CONTACT: Shannon Haber communications@lausd.net | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 26, 2022 |
School Board Approves 2022-23 School Calendar
Calendar Includes Seven Optional Days to Include Targeted, Accelerated Learning and Professional Development Opportunities
Los Angeles, CA (April 26, 2022) – The Los Angeles Unified Board of Education today unanimously approved a new instructional calendar for the 2022-23 school year, with classes starting August 15, 2022, and ending June 15, 2023, to accommodate optional learning opportunities for students and optional professional development opportunities for employees.
Los Angeles Unified understands that its school community is still feeling the effects of the pandemic, and some students have lost important ground in terms of their academic performance. Research indicates that extended quality instructional time provides meaningful benefits for students in the most fragile populations. The school calendar provides opportunities for Los Angeles Unified to leverage resources to help address the academic loss experienced by our students and answer the school community’s call for help.
For students, the school calendar includes four additional days for optional, targeted, accelerated instructional opportunities, spread out throughout the year, which will provide real-time support and assistance to catch up and meet grade-level standards or earn a C or better in their courses or to get ahead. These optional student acceleration days will occur on the following Wednesdays: October 19, December 7, 2022, March 15 and April 19, 2023. The acceleration days are designed to benefit those who need to cover the most academic ground and will address the critical goals of the board, including literacy, numeracy and credit recovery to reach proficiency and be prepared for college and career success.
For employees, the school calendar includes three days of professional development for C-basis certificated and classified staff to support coherence of practices and maximize their success in the classroom. These optional professional development days for educators will occur on August 9, 10, 11, 2022.
Los Angeles Unified has entered a thorough planning and design phase before implementing the accelerated learning days and employee professional development days. The planning will include determining which students will receive targeted accelerated learning time and creating a detailed structure of the program that will concentrate on core learning and strong interventions for students who most need support.
“The school calendar provides a meaningful investment in our students and teachers to address the crisis facing us today,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said. “Doing the same thing that we've always done is quite frankly not acceptable. The accelerated learning days will be designed to provide a deep level of supplemental academic support for our students who need it the most – students who have lost the most ground, students in foster care, students with English language limitations or one or more disabilities. We must have the courage and compassion to provide extended quality instruction time for these students and professional development for our teachers.”
“The unanimous approval of the 2022-2023 instructional calendar represents bold action on behalf of the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education,” Chief Academic Officer Alison Yoshimoto-Towery said. “It represents collectively doing ‘whatever it takes’ to prioritize our educators and students with additional supports to meet our Board-adopted goals for the youth of Los Angeles Unified.”
“By giving students more time at school – and teachers more time to collaborate, plan, and develop relationships with kids – we can help our students accelerate their recovery from the trauma and disruptions of the pandemic,” Board President Kelly Gonez said. “These optional days are just one of the many strategies we’re pursuing to ensure our students have the academic and socioemotional support they need to be successful.”
“The significant learning loss and trauma our students experienced over the past two years has had a profound impact on their overall progress and wellbeing — and the effects of this crisis require bold, innovative action to provide more targeted support for their recovery,” Board Vice President Nick Melvoin said. “In the future, I hope to see more substantive changes to the timing and process of community engagement, and ultimately a school calendar that reflects the needs of our families and school communities.”
“More school days will benefit all of our students, especially those who have fallen far behind academically because of COVID-19,” Board Member Dr. George J. McKenna III said. “As a former teacher, principal and superintendent, I know the difference excellent professional development and more support for our teachers will make in the classroom.”
“We are so ready for another year of learning and excitement across all Los Angeles Unified schools,” Board Member Mónica García said. “We welcome the graduating class of 2023 and all who are returning to school in August. We believe in each and every student and have high expectations for the success of every learner.”
“The additional four days of instruction will be an essential addition to our school calendar,” Board Member Scott M. Schmerelson said. “These four days will be strategically timed to help our students get the extra support they need at critical points during the school year. Collaboration at the individual school sites among teachers, administrators and staff will benefit the students at each school community because they know their students best.”
“We must help students who lost so much during the pandemic,” Board Member Jackie Goldberg said. “I am a former teacher and I have taught teachers. I know how those four additional instructional days will really help our struggling students, and how additional professional development can help teachers.”
“I’m proud to support a calendar that focuses on accelerating learning for both our students and staff,” Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin said. “This calendar provides multiple optional opportunities for professional development to support our school staff in preparing to close learning gaps our students experienced not only over the past two years but even prior to the pandemic. The addition of optional learning days for students is a necessary and important decision for achieving educational equity and justice in LA Unified.”
For more information, please visit https://www.lausd.org/calendar.
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