This story was originally published by EdSource.
Black student achievement continues to rise in Los Angeles Unified — and exceeded the district’s average growth in last year’s Smarter Balanced Assessments, according to preliminary district data.
Despite the progress, there is still a lag in performance between Black students and the district as a whole. In English language arts, 37% of Black students scored “proficient” or “advanced,” compared to 48.3% overall. In math, 27.6% of Black students hit that same mark, compared to 39.7% overall.
Black Student Achievement Plan schools performed about as well as schools districtwide as a whole in English, slightly below it in math and above it in science, according to an EdSource analysis. District data also shows improvements in graduation rates and AP course enrollment. Preliminary figures for the 2025-26 school year indicate an approximately 86% graduation rate, LAUSD administrators told EdSource.
LAUSD, like other large, urban districts has long struggled to narrow a persistent achievement gap between Black students and many of their peers. The Black Student Achievement Plan, or BSAP, was established in 2021 to provide additional staffing and resources to campuses that collectively serve about one-third of the district’s Black students.
Experts say the gains are worth celebrating, but caution that sustaining them would require continued investment as the district faces financial pressures and political challenges.
“I believe in the whole notion that rising tides lifts all boats. You help your most vulnerable, you help the least amongst all students, it’s still a win,” said Tyrone Howard, a professor of education at UCLA. “But historically, what we’ve seen is that when there are times of fiscal duress, those programs for the most vulnerable tend to go by the wayside. … And so, when they suffer, the district as a whole suffers.”
How LAUSD made its gains
Howard said three strategies are most likely linked to improved achievement for Black students: using data intentionally to identify learning gaps and target interventions, providing additional academic support and investing in programs specifically designed to help Black students, such as LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement Plan.
District administrators and community advocates likewise point to those strategies as key drivers of the district’s recent progress.
“We want to be very purposeful in the work that’s done around Black students — for probably the first time in history being able to call out a student group the way that we’ve been able to call out here in Los Angeles,” said Andre Spicer, LAUSD’s chief of schools, in an interview with EdSource.
“When you measure [their progress], with the right strategies, they tend to improve, and we’ve seen that over the last several years for Black students in particular in Los Angeles.”
District officials said interim assessments are a key part of that approach, helping teachers identify students who need additional support and pinpointing specific skills that require attention.
LAUSD relies heavily on the i-Ready Assessment system, which has drawn criticism from teachers and parents over its use in the classroom. Administrators said the assessments allow schools to monitor students’ progress throughout the year, and that district data show a strong correlation between i-Ready scores and performance on the Smarter Balanced assessments.
LAUSD campuses are also home to an instructional leadership team that helps “drill down on the specifics of the reports” and “develop specific action plans for that student based on that data,” said Pia Sadaqatmal, the district’s chief academic officer.
Sadaqatmal said those data discussions extend from individual schools to regional offices and, ultimately, district leadership. Administrators said it’s important for students to track their progress as well.
Ensuring progress continues amid a perfect storm
Maintaining that momentum may prove more difficult as LAUSD faces changes in district leadership, fiscal challenges and ongoing attacks on programs designed to support students of color.
This year, LAUSD is losing two of its top academic leaders: Karla Estrada and Frances Baez, who is retiring. Still, administrators say the district will remain on track because of their newly approved strategic plan for the next four years.
“But we continue to make sure that we can accelerate from a place of strength,” Sadaqatmal said. “We know that we have the momentum on our side, and we’re just continuing to build off of that.”
LAUSD’s leaders recognized that because of the cuts, they’ll have to do more with less — but that Los Angeles Unified has a history of remaining resilient.
Howard, the UCLA professor, worries those financial pressures could disproportionately affect programs that uplift marginalized students, including Black students.
“I think about schools that have, for example, attendance counselors to help reduce chronic absenteeism. Hopefully, those don’t go. I think about positions like school counselors. Hopefully those positions don’t go,” Howard said. “Hopefully programs like BSAP don’t go, but I think districts are oftentimes more intent to cut out programs compared to cutting out people. And when programs go, students still suffer.”
Nearly 90% of Black students said they benefit from BSAP, a 2023 survey by organization Safe Schools Los Angeles found. Ezekiel Getachew, a senior at King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, said counselors assigned through the Black Student Achievement Plan have played a key role in helping him and his classmates succeed.
“There’s no way that we can improve student achievement without addressing the environment in schools that Black students go to,” said Joseph Williams, executive director of Students Deserve, a community organization focused on “making Black lives matter in schools.”
Earlier this year, King/Drew Magnet High celebrated having the district’s highest UC admissions rate for Black students.
“It’s probably such a rare thing that you wouldn’t see in so many other schools that they have a strong group of Black students with a high academic standing who are willing to stand together with one another and uplift each other to ensure that we all look good as one,” Getachew said.
Howard also worries about the program’s future in the current political environment. BSAP has already weathered a complaint filed by the conservative group Parents Defending Education. Meanwhile, LAUSD expects significant reductions to funding distributed through its Student Equity Needs Index, which is likely to lose hundreds of millions of dollars; the district’s Predominantly Hispanic, Asian, Black or other non-Anglo, or PHABO, program, with roots in school desegregation, is facing legal challenges.
“I’m always cautiously optimistic, waiting for the other shoe to drop,” he said, “because if the current moment politically continues to persist, and programs like BSAP have to go by the wayside, how will LAUSD figure out a Plan B to still support Black students?”
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