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| | | | | Green Dot Makes 2008 Resolutions and Celebrates a Great 2007  In the spirit of New Year's resolutions, Green Dot continues to strive towards and reshape its high goals of academic success for 2008. These are the goals that we aim to reach in the upcoming year and the near future: - 70% of all graduating seniors will be accepted to 4-year colleges, and more than 25% will go to community colleges - At least 80% of entering 9th grade students will graduate on time - Less than 5% of students will leave Green Dot schools for any reason other than moving out of the area - Each Green Dot school will reach a score of 800 API by its 8th year of operation. - Green Dot will open a new school in New York in September 2008! - Green Dot will open at least four new schools on or around the Locke High School campus in September 2008 We are proud of Green Dot's accomplishments in 2007: - LAUSD approved Green Dot's plan to transform Alain Leroy Locke Senior High School into several small, safe, college-prep Green Dot schools. This is the first time an outside organization has been allowed to run a traditional public school in Los Angeles. - Ánimo Leadership was ranked #31 among the best high schools in America by US News and World Report, and as the #4 charter school in the country! - Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo Charter High School graduated its first class in June 2007. 92% of seniors graduated, and 71% were accepted to four-year universities! - U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings visited Ánimo Inglewood in May. She praised Green Dot for creating public charter schools that are "saving lives with major miracles..." She said, "You are proving that we can do this work. The [small schools] movement is something that can be replicated." - After only one year of operation, the Green Dot's five Jefferson Transformation Schools on average outscored Jefferson HS by an incredible 171 points on the API. Thank you for all of your support this past year! We look forward to working with you to better public education in 2008! | | Green Dot Announces $100,000 for Student Enrichment Programs
Green Dot has committed new funding to award our educators' creativity in providing a well-rounded environment for students. The funds will support enrichment programs at all twelve Green Dot schools and Locke High School, which Green Dot will begin operating this July. The funding program allows our schools to provide programs to students over and above what is already in their budgets.
"This is a really exciting opportunity for Green Dot schools," said Green Dot Founder Steve Barr. "Educators had so many great ideas for student programs that we felt we had to help pay for them even if their budgets were fully allocated."
Green Dot awarded the first allocation of the enrichment program funds in December. Recipients' projects ran the gamut from building a dance studio at Ánimo Inglewood to creating a journalism program at Ánimo Pat Brown and starting a Capoeira club at Ánimo South L.A.
Green Dot is delighted with the number of applications for programs our schools submitted for the first round of awards. 17 out of 21 applications were funded, with seven projects fully funded and the remainder partially funded. The average request was for $5,715. Green Dot gave an average of $1,600 per request. In all, over $141,000 was requested and $24,255 was allocated for this first quarter, with the rest to be allocated between now and June. To see all of the results, please go to the website.
| | | | Ánimo Inglewood in Stanford University Study
Ánimo Inglewood was one of five high schools in the state featured in a recent Stanford University report that studied high schools that are beating the odds and successfully graduating low-income minority students. "High Schools for Equity: Policy Supports for Student Learning in Communities of Color" was conducted by Stanford's School Redesign Network and Justice Matters, a non-profit organization in San Francisco.
The study focuses on five urban, public high schools from across the state that represent approaches needed to close California's educational achievement gap and to enable students to be successful in college. The goal was to hone in on the methods and practices of Ánimo Inglewood and the other schools in order to integrate those practices statewide for greater systemic change in educating high school students.
"The work the schools in our study are doing is exceptional and occurs against the odds," says Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond. "Their successes can be replicated, but only if California implements substantive policy changes."
Darling-Hammond noted that each of the schools in the study include small, personalized learning environments; rigorous and relevant curricula that provide authentic learning and assessment opportunities; and extensive, regular opportunities for teachers to collaborate and learn with one another to improve their practice.
| | Melinda Gates Visits Ánimo Pat Brown  Ánimo Pat Brown got a special visit from Melinda Gates in November. It was the second visit a co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has made to a Green Dot school in recent months. In October, Bill Gates Sr. visited Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo.
Ms. Gates toured Ánimo Pat Brown for a first-hand look at the progress Green Dot schools have been making. The Gates Foundation has committed nearly $10 million to help Green Dot carry out the Jefferson and Locke Transformation Projects. Ánimo Pat Brown is one of the five schools in the Jefferson Transformation Project. Green Dot will use funding for the Locke project to build up to 10 new schools to serve the Watts community.
Ms. Gates was impressed with the staff and students at Ánimo Pat Brown and said her tour "served as an important reminder of what is possible for students everywhere." She added that Ánimo Pat Brown, like all Green Dot schools, has "tremendous promise."
| | Winners Circle Ánimo South L.A. Senior Wins Posse Scholarship
Leotinae Layton has won the prestigious Posse Foundation scholarship and, in September, will be attending Grinnell College tuition-free. The Ánimo South L.A. senior was one of three finalists from Ánimo South L.A., which had the largest number of finalists from any L.A. high school. She beat out more  than 900 other students for one of 10 coveted scholar slots in the L.A. area.
"This is a really great program and I'm so excited about it," the 17-year-old said.
The Posse Foundation selects student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called "posses." The idea is that if a student has his or her posse for support, that student is more likely to thrive in college.
