Innovation Schools

Learning From Within

Schools that are engaged in innovative promising practices schoolwide and in classrooms:

Digital Promise Verizon Innovative Learning Schools


Each participating school has committed to: provide every student with access to mobile learning technology in the classroom and at home, support educators with personalized professional learning, and reflect on data and stories for continuous improvement.

Thomas A. Edison Middle School

Samuel Gompers Middle School

John A. Sutter Middle School

Cohort 6 Schools:

John Burroughs Middle School

Christopher Columbus Middle School

El Sereno Middle School

Thomas Starr King Middle School

Daniel Webster Middle School

2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools


The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy

Vintage Science/Technology/Engineering/Math Elementary Magnet School

Charter Schools


The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) views charter schools as integral to the District's offerings and an opportunity to teach both students and educators. Currently, there are 277 charter schools (53 Affiliated, 224 Independent) under the jurisdiction of the LAUSD, serving more than 138,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. 

There are two types of charter schools in the district: Conversion and Start-up. A conversion charter is an existing district school that later becomes a charter. A start-up is a charter school that is created "from scratch" by any member of the public - educators, parents, foundations and others. These charters can be fully independent or district-affiliated, which have closer ties to the district. Both must have their board-approved charter proposal, and both are held to a high level of accountability.  There are 102 schools in LAUSD that offer these programs. Click on the icon below to view the list of schools. 

Dual Language/Bilingual Program Schools


LAUSD offers instructional program options that utilize dual language methodologies. These programs are Dual Language Programs, Maintenance Bilingual Education, Transitional Bilingual Education, and Foreign Language Immersion.  There are 102 schools in LAUSD that offer these programs.  Click on the icon below to view the list of schools. 

International Baccalaureate Schools


The International Baccalaureate (IB) programs (Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma) encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners fully equipped for success in a rapidly changing world. IB has a proven track record of high academic success by providing a framework for teaching and learning that engages students in guided inquiry centered on universal concepts.

Research shows that students who graduate from IB programs are better prepared for college and careers and have the highest GPAs in four-year university freshmen classes. To learn more, click on the schools below or go to the LAUSD Division of Instruction International Baccalaureate Office webpage:

Magnet Program Schools


The LAUSD Magnet Program is a court-ordered voluntary integration opportunity available to all students in grades K-12 who live within the boundaries of LAUSD. The purpose is to provide an integrated educational and personal experience which prepares them to function in a diverse society, and helps to eliminate, reduce or prevent long-standing patterns of racial isolation. Each Magnet’s openings are determined by the need to maintain a racially balanced enrollment and by available space. Only gifted, high ability, highly gifted Magnets require specific eligibility criteria. No other screening, including grades, placement tests or auditions may be used as criteria for admitting or eliminating students.

The LAUSD Magnet Program offers specialized courses or curricula designed to attract students based on their interests while stressing academic excellence, cooperative/experiential learning, interdisciplinary coursework, and peer collaboration. The LAUSD Magnet Program is comprised of both Magnet schools and Magnet centers. Magnet schools occupy entire school campuses (i.e. Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School); Magnet centers are co-located on a regular school campus with access to activities and experiences shared with the host school (i.e. Millikan Middle School Performing Arts Magnet). Some schools host as many as three Magnet centers on their school campus (i.e. Van Nuys High School Medical Magnet; Math, Science and Technology Magnet and Performing Arts Magnet). Click on the icon below to view the list of schools. 

Pilot Schools


Pilot Schools are a network of public schools that have autonomy over budget, staffing, governance, curriculum & assessment, and the school calendar.  These autonomies allow them to operate with greater flexibility in order to best meet their students' needs.  Pilot Schools were created to be models of educational innovation and to serve as research and development sites for effective urban public schools.  Click on the icon below to view the list of LAUSD Pilot Schools.

Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) Model Schools


The AEMP Model Schools are emerging models of excellence in culturally and linguistically responsive teaching. Each school serves as a demonstration site for the District at large. One AEMP Model School site is located in each Local District.  Click on the icon below to view the list of AEMP Model Schools.

UCLA-LAUSD Collaborative Schools


The UCLA-LAUSD Collaborative is a multi-year effort to increase the graduate and college admittance rates of African-American student in the LAUSD.  To support this effort, LAUSD has collaborated with UCLA and the College Board to provide strategic support to principals, teachers, and counselors at selected high schools across the District to close achievement disparities that exists between African-American students and other student subgoups.  Click on the icon below to view the list of UCLA-LAUSD Collaborative Schools.

Schools to Watch - Taking Center Stage

Schools to Watch® is an initiative launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform in 1999. Through the Schools to Watch® initiative, the National Forum identifies schools across the United States that are well on their way to meeting the Forum’s criteria for high performance. Forum members believe that three things are true of high-performing middle-grades schools:

• They are academically excellent — these schools challenge all students to use their minds well;
• They are developmentally responsive — these schools are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early  adolescence;
• They are socially equitable — these schools are democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and supports.
   

To achieve this level of performance, high-performing schools establish norms, structures, and organizational support to sustain their trajectory toward excellence. They have a sense of purpose that drives every facet of practice and decision-making. 

Schools to Watch:

 • Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School

 • John Burroughs Middle School

WASC Accredited Middle Schools

The mission of the Accrediting Commission for Schools Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACS WASC) is to foster excellence by encouraging school improvement through a process of continuing evaluation and to recognize, by accreditation, schools that meet an acceptable level of quality, in accordance with established criteria.

Accreditation affirms that a school provides its students with quality educational programs, validates the integrity student transcripts and ensures for the benefit of colleges, universities, and the community at large that graduating students have mastered a particular body of knowledge.

Find out more.

Schools with Initial Accreditation Status (Cohort 1):

• Robert Frost Middle School

• Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle School

• Stephen M White Middle School

• Washington Irving Middle School Math Music Enginering Magnet

• Young Oak Kim Academy

Candidacy Status:

• Florence Nightingale Middle School

Schools with Initial Accreditation Status (Cohort 2):

• Berendo Middle School

• Alexander Fleming Middle School

• Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School

• Joseph Le Conte Middle School

• Maywood Center for Enriched Studies (MaCES)

• Mt. Gleason Middle School

• Palms Middle School

• Robert E. Peary Middle School

• Francisco Sepulveda Middle School

• Orville Wright Engineering and Design Magnet

Candidacy Status:

• James Madison Middle School