Altadena Schools announces "Every Child To And Through College By 2020" goal

Petitions to form Altadena School District returned to the L.A. County Office of Education

Altadena, California (MMD Newswire) Sept 24, 2010 -- Altadena Schools submitted signatures from more than 7,000 Altadena voters today to the Los Angeles County Office of Education on a petition to form an Altadena Unified School District. Over 90 Altadena Schools volunteers collected the signatures from over 25% of Altadena's voters as required by the California Education Code.

Altadena residents are currently served by the Pasadena Unified School District. For the past several decades, Pasadena Unified students have turned in academic proficiencies that rank among California's bottom third. Pasadena Unified's predominantly low-income students are further burdened by a 140-point academic achievement gap between themselves and their middle class peers. Unfortunately, at the rate of improvement demonstrated during the last 10 years, the achievement gap at PUSD will not close for well over a century.

Even worse, at least one-third of Pasadena Unified's low-income student majority drops out before completing high school. Those who do graduate, enter the global workforce performing, on average, at an eighth-grade level.

In stark contrast to the Altadena experience, there are schools across the USA that actually accomplish the hard work of preparing their low-income student majorities for success in college: Almost 90% of these school's bottom-income-quarter students choose to go on to college, significantly more than the 70% nationwide matriculation of top-income-quarter students.

By kicking off the Altadena unification process today, Altadena Schools intends to build on the excellent endeavor of these best schools to low-income communities. By making Altadena the destination of choice for these treasured educators, it is Altadena Schools' aim to see all of our approximately 4,000 public school students get on the road to and through college system-wide by 2020.

Without Altadena Unified and without the Every Child To And Through College By 2020 goal, the social and economic issues experienced by our community these last few years will steadily worsen. Altadena's deteriorating academic performance in relation to an increasingly competitive global economy will contribute to what a recent McKinsey and Company study called "the equivalent of a permanent US recession".

With Altadena Unified, Altadena has the potential to become the first community in America to close the academic achievement gap system wide - a challenge some consider the moral, social, economic, and civil rights issue of our generation.

About Altadena Schools
Altadena Schools is a grass roots organization of over 150 volunteers who are collectively as diverse as Altadena. The Altadena Schools team includes many current and longstanding PUSD parents, tutors, active participants in Pasadena Unified district-wide advisory committees, and numerous others from around the community.

For more information on what makes Altadena Unified the superior solution by far for getting every child on the road to and through college by 2020, please visit the Altadena Schools website at www.altadenaschools.net.

Altadena Schools
www.altadenaschools.net
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