Superintendent Austin Beutner Announces New Effort to Increase Transparency (11-22-19)

CONTACT:                                                                         FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Shannon Haber, 213-241-6766                                       November 22, 2019

Superintendent Austin Beutner
Announces New Effort to Increase Transparency

Los Angeles Unified is working to increase transparency and provide more information to educators and the families it serves through a new effort announced today by Superintendent Austin Beutner.

A Whole Child online platform for classroom educators and school leaders will have all of the information about a student in one place. A second platform, School Information⁺ will provide the entire school community with additional information about schools, including academic growth, career education programs and support for English learners.

“We are committed to increasing transparency in all that we do,” Superintendent Beutner said. “Providing more information to educators in our schools, as well as the families and communities we serve, is a step in the right direction.”

The Whole Child platform will allow a teacher to access all of the information about a student in one simple and easy-to-use platform. Previously, teachers had to search for the information in as many as 80 different databases. The Whole Child platform will save educators time so they can concentrate on students.

“Before Whole Child, I would have to go to different platforms and then copy, paste, take screen-shots and print in order to get information that was complete,” Maywood Academy High School math teacher Abel Navar said. “With Whole Child, everything is already done for me. And it’s user-friendly.”

To provide more information about schools, Los Angeles Unified is providing access to a second platform, called School Information⁺. This will complement the California School Dashboard and add important information on several areas including academic growth, career education programs and support for English learners. School Information⁺ will be available to educators at schools, as well as the families and communities they serve.

“We'll be using School Information⁺ at principals' meetings and with teachers,” said Frances Baez, Administrator of Instruction at Local District East. “We plan to look at this data very carefully so that students' needs are being met.”

Please click here to watch the video on the Whole Child platform and School Information⁺.

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