Magic Johnson gets in the education game
Magic Johnson-EdisonLearning Assist
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Former Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced today he is partnering with a New York-based for-profit education company to help dropouts and at-risk students in failing schools in urban school districts across the country.
Magic Johnson Enterprises will join with EdisonLearning to set up dropout prevention and recovery centers for high school-age students who have already left school or are at risk of leaving and want to earn a standard high school diploma.
The partnership will be called “Magic Johnson-EdisonLearning Assist.”
Johnson said he is getting involved because “improving the quality of life for people residing in urban areas is my life’s passion ...”
“When just over 40 percent of students in Los Angeles, Houston, and Baltimore are graduating from high school, and less than 30 percent of Black males in New York, Detroit and Miami, steps need to be taken to recapture these students into the education system to better their opportunities in life,” he said.
EdisonLearning markets itself as a school turnaround specialist for high schools in the most difficult inner-city areas in the country and abroad. The company operates at 391 schools in 25 states, the United Kingdom, and in the Middle East.
An EdisonLearning spokesman said the company makes money by receiving a share of per-pupil funding from school districts when the company gets teens return to or stay in school.
At the centers, students will attend a four- to five-hour morning, afternoon or evening session.
About two-thirds of the learning is done online, EdisonLearning spokesman Michael Serpe said.
The curricula is intended to get students back on track to earn a high school diploma, not a GED certificate.
Johnson is not paying for the centers, according to Serpe. The basketball hall-of-famer is, however, lending his name to the centers, which will be branded “Magic Johnson Bridgescape Learning Centers.”
“Obviously the attachment of his name, as well as his presence in some cases, will create a greater awareness (of the centers) and boost participation by the students,” Serpe said.
Last year, EdisonLearning opened eight Bridgescape Centers in Ohio, four each in Columbus and Cleveland. This month, its plans to open three new centers in Cincinnati.
Serpe said EdisonLearning is in talks with officials in the Los Angeles Unified School District about opening centers here.
“The education professionals at EdisonLearning have established a solid record for improving urban and under-performing schools,” Johnson said.
“The work they have done on behalf of children in some of the most challenging schools and communities in the nation is the reason I chose to work with them on this effort.”
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Undercover officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will be out in force this weekend for the 13th annual "Safe and Sober Graduation Operation,'' designed to combat underage alcohol use.
"Between June 1 and June 30, an estimated 27,000 students will graduate from Los Angeles Unified School District high schools,'' said LAPD Sgt. Lifernando Garcia.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Dozens of schools districts and schools in Los Angeles and Orange counties were awarded more than $13.6 million in federal grants to bolster programs that help students prepare for "college and careers,'' it was announced today.
A total of 37 districts and schools in the two counties received Enhancing Education Through Technology Competitive Grants.
Among the recipients were:
• Los Angeles Unified School District, $3 million;
• Long Beach Unified School District, $1 million;
View Park resident and retired Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) police officer David Anthony couldn’t believe his eyes when he entered the Lock n’ Load gun and ammo store in Henderson, Nev.
But there it was right in plain view, a pristine 60mm machine gun positioned high on a shelf for sale; a weapon, he feels, that kept him and his platoon alive during his tour of duty as a 19-year-old machine gunner in 1968 in the Vietnam War.
A team of students from Westchester High School, shown above, was one of three finalists in the inaugural Aspen Challenge—launched by the Aspen Institute and the Bezos Family Foundation, in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The team consists of, from left to right: coach Veianca Millet, Mia Brumfield, Arielle Brumfield, Chelsea Arzu, Nick Davis, Isaiah Dunn, Jasmine Polee, Jordan Keligond and Ralston Galvez.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The high school graduation rate in Los Angeles County for the 2011-12 school year was 74.7 percent, with a dropout rate of 14.9 percent, according to figures released today by the state Department of Education.
The graduation rate was up from 73.7 percent from the previous year, while the dropout rate dipped from 16.7 percent, according to the state.
