2025 ACSA Superintendents Symposium

California’s 9 CORE Districts (Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Sacramento, Fresno, San Jose and San Francisco) have a long history of pushing against systems that are not working and improving them. CORE’s latest work involves 38 high schools working in a multi-district networked improvement community to increase the number of African American and Latinx students on track for postsecondary success. Since the network launched in 2019, schools have realized significant gains in the number of students who are on track, fewer Ds and Fs, improved attendance, and a greater sense of belonging among students. In this session participants will gain a deeper understanding about how CORE’s work has evolved since 2010, when CORE was awarded a federal waiver from California’s onerous school accountability laws. Since then CORE’s work has expanded to more cross-district improvement strategies that are interrupting inequities so that all students thrive. The session will take a look at how CORE is forcing critical conversations about equity practices, grading policies, and the coherence from site to central office required to support the highest levels of teaching and learning