Green Dot Public Schools is the leading public schools operator in Los Angeles and an important catalyst for education reform in the State of California. Green Dot's work is directly focused on influencing Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to transform its failing high schools into clusters of small successful schools and helping the district reinvent itself as one of the best school districts in the country. Green Dot has already opened twelve successful charter high schools in some of the highest need areas of Los Angeles; in doing so it has demonstrated that public schools can do a far better job of educating students if schools are operated more effectively. Green Dot has also launched two "sister" organizations, the Small Schools Alliance and the Los Angeles Parents Union, which are both focused on organizing communities and leaders throughout Los Angeles around dramatic public education reform. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the largest public school system (in terms of number of students) in the State of California and the second-largest in the United States. It educates a population that is overwhelmingly low-income: 79.9% of its students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. If education is to serve its appointed role as a critical pathway out of poverty, LAUSD must provide a high-quality education – but it is not. Labeled as “perhaps the most troubled school district in America,”[1] only 45% of LAUSD’s students graduate from high school[2]; and fewer than 20% graduate with the minimum classes required to apply to the University of California/California State University system. These horrifying numbers are even lower for the Latino and African-American students who make up 72.8% and 11.2% respectively of LAUSD students – a fact that led Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to dub this problem “the new civil rights issue of our time”. Green Dot Public Schools educate a higher need student demographic than LAUSD as a whole. Our students are 72% Latino and 17% African-American. 85% are eligible for a free or reduced price lunch, and their parents’ average educational level is “high school graduate”. The vast majority of our students enter ninth grade several grade levels below standard in English, math and other subjects. But in 2006, 98% of our seniors graduated, and 72% were accepted to four year colleges – vividly proving our point that public schools can do a far better job of educating students if they are operated more effectively. Our schools have been recognized nationally as leaders in education reform. US News and World Reporting ranked Animo Leadership, our first high school, as #31 in the country in 2007. Steve Barr, the founder of Green Dot Public Schools, was recognized by the Los Angeles Times for his work in transforming education. The Washington Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times have recognized Green Dot as a model for education. November 29, 2007- US News and World Report Ranks Animo Leadership #31: http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/high-schools/2007/11/29/gold-medal-schools.html November 11, 2007- "Bring on the Green Dots": http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-1111edit1nov11,0,2682345.story

Green Dot's mission is to transform public education in Los Angeles so that all young adults receive the education they deserve to be prepared for college leadership and life.

We serve the public of Los Angeles, catering mainly to minorities. 82% of students are Latino, 17% are African American. 85% of our students are from low-income families- they qualify for free or reduced price lunch. 36% of our students are English language learners.

We operate 12 charter high schools in Los Angeles, currently located in the highest-need areas of the city- Inglewood, East LA, and Watts. Each school is named beginning with the word “Ánimo” which is a Spanish word that means “vigor, mind, spirit, valor, and the courage to overcome odds.” We operate small public schools, with 560 students per school. We promote a positive learning environment that motivates students to pursue not only college educations, but to take an attitude of leadership in their own lives.

Green Dot’s school model is focused on graduating students and preparing them for college, leadership and life. Green Dot’s school model is shaped around the Six Tenets of High-Performing Schools, which are a set of six core principles which all Green Dot schools must follow.

The Six Tenets of High-Performing Schools

1.) Small, Safe, Personalized Schools
All Green Dot schools are small (no more than 525 students when fully developed), giving each student the best chance of success. Small schools are safe, help ensure that no students fall through the cracks, and allow students to receive the personalized attention they need to learn effectively. Classes at each school will be kept as small as financially possible with a target student to teacher ratio of 22:1.

2.) High Expectations for All Students
Green Dot schools are centered on high expectations for all students and every student takes a rigorous college-prep curriculum that meets the University of California (UC) A-G requirements. Green Dot believes that all students should be prepared to attend a four-year university after high school if they so choose. Extensive intervention and support programs are offered to help students master the challenging college-prep curriculum.

3.) Local Control with Extensive Professional Development and Accountability
Principals and teachers own critical decisions at their schools related to budgeting, hiring and curriculum customization. While the Home Office provides Recommended Practices to schools, principals and teachers have ultimate autonomy to decide whether to follow those Recommended Practices or take different approaches. Comprehensive professional development is delivered to principals and teachers to ensure that they make effective decisions related to instruction and management. Green Dot schools invest far more time and money into quality professional development than traditional public schools.

Local control works in Green Dot’s school model because schools and all stakeholders within them are held accountable for student results. If students in a particular school or classroom are not performing up to expectations, then teachers and principals are held accountable and local control can be taken away. Green Dot’s accountability system defines quarterly and annual performance targets for each school and teacher as well as the period of time that a school or teacher can under-perform before Green Dot’s Education Team will intervene with supports and/or take away a school’s local control.

4.) Parent Participation
Green Dot is committed to actively integrating parents/guardians into all aspects of their students’ education experiences. Parents are required to give at least 35 hours of service annually at all Green Dot schools and a wide variety of service opportunities are made available. Education programs are provided to new parents to help them learn the best ways to support their children’s educations.

