The Urban Learning Centers provides design-based technical assistance to low-achieving urban schools and districts committed to comprehensive school restructuring.
In 1992, LAEP forged a collaborative with LAUSD, UTLA and the business and higher education communities of Los Angeles, whose proposal for a New American School design was accepted as a nationally recognized model. Elizabeth and Foshay Learning Centers were opened in 1993 and 1994 respectively, and today these two K-12 Urban Learning Centers, with over 3200 students each, serve as models to demonstrate design for urban schools in the 21st Century. In 1996, 10 schools in the Manual Arts cluster in south Los Angeles began reform work, and this fall Urban Learning Centers began transforming urban schools in Arizona, Utah, and Virginia as well as continuing its work at more than 20 schools in the Los Angeles area. Schools may partner with the Urban Learning Centers through the federal Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program (CSRDP) and the state Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program.
To date, the work of the Urban Learning Centers has been focused on the development of the two demonstration sites, the design of replicable components for other schools, and scale up to about 27 new schools. Elizabeth and Foshay Learning Centers served as pilot sites where training around the three components - Teaching and Learning, Governance and Management and Learning Supports Ü was implemented, tested and evaluated. Today, almost 1,000 visitors have seen these demonstration sites. The design is supported by the advanced use of technology and by reconfiguration of professional development around planning for continuous improvement.
