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2 EDCAL December 3, 2018 PARENTS education throughout the year. “The parent involvement we enjoy in Lynwood Unified is something we want to continually celebrate,” LUSD Board of Education President Alfonso Morales said. “Our parents understand the importance of being engaged in the education of their children, and it’s one of the reasons our students enjoy success.” National Parental Involvement Day provides an annual opportunity for schools and families to honor and highlight the powerful contributions parents and caregiv- ers provide at school and home to support student success. Schools are encouraged to participate in an official recognition of the powerful con- tributions that parents and caregivers make to support the success of students. For more information, go to www.projectappleseed. org. Continued from page 1 students.” Parent Wendy Andrade is the school site council president for Washington Elemen- tary and spends much of her time working with administrators to improve school en- vironment. Andrade, who attended LUSD schools, said the district’s tightknit commu- nity makes it easy to collaborate. “My mom was also so involved in all of my schools, and I wanted to make sure that I developed that same kind of relationship with my daughter and her classrooms,” Andrade said. “The kids enjoy having their parents visible, and it sends a message to them that we’re all in this together.” National Parental Involvement Day was initiated in 1994 by school advocacy orga- nization Project Appleseed, encouraging school districts around the nation to honor parents by hosting campus events. The hope is for parents to learn ways to continuously engage with their child’s For more information on Lynwood Unified schools and activities, go to www.lynwood. k12.ca.us. GRAD RATE Continued from page 1 tion data have ever been released. In prior years, graduation rates were not released until the early spring. The earlier release of data will assist school districts in planning and allow CDE to include the data in the fall release of the California School Dash- board, scheduled for early December. High school graduation rates Overall, the number of graduates significantly increased from 2017 by more than 10,000 for a total of 418,205 students. Starting in 2017, CDE used a different methodology to calculate graduation rates than had been used in previous years. The 2018 rates for some student groups showed slight percentage point increases when compared to 2017: African Amer- ican students at 0.2 percentage points, American Indian/Alaska Native students at 2.3 percentage points, Asian students at 0.5 percentage points, English Learners at 0.8 percentage points, Foster Youth at 2.3 percentage points, Latino students at 0.3 percentage points, Migrant Education students at 1.3 percentage points, Socio- economically Disadvantaged students at 0.8 percentage points, and Students with Disabilities at 1.3 percentage points. But the number of 2018 dropouts totaled 48,453, an increase from 45,052 in 2017, resulting in an increase in the drop- out rate from 9.1 to 9.6. Significant dispari- ties still remain between student groups. “We’re seeing steady gains in key indi- cators, which tells us we’re moving in the right direction. But on other measures we’re not moving fast enough to meet Califor- nia’s high expectations for every student,” said State Board of Education President Michael Kirst. “To accelerate our progress, the state is investing $80 million this year in strengthening our support to struggling school districts through the Statewide System of Support.” In California’s high school graduat- ing class for 2018, nearly 50 percent, met requirements for admission to either the University of California and or the Cali- fornia State University. This is unchanged from 2017. Since 2007, there’s been more than a 30 percent increase in high school graduates eligible for UC and more than a 53 percent increase in CSU eligibility. When alternative schools are excluded from the rates for the class of 2018, tradi- tional public schools, with a rate of 91.7 percent, fare better than charter schools, which have a rate of 84.2 percent. Schools identified as alternative include continua- tion, juvenile court, and county-run special education schools, which serve students at a greater risk of dropping out. The graduation report shows the number of high school graduates earning a State Seal of Biliteracy, which recognizes gradu- ates who have attained a high level of profi- ciency in speaking, reading and writing one or more languages in addition to English. Lynwood Mayor José Luis Solache joins the Washington Elementary School choir on Nov. 15 as part of a cel- ebration of National Parent Involvement Day in Lynwood USD. In 2018, 47,248 graduates earned the State Seal of Biliteracy, up from 44,594 in 2017. Torlakson, through his Global Cali- fornia 2030 initiative, has called for vastly expanding teaching and learning of world languages and seeks to more than triple the number of students who receive the State Seal of Biliteracy by 2030. Suspension rates The number of students suspended and expelled in California public schools has declined for the sixth year in a row. The 2017-18 statewide suspension rate of 3.5 percent showed a slight decrease from 3.6 percent in 2016-17. However, there were 18,429 fewer total suspensions and 9,606 fewer students suspended in 2017-18 compared with the prior year. Almost every student group experienced a decrease in suspensions