Transparency and Accountability
Broken Promise
The LAUSD is set to shut down its highly regarded Primary Promise literacy program without any input from those who will be affected.
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“Aren’t we in the business of getting students ready for the world?”
– Nicolle Fefferman
As a parent, teacher, and founder of “the largest parent-led education advocacy group in Los Angeles,” Parents Supporting Teachers, Nicolle Fefferman has her finger on the pulse of what is happening in Los Angeles schools. Therefore, she was able to sound the alarm when the LAUSD tried to quietly shut down its highly regarded Primary Promise literacy program. The following are comments that she made to the School Board last week demanding that they reconsider the decision:
I have taught high school history for 16 years. In my earliest years, I quickly realized I had students who needed me to do a better job of teaching them how to write for social studies. History became the content I used to teach literacy. In classes of 35 to 45, this was a nearly impossible task. I taught peer editing protocols, met with students individually, and created all sorts of writing activities. However, the deeper I got into my career and working through this consistent student need, I recognized that a key piece of students becoming better writers was for them to become better readers. Many of my students were reluctant readers though and much of that was about their insecurity in their reading skills and their long experience of struggling with reading throughout elementary and middle school. Their lack of confidence made reading feel hard and bad. They needed intervention earlier than high school but I did my best to support them.
This is why I was alarmed to hear that you all are ending the Primary Promise program with zero public conversation and without completing a study that would have established its…
