AIRED: March 16, 2014– 11 am PST
www.latalkradio.com
TITLE: “High Quality Public Schools for All Students”
LAUSD is the largest school district authorizer of charter schools in the country and according to a March 2014 Study by the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (or CREDO) at Stanford, is one of the strongest authorizers, as well. As the Study shows, students in LAUSD’s charter school portfolio are showing increased levels of achievement and growth.
According to José Cole-Gutiérrez, LAUSD’s Director of the Charter Schools Division, charter public schools provide families with important quality choices to meet their children’s needs. However, there are still too many students in both traditional and charter public schools who don’t graduate and too few students academically prepared to succeed.
Cole-Gutiérrez also serves on the Board of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), an organization committed to advancing excellence and accountability in the charter school sector. In 2012, NACSA launched its One Million Lives campaign to engage charter school authorizers and work with them to fix the failings from inside their own system. Along with a broad coalition of school operators, lawmakers, funders and others, NACSA’s vision is to lead the way in closing failing charter schools and opening many more excellent ones, so that one million more children the chance to attend a great school that will prepare them for success throughout their lives.
ABOUT JOSE COLE-GUTIERREZ
José Cole-Gutiérrez is passionate about helping all youth have access to a high-quality public education, especially given the transformative impact education has had on his own life. He currently serves as Director for the Charter Schools Division of the Los Angeles Unified School District. In his role, José is responsible for leading the team striving to foster high-quality educational options through exemplary charter school authorizing. LAUSD is the largest school district authorizer of charter schools in the country with about 250 schools serving over 130,000 students.
Prior to joining LAUSD, José served as
- General manager for the Los Angeles region of the California Charter Schools Association
- Academic Programs Director for PUENTE Learning Center in Los Angeles before joining the Association and
- As an adjunct professor at Cypress College, where he taught interdisciplinary ethnic studies courses.
José earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Stanford University with honors in Education and a Masters in Education from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