in 2017-18 com- pared with the prior year. “We continue to find better ways to address behavior problems, which reduces suspensions and expulsions and keeps more students in class,” Torlakson said. The suspension data collected by CDE are the most detailed and comprehensive statistics in the nation. The information, which covers all the state’s more than 10,000 public schools, identifies schools and districts with high and low rates of suspensions. Chronic absenteeism The 2017-18 statewide chronic absen- teeism rate of 11.1 percent increased from 10.8 percent in 2016-17. Similarly, the statewide count of students determined to be chronically absent in 2017-18 was 702,531, an increase from 686,409 in 2016- 17. Almost every student group experi- enced an increase in chronic absenteeism rates in 2017-18 compared with the prior year. As in the prior year, there continue to be student subgroup disparities. The CDE began collecting statewide chronic absenteeism data last year. Chronic absenteeism is a state indicator included on the California School Dashboard. Tor- lakson has focused on reducing the state’s chronic absenteeism rates. “There are many reasons a student can fall into a pattern of being chronically absent that are beyond their control, such as an illness, watching a younger sibling while a parent works, caregiving for an older rela- tive, or lack of a reliable ride or convenient bus route to school,” Torlakson said. “When we identify these challenges, we can link students and their families to all appropri- ate school and community resources.” A student is considered chronically absent if he or she is absent 10 percent of the days they were enrolled in a school. Chronic absence is different from truancy, which counts only unexcused absences and indicates a violation of California’s compul- sory attendance laws. Average Daily Atten- dance, the average number of students who attend school each day, is used for state funding purposes. To view state, county, district, and school graduation and dropout rates, suspension rates and chronic absenteeism rates, visit the CDE’s DataQuest website at https:// dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/. Education California | The official newspaper of the Association of California School Administrators EdCal® (USPS 684-390, ISSN 0740-0357) is published Weekly, except for the following dates in 2018-19: 7/2, 7/9, 7/23, 8/6, 8/20, 9/10, 9/24, 10/15, 10/29, 11/12, 11/26, 12/10, 12/17, 12/24, 12/31, 1/7, 2/18, 4/8, 5/13, and 6/3, by the Association of California School Administrators, 1575 Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010. Periodical postage paid at Bur lingame, CA 94010 and additional offices. Subscription price: $90 value to members; offered to non- members on a qualifying basis. For further information, contact the membership depart- ment at [phone]. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EdCal, c/o ACSA, 1575 Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA 94010. EdCal keeps ACSA members informed of association activities, efforts on their behalf and issues pertinent to education and educa- tion administration. Ad vertising or the mention of products, services or programs in EdCal does not imply endorsement by ACSA. ACSA is affiliated with the National Asso- ciation of School Superintendents, Nation al Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of Elem entary School Principals, American Associa tion of School Person nel Admin istrators, California Associa- tion of Latino Superintendents and Adminis- trators, Ca lifornia Associa tion of Education Office Pro fes sionals and the American Associa- tion for Adult and Continuing Education. Editorial Offices: 1029 J St., Suite 500, Sacramento, CA 95814; [phone] • Job ads: e-mail [email protected] • News: e-mail [email protected] ACSA Executive Director Wesley Smith Senior Director of Communications/PIO Naj Alikhan Chief Operations Officer Scarlett Vanyi; Senior Director of Member Services Margarita Cuizon; Chief Marketing Officer Tatia Davenport; Senior Director of Educational Services Margaret Arthofer; Senior Directors of Governmental Relations Edgar Zazueta and Adonai Mack; Senior Director of Information Technology Tony Baldwin; Senior Director of Equity and Diversity Marguerite Williams EdCal Editor Cary Rodda Advertising/Website Coordinator Emily Agpoon This series introduces ACSA staff to members. These are the people working tirelessly for you each and every day. Content Specialists Michael Kelly and Darcy Totten ACSA CareerConnect Coordinator Tracy Olmedo ACSA Board of Directors President Holly Edds President-elect Linda Kaminski Vice President Ron Williams VP for Legislative Action Terri Rufert Past President Lisa Gonzales Members: Charlie Hoffman, Christine McCormick, Daniel Hernandez, Tim Gill, Jay Spaulding, Parvin Ahmadi, Denise Wickham, Juan Cruz, Ana Boyenga, Barbara Martinez, Blanca Cavazos, Ted Alejandre, Craig Helmstedter, Victor Thompson, Sue Kaiser, Angel Barrett, Rafael Plascencia, Joe Austin, Mike McCormick, Linda Hutcherson, Lisa Ketchum, Daryl Camp, Derrick Chau Burlingame, [phone] • Sacramento, [phone] • Ontario, [phone] • toll-free (800) 608-ACSA Who: Mary Gomes Job: Educational Services Executive Mary oversees the statewide implementation of the first-class ACSA academy program, and provides support for three state councils: Elementary, Middle Grades and Secondary education. Favorite pastime: Mary loves to travel. The most fascinating place she has been so far is South Africa. ACSA. We work for you.