According to The 74 and its partner, LA School Report, Los Angeles Unified School District is scrambling to offer extra assistance to about 15,000 high school seniors that are currently not on track to graduate.

The 74 says that as it stands, only one in two LAUSD high school seniors are on track to graduate.

"According to internal district reports obtained by LA School Report, an estimated 54 percent of seniors are on track to meet their 'A through G' requirements. The actual graduation rate could be even lower as there are several other requirements to graduate,” the article said.

Stricter graduation requirements are partly to blame, threatening to dramatically bring down the school district’s record-high graduation rates just last year.

"But while the drop was anticipated, the recent internal reports showing a 27 percent plunge from last spring’s rate elicited an alert from the superintendent directing urgent new steps, including weekly updates from staff and letters sent monthly to parents, starting in February, informing them of the necessary courses that need to be completed,” The 74 said.

LAUSD would not disclose to the public how many letters it sent out to struggling students this week.

The LA School Report noted that LAUSD is committed to helping off-track students graduate; in October, 49 percent of students were estimated to be off-track.

Important to note, says the LA School Report, is that “[t]he new estimate does not reflect progress by a $15-million credit recovery program begun last fall that puts students in specials classes after school and during breaks to help them pass classes they previously failed. District leaders in November had reported an extremely high participation rate in the program and predicted a high pass rate, which if proves true could land the 2016 graduation rate close to last year’s.”

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/15/2016