0001 Palmdale School District

Palmdale PROMISE MSAP 2017 Priority 1 – Need for Assistance. (a) The costs of fully implementing the magnet schools project as proposed. Introduction. With this application, Palmdale School District (PSD) applies for magnet school funding to develop five new magnet middle school academies to reduce, eliminate, or prevent African American minority, English Learner, and low socioeconomic isolation and to improve the academic achievement of all students by providing real school choice. All five proposed magnet school academies are new; Palmdale School District has never received Magnet Schools Assistance Program funding. PSD is an elementary district serving students in pre- kindergarten through eighth grades. PSD is situated in the Antelope Valley in the High Desert of Southern California. Located 60 miles north and east of Los Angeles, Palmdale is rural, and is geographically and economically isolated from services and opportunities that are prevalent in the urban metropolis. The unemployment rate for Palmdale is 9.5% compared to under 5% for the U.S. (http://www.bestplaces.net/economy/city/california/palmdale). Many families in Palmdale live at or below the poverty level. Our five proposed magnet academies enroll students who are primarily Hispanic/Latino (72.7%) African American (16.6%), and low income (84.4%). Compared with State achievement scores as measured by California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP), Palmdale middle school students score persistently low. Our MSAP plan is designed to create and sustain systemic change in educational practices and school cultures based upon research-based practices that have demonstrated effectiveness with populations that are similar to ours. Each of the proposed new magnet academies will include a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) focus, with an additional magnet emphasis that links it to the aerospace, business and professional communities of the Antelope Valley (AV). The Antelope Valley has a long history PR/AwardP#agUe1615A170001 Page e21 Palmdale PROMISE MSAP 2017 with space, aeronautics, and aviation. Daily, we see test pilots flying over the valley. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin build rockets, space vehicles, and jet planes for the military, government, and private industry. Our plan will transform four low performing, high minority and high poverty 7th-8th grade schools into five 6th-8th grade magnet middle school academies with themes that support college and career preparation: Cactus Medical Health and Technology Academy Desert Willow FAST Academy (Fine Arts, Science, and Technology) David G. Millen Law and Government Academy Shadow Hills Academy of Engineering and Design SAGE Academy – Space and Aeronautics Gateway to Exploration – a new magnet middle school academy being built to reduce, eliminate or prevent African American, English Learner and low socioeconomic isolation that will open Fall 2017. Racial and Socioeconomic Integration. The U.S. Department of Education (2004), National Center for Educational Statistics (2012) and other research has determined that socioeconomic status has become increasingly important in defining student diversity, and “minority” students have become the majority in some states. This is the case in Palmdale. Our population is not only predominantly Hispanic/Latino, but also our populace is becoming more multi-ethnic and multi- racial; increasing numbers of students self-identify as two or more races. Segregation in our schools is based less on racial and ethnic characteristics and more on unequal economic distribution. Therefore, to remedy socioeconomic isolation that includes African American and English Learner populations, our Voluntary Desegregation Plan recognizes and addresses this disparity and will promote integration with higher achieving students from the Palmdale suburbs. This plan will enable PSD to create middle school magnet academies with 21st Century themes PR/AwardP#agUe1625A170001 Page e22 Palmdale PROMISE MSAP 2017 that any student in the district can choose to attend. There is no attendance zone and no admission test or requirement to attend magnet schools in Palmdale School District. PSD Background and SES Integration Issues. The district population by ethnicity is predominantly Hispanic/Latino, at 72.7%; 16.6% are African American; 7.0% white; 1% Filipino; 0.7% Asian and 2% other, including two or more races and declined to state. Our student population is currently distributed fairly evenly with respect to race/ethnicity across our four middle schools that will become magnet academies beginning in 2017-18. However, we have more work to do to reduce, eliminate or prevent low socioeconomic isolation. PSD has a large percentage of economically disadvantaged students, as measured by those eligible for Free or Reduced Price Meals (FRPM). Palmdale’s socioeconomic level is among the lowest in our state, with 84.4% of our students qualifying for Free or Reduced Price Meals. Looking at a map of our district, which spans 85 square miles of desolate desert, we see that the highest concentration of very low income families is in the center of the City of Palmdale, with middle class housing located on the fringes of Palmdale to the east and west. In Palmdale School District, we have worked tirelessly toward promoting equity in racial and ethnic distribution toward reducing, eliminating or preventing racial isolation of minority groups. Increasing integration, equity and access for our minority and low SES students were motivating factors when we proposed to our School Board that we apply for MSAP funds. As part of our MSAP plan, we also determined we must eliminate school boundaries for our existing and new magnet middle school academies to allow students open access and achieve parental choice. We recommend that the open middle school boundaries policy extend far into the future, as we plan the opening of SAGE Academy, a new middle school that was developed specifically to reduce Minority Group Isolation of African American, English Learner, and very low income students. PR/AwardP#agUe1635A170001 Page e23 Palmdale PROMISE MSAP 2017 In Palmdale, we have planned the opening of this new school with voluntary desegregation in mind. The new middle school will create a neighborhood opportunity for minority and low SES students to attend a state-of-the art Space and Aeronautics Academy with a Planetarium on the campus. We are committed to creating engaging 21st Century opportunities for our students to lift them out of poverty and equip them with knowledge and skills to be college and career ready. Need for Significant Increase in Achievement. To reduce African American, English Learner, and low income isolation and prepare our students academically and socially for the future, Palmdale School District Superintendent worked with business, city, aerospace, community college, county and other stakeholders over the past three years to position the district to open our five proposed new magnet middle school academies in Fall 2017. As a district with longstanding challenges related to student achievement, Palmdale School District is committed to making significant and sustained efforts to raise student achievement by implementing evidenced-based practices in the context of new magnet schools. Summary studies have provided mixed results on achievement gains in magnet schools (Betts, Kitmitto, Levin, 2015; Research Services, 2012). For this reason, we developed this Palmdale PROMISE MSAP plan that will implement evidence-based practices and strategies that have been shown to produce positive results for minority and low income students like ours. Our evidence-based practices are detailed in the Quality of Project Design narrative. Dynamic magnet themes are being developed as a context in which to accelerate the use of evidence-based practices. Studies summarized in Research Services (2012) indicate that “students enrolled in magnet schools can benefit from their unique course offerings and innovative instructional practices while maintaining or increasing their achievement levels in core areas” (p. 1). Furthermore, magnet PR/AwardP#agUe1645A170001 Page e24 Palmdale PROMISE MSAP 2017 schools are essential to establish in PSD because “Magnet schools tend to enroll larger proportions of Black and Hispanic students than traditional public schools. They have also been found to reduce high concentrations of poverty by attracting a more diverse population of students” (Research Services, 2012, p.1). These are the goals of our Palmdale PROMISE. st Need for 21 Century Skills. Of the 15 Career and Technical Education (CTE) industry sectors, Palmdale provides high-level employment opportunities for five of the sectors, but to take advantage of these good jobs, our students must be highly educated and career ready. The five strongest CTE sectors in Palmdale are: Building and Construction; Energy, Environment, and Utilities; Health Science and Medical Technologies; Manufacturing and Product Development; and Engineering and Architecture. PSD is eager to prepare students to succeed in these industries, or to become part of the “aerospace boom” that is taking place in Palmdale. Our magnet schools will prepare students to achieve in high school and beyond in industries that are relevant to our community. Local and Regional Partnerships supporting this MSAP Project. Given the significant aerospace opportunities in the Antelope Valley (AV), only 2.2% of residents are employed as engineers

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