Lawndale parent council reviews California School Dashboard, flags chronic absenteeism among long‑term English learners

A Lawndale School Site Council / District Parent Advisory Committee (DPAC) meeting held virtually reviewed the California School Dashboard metrics and Title I spending procedures and highlighted persistent chronic absenteeism among students who have been classified as English learners for several years.

The council heard a data presentation from July Castro, a district staff member, who summarized recent Dashboard results and recommended schools examine site‑level data to identify interventions. “When one works as a team, looks at the data and implements a plan, you can have a very good impact on student achievement,” Castro said.

Castro told members that, districtwide, suspensions fell by about 1.1 percentage points and chronic absence dropped to about 9.9 percent. She reported gains for students with disabilities—about a 3‑point increase in mathematics and 8.4 points in language—and singled out Smith (a school referenced in the presentation) for a 27.6‑percentage‑point improvement in outcomes for Black/African American students over the last two years.

At the same…