Angelus News | May 17, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 10
On the cover: Emma D. and Roberto M. read during a class session at San Miguel School in Watts, one of 24 schools in lower-income areas across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles participating in the new Solidarity Schools initiative. On Page 10, Theresa Cisneros examines the program’s ambitious goals and talks to participants who describe its early success in creating a ‘culture of literacy’ among disadvantaged students.
On the cover: Emma D. and Roberto M. read during a class session at San Miguel School in Watts, one of 24 schools in lower-income areas across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles participating in the new Solidarity Schools initiative. On Page 10, Theresa Cisneros examines the program’s ambitious goals and talks to participants who describe its early success in creating a ‘culture of literacy’ among disadvantaged students.
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Izabel Duenas teaches the<br />
youngest students at San Miguel<br />
Catholic School in her transitional<br />
kindergarten class.<br />
schools where literacy doesn’t always come so easily.<br />
Our Lady of Guadalupe principal Lionel Garcia said he’s<br />
seen students in the program become more confident, more<br />
involved on campus, and more enthusiastic about reading.<br />
“It’s huge for the community, especially for marginalized<br />
communities, because it<br />
provides accessibility and<br />
resources that support all<br />
types of learners,” he said.<br />
“For a principal, it’s honestly<br />
a great initiative. And it<br />
works.”<br />
The Solidarity Schools<br />
program serves more<br />
than 4,000 students and<br />
is being launched with<br />
more than $2 million in<br />
support from the archdiocese<br />
and donors, said Paul<br />
Escala, senior director and<br />
superintendent of Catholic<br />
schools.<br />
The initiative was born<br />
after Escala’s team discovered<br />
that at many archdiocese<br />
schools, 70% or more of students were performing<br />
below grade level in reading coming out of the COVID-19<br />
pandemic.<br />
They also noticed a pattern: Many of those underperforming<br />
students came from chronically impoverished backgrounds,<br />
and in many cases, their schools lacked<br />
the proper resources to help.<br />
To launch the program, the Department of<br />
Catholic Schools (DCS) started looking for<br />
funding and identified schools that had experienced<br />
three or more years of below-grade-level<br />
performance in reading.<br />
“Christ teaches us that we must find the lost<br />
sheep and bring them back to the flock,” said<br />
Robert Tagorda, chief academic officer. “That’s<br />
what this initiative represents for us. We’re doing<br />
it in a way that targets the academic needs of<br />
these students.”<br />
First-grade teacher<br />
Carmen Arreola offers<br />
some extra support for<br />
her student, Karla M.<br />
The Solidarity Schools<br />
program is being rolled out<br />
over three years.<br />
At the high school level,<br />
the program is focused on<br />
boosting math proficiency<br />
this year. At elementary schools, it’s mostly<br />
focused on implementing Success for All (SFA),<br />
a literacy program that provides phonics-based<br />
language arts curriculum, coaching, and professional<br />
development.<br />
Each week, members of the DCS team<br />
overseeing the program’s rollout visit schools to<br />
provide feedback, review results, and organize<br />
materials.<br />
<strong>May</strong> <strong>17</strong>, <strong>2024</strong> • ANGELUS • 11
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