Leotinae knows attending school in Iowa will be a dramatic change from life in L.A. "I had never heard anything about Iowa except for cornfields and cows," she said. "It'll be a culture shock, but it's a culture shock I'm willing to embrace."
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Ralph Bunche Students Honored by LA School Board President
The hard and consistent work of several Ánimo Ralph Bunche students was recognized in style as the students, and their parents, were honored recently by Los Angeles School Board President Monica Garcia. Students from 16 schools attended the award ceremony held at the Santee Educational Complex. Garcia's office organized the event to bring the educational community in the Santee High area together and to applaud students' and parents' work. Ánimo Ralph Bunche teachers nominated one student from each grade for the awards. Administrators nominated parents. Garcia praised the Ánimo students for their exemplary academic performance and diligence and she commended Ánimo parents for their active participation in the high school. Those honored are:
Superior Academic Performance-Alma Velásquez and Eric Aguilera (grade 10), Paul Lazcano (grade 9)
Outstanding Academic Effort-James Ventura (grade 10), Melisa Saucedo (grade 9)
Parent Participation-Felissa Fuentes & Patricia Delgado
Congratulations to all of our winners!!
| | | | Green Dot Profile
Ánimo South L.A. Teacher Doubles as Journalist
When she's not helping her ninth-grade English class find the methaphors and iron in classic novels and rap songs, LaTesha Thomas is rubbing elbows with, and writing articles about, some of the music industry's top hip-hop and R&B artists.
Thomas, 30, is a part-time journalist, who has published articles in a number of magazines, Web sites, and newspapers. And she's a radio producer. And she can act and sing.
"I have a lot o f different interests and I've tried a lot of different things," says the Ánimo South L.A. teacher. "I think it's good to explore all possibilities and to stretch yourself."
Thomas, a native Texan, always had a passion for teaching, but didn't explore it until after a career in journalism, public relations, and the arts.
She attended a performing arts conservatory in high school and in college worked for campus radio and TV, while doing some writing on the side. After college she interned, and then worked full-time, at the NBC affiliate in Fort Worth in the public affairs office. There, she wrote anything and everything her boss would give her, and it was a lot.
A Passion for Teaching
She went on to work for radio personality Tom Joyner' foundation and then left for L.A., where she landed jobs at KJLH radio and CBS. Her dream was to become a producer. But the desire to teach kept tugging at her.
"The idea of being able to give back to these students and to let them know they can make it and be what they want to be--that really moves me," says Thomas.
She eased her way into the classroom, starting last year as Ánimo South L.A.'s step team coach and then, in July, as a teacher for Green Dot's Summer Bridge program. In September, she began teaching ninth-grade English at the school.
Dual Careers: Mixing It Up
But she didn't abandon the entertainment industry for good. For the past eight months, Thomas has been writing part-time for BASIC, a bi-monthly hip-hop and R&B magazine. She's covered awards shows and profiled musical notables such as singer Mary J. Blige. She recently started writing for a new hip-hop magazine called Cover, which will debut in July.
Thomas likes to describe herself as a teacher in the entertainment business. "Teaching comes first," she explains. "When I finish at school I may go to an awards show or do an interview, then I'm back to preparing lessons for my students."
The mix has been helpful, for Thomas and her students. Thomas teaches her curriculum based on state standards, but she also mixes things up for students, like dissecting a rap song to uncover the poetry or themes within it. She'll examine the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or the poetry of Langston Hughes as examples of good writing.
Near the end of the school year, Thomas uses free-verse writing with her students. The class picks a theme and then has a certain amount of time to write whatever and however they want. "You'd be amazed at what they come up with. That freedom to let go really allows them to get their thoughts out," she says.
Thomas believes she'll always do something in entertainment. "I used to want to have my own radio show and teach," she says. "That was my ultimate goal. That might happen."
But, Thomas says, she'll never leave the classroom. "I get too much from teaching these kids."
| | News to Know...
Ánimo Watts II Students Head to College
Ánimo Watts II students gave a new twist to gaining i nsight on what it takes to get into college during recent visits to USC and UCLA. Instead of sitting in a room to listen to a speaker, the Ánimo students were divided into teams and sent on scavenger hunts for information. They had to interview college students and college representatives, sit in on classes, take photos of various places, and complete a campus visit book. The goal of the visit was part college prep, part team-building among students and between students and teachers, and part academic connections. Students linked what they learned at both campuses to the work they are doing in their Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) class. "The visits were a real success," said Ánimo Watts II Principal Vanessa Morris. "Students were excited to learn about college life and to connect it to their lessons at school. It really had an impact on all of them."
Green Dot Names CFO and VPs
Green Dot is pleased to announce several promotions on the management team. Sabrina Ayala has been named Chief Financial Officer. Hoa Truong is Vice President of Operations, overseeing knowledge management, IT, and facilities. He takes over for Dan Chang, who is now Vice President of New School Development, focusing on community organizing, real estate development, and facilities for our existing schools, including all issues related to the Locke Transformation. Finally, Alma Márquez has been named Vice President of External and Government Affairs. To read the bios for the entire management team, click here.
| | Green Dot in the News Check out NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered to hear recent stories about Green Dot's efforts to transform L.A.'s public schools.
For more news stories about Green Dot, visit our website.
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