5.) Maximize Funding to the Classroom
Green Dot’s organization is centered on getting more money into the classroom to enable principals and teachers to effectively serve kids. Green Dot’s Home Office incorporates best practices from the private and public sectors to maximize efficiency and drive dollars towards activities that directly impact kids. Each school keeps 94 cents of every dollar of public funds allocated to it. The remaining 6% is paid to the Green Dot Home Office as a management fee for providing back-office support functions such as finance & accounting, facilities & operations support, and data & knowledge management.

6.) Keep Schools Open Later
Facilities of Green Dot schools are kept open until at least 5:00 pm daily to provide students with safe, enriching after school programs and to allow community groups offering quality services to the neighborhood to use the facilities. Keeping schools open later accommodates the schedules of working families as they know where their children are until they get off work. Allowing community groups to use school facilities helps ensure that the local neighborhood takes ownership and responsibility for the school.

Steve Barr – Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Green Dot Public Schools
Charisse Bremond-Weaver – President & CEO, Brotherhood Crusade
Oscar De La Hoya – Professional Boxer, Philanthropist and Businessman
Glenn Dryfoos – Executive Vice President - Business Affairs, Telemundo Communications Group
Susan Estrich – Professor, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Abigail Garcia – President, Asociacion de Maestros Unidos
Mike Garcia – President, Service Employees International Union Local 1877
Barbara Gothard – Partner, EQ
Kevin Hall – Chief Operating Officer, Broad Foundation
Rich Leib – Executive Vice President, Liquid Environmental Solutions
Noah Mamet – President, Mamet & Associates
Shane Martin – Dean, Loyola Marymount Graduate School of Education
Pam Rector – Director of Community Service and Action, Loyola Marymount
Richard Schaefer – Chief Executive Officer, Golden Boy Promotions
Jeff Shell – President, Comcast Programming, Comcast Communications
Timothy Watkins – President and CEO, Watts Labor Community Action Committee
Joanne Weiss – Partner and Chief Operating Officer, NewSchools Venture Fund

Broad Foundation
Gates Foundation
Oscar De La Hoya Foundation
New Schools Venture Fund
Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation
Wasserman Foundation
AEG
Walton Family Foundation
Pisces Foundation

What sets us apart is that Green Dot is the only organization with a proven track record of successfully serving secondary students, the highest need student population of Los Angeles. All twelve schools are successfully serving students who have traditionally struggled in the public school system. Our schools are achieving far greater results than comparable schools on all key metrics.

Our schools are run efficiently. We crafted our business plan to support a system that allows 5% of our budget for administrative costs, leaving 95% of all funds to go into the classroom.

We don't only aim to create great charter schools, but we want to incite change in the entire Los Angeles school district. Our goal is to transform public education in Los Angeles; we want LAUSD to model their schools using the Green Dot model.

Green Dot is the only non-district public school operator in California that has unionized teachers. Green Dot’s teachers have organized as the Asociacion de Maestros Unidos (AMU), a CTA/NEA affiliate. Key reforms embodied in the AMU contract include: teachers have explicit say in school policy and curriculum; no tenure or seniority preference; a professional work day rather than defined minutes; and flexibility to adjust the contract in critical areas over time. Green Dot was able to achieve these reforms by establishing a relationship of mutual trust with the teachers union and committing to pay its teachers above the average of comparable schools’ pay scales. In doing so, Green Dot and AMU share a unique relationship in the world of labor relations, one that is characterized by collaboration and a mutual interest in improving public education.

1. Successfully gain operational control of Locke High School and be on track to open 8 new high schools by September 2008.
2. Send 70% of high school seniors to a four year college, plus 25% entering a two year college (sending a total of 95% students to college).
3. Each school's Academic Performance Index (API) will be on track to recieve a score of 800 by their 8th year of operation.
4. Student retention will be 95%. (dropouts will be less than 5% per year)

Our schools are already far outperforming the surrounding LAUSD schools. And in September, LAUSD made the historic decision to cede Locke High School, one of their most notoriously poor performing schools, to Green Dot, in the first ever acquisition of an LAUSD school by an outside organization.

With a current enrollment of 3,122 students, Locke is an overcrowded school blighted by gang activity and violence. It is among the lowest-performing schools in LAUSD. Entering students perform as many as five years below grade level and have a high incidence of foster care placement and interrupted living situations. These students are overwhelmingly low-income (83.2% qualify for free or reduced-price meals); 68% of them are Hispanic, 31% are African-American, and 39% of them are classified as English Learners. The California Department of Education reports that only 25% of Locke's entering freshmen graduate four years later -- and fewer than 5% go on to four-year colleges and universities.

After transformation, the new Locke schools will serve 50% more students by increasing student retention (reducing dropouts). Based on Green Dot’s results to date, more than 80% of students will graduate in four years, and more than 70% of graduates will go on to four-year colleges, with almost all the rest going to community college. Most important, we believe that the successful transformation of Locke High will help remove any remaining arguments that LAUSD – or anyone else – might try to make against the power of large scale educational reform.

We have also recently agreed to partner with the United Federation of Teachers in the South Bronx to create the first Green Dot School in New York, which will open in 2008.