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ISANA Academies tells LAUSD committee co-teaching, arts and SEL reduced absenteeism and boosted growth
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Summary
ISANA CEO Nadia Shaikh told the Charter Schools Committee that ISANA Nascent Academy's co-teaching, SEL and VAPA programs drove a near-15% drop in chronic absenteeism and measurable gains for underserved student groups; principals and co-teachers described specific classroom practices.
Nadia Shaikh, chief executive officer of ISANA Academies, told the Charter Schools Committee that ISANA Nascent Academy (TK–8) serves 484 students across two campuses in Board District 1 and that the network's combined emphasis on school climate, academic excellence and culturally responsive pedagogy has produced measurable gains for students.
"Every adult in a school is an educator," Shaikh said, describing a whole-school approach to inclusion and family engagement. She reported that 92% of students at the Nascent campus are socioeconomically disadvantaged, 32% are English learners and 20% are students with disabilities.
Co-principal Ian Eddy described social-emotional learning practices that the school uses daily: morning meetings, "threshold greetings" when students enter classrooms, calm corners ("zen dens"), and family workshops including supports such as laundry access and food giveaways. Eddy said the school saw chronic absenteeism fall by nearly 15 percent over 2½ years and cited a 93% favorable family-survey response on school climate.
Dr. Hidako Brown described ISANA's academic strategies: knowledge-building ELA curriculum, systematic foundational-skill instruction, targeted interventions and data-driven coaching at every level. Brown highlighted an organizationwide, five-year co-teaching initiative pairing general-education teachers with resource-specialist or VAPA teachers; she said co-taught classes showed stronger accelerated growth, including a reported 15% greater schoolwide growth in co-taught classes compared with non-co-taught classes and large gains for multiple student groups.
Shaikh and Brown gave a concrete example from their Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) program: targeted lessons on the reading-comprehension standard "point of view" raised pass rates from about 40% pre-instruction to 72% post-instruction after a year of VAPA-focused lessons. Shaikh also invited committee members to a mural unveiling on April 10 and to student performances April 28 and May 1.
Board members asked how ISANA supports students with disabilities and English learners. Shaikh described inclusive practices (push-in and pull-out services, integrated and designated ELD, a newcomer plan, and use of Rosetta Stone for language acquisition) and said the network embeds accommodations across the school day, not only during pull-out sessions.
Why it matters: ISANA presented evidence that coordinated SEL, arts instruction and co-teaching can narrow opportunity gaps for disadvantaged student groups, while offering concrete operational practices (community partnerships, family supports, newcomer intake conferences) that the district can observe or replicate.
Sources: ISANA presentation and Q&A with CEO Nadia Shaikh, co-principal Ian Eddy, and Dr. Hidako Brown at the LAUSD Charter Schools Committee meeting.
