schools as a lively and competitive option for providing quality and equitable educational opportunities to all children regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or cultural background.