The following is part of a series of profiles highlighting various local education agencies’ (LEAs) efforts to develop quality arts education programming for their students. These profiles intend to support LEAs in generating ideas for effective arts programming that school leaders could implement with Prop 28 funding in different contexts.
Green Dot Public Schools: Network Wide Arts Programming
Overview
Founded in 1999, Green Dot Public Schools operates 18 across Los Angeles, serving students in grades 6–12. Their California schools are located across east and south Los Angeles, serving a diverse student body, predominantly Hispanic/Latino (86%), followed by African American (13%) and other ethnicities (1%). The schools largely serve a low-income demographic (96% eligible for free and reduced-price lunch) with a considerable portion of students who are emerging bilingual (20%) or have disabilities (15%). The charter network’s mission is to “help transform public education, so all students graduate prepared for college, leadership, and life” and it has recently hired a new charter visual and performing arts (VAPA) coordinator to help prioritize arts education within the network’s vision.
Background Information
(Note: Will be presented as tables and graphics)
- Regional information
- CMO Name: Green Dot Public Schools
- County Name: Los Angeles
- California County Superintendents Service Region: 11
- School information
- Number of Schools: 18
- Urban, rural, suburban classification: Urban
- Teacher information (2023–24)
- Total number of teachers in district: 509
- Total number of full-time equivalency (FTE) teachers: 507
Table 1. Snapshot of 2021–22 Teaching Assignment by FTE: Green Dot Public Schools
Data provided by Green Dot staff August 2, 2024.
4. Student information (2023–24)
- Number of students served: 9,744
- Percentage of English language learner (ELL) students: 16%
- Percentage of students with disabilities: 15.3%
- Percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL): 90.9%
- Demographics of students (2023-24)
- Percentage of African American students: 12.8%
- Percentage of American Indian or Alaska Native students: 0.1%
- Percentage of Asian students: 0.1%
- Percentage of Filipino students: 0.1%
- Percentage of Hispanic or Latino students: 85.7%
- Percentage of Pacific Islander students: 0.1%
- Percentage of White students: 1.1%
- Percentage of students who do not report their races: 0.02%
5. Arts course information (2023-24)
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- Total number of arts courses offered through the district: 24
- Total number of students enrolled in arts courses: 2,738
Program Description
Green Dot Public Schools opened their first school, Animo Leadership Charter High School, in 1999. Between 2000 and 2005, the network opened five high schools in Los Angeles in areas of the city where graduation rates were approximately 50 percent. All five of these high schools went on to be ranked in the top 2.5 percent of high schools nationwide by U.S. News and World Report. Since then, the network has grown to serve more than 14,000 students and currently operates 18 school sites in the Los Angeles area serving grades 6–12. Green Dot has seen incredible academic success with their schools over the last 25 years. Recently, there is a new focus on prioritizing visual and performing arts at Green Dot, evidenced by the creation of a new position: Green Dot’s Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator.
Rosa Joo stepped into this new VAPA Coordinator position at the start of 2024, although she’s been with the network for decades, starting as an arts teacher. Many traditional school districts across the state have VAPA coordinators; however, Green Dot is one of only a few charter school networks that funds a similar position. Green Dot has had arts programming in their schools since their first school opened, but similar to many traditional and charter public schools, arts programming was not always the priority. “In our network of small schools, our arts teachers are islands on their individual school campuses. Our organization-wide professional development days (‘All Green Dot Days’) create time and space to bring all VAPA teachers together to share best practices and resources, but we are working to increase centralized support from the central office around arts programming,” stated Joo. With Prop 28 AMS funding, Green Dot was able to create and fill a VAPA coordinator position to provide direct support to arts teachers across the network and to plan out the long-term vision for Green Dot’s arts programming. Although many districts have VAPA coordinator positions across the state, Green Dot is one of the first charter networks to create such a position, strategically using Prop 28 funds to do so.
Creating a Vision for Arts Programming Network Wide
Joo’s position was created as a direct result of Prop 28 AMS funding, which allowed Green Dot to create this central office position to provide VAPA support to the 18 schools within their network in California. This support includes coaching, creating VAPA professional development for teachers, consulting with school leaders on arts programming and curriculum and driving the work behind creating an arts strategic plan for Green Dot moving forward. “When we first received our Prop 28 allotment, our Chief Academic Officer, Chief Business Officer, and our financial analyst all agreed – step one was to figure out who can quarterback this. We needed a VAPA position,” shared Daniel Helenius, Green Dot’s Director of History and Elective Programs.
Although Green Dot has offered arts classes since its inception, Joo is now focused on ensuring VAPA vertical pathways exist for all high school students and middle school students gain access to high-quality arts programing. “Our longer-term goal is to offer vertical arts pathways at every high school; we currently have seven high schools that offer advanced level arts courses and we hope that we can continue to support all schools to grow in this direction,” shared Joo. The main constraints are balancing academic priorities, finding time in school schedules to offer more art electives, and the lack of physical space at school sites to add VAPA teachers, which are all common challenges among charter schools. To address some of these challenges at Green Dot, the network is working on creative solutions by leveraging community partnerships and working directly with principals and network leadership to assess each school’s unique priorities and hurdles for VAPA programming. Adding more arts classes is not the only answer, but Joo also knows that a large part of her role will be ensuring the quality of Green Dot’s programming remains top notch. “Moving forward, we will be focused on providing structured collaboration time for arts teachers to share best practices, develop standards-aligned instructional materials, and analyze student work.”
Student and Community Impact
Joo has seen the impact arts education has had on Green Dot students during her many years as a teacher, and in a city like Los Angeles, there are a plethora of career options related to visual and performing arts that many students dream of pursuing. Joo shared, “As an art teacher, you see firsthand what art class can do to empower students’ sense of their own academic and creative potential and provide a vehicle to develop their voices. The arts are inherently a celebration of each student’s identity and experience, and brings joy to school.” In the past, Joo and other art teachers at Green Dot would need to find additional VAPA opportunities outside of school for students who were passionate about the arts, especially for those students who wanted to pursue the arts in college and in their careers. With the additional funding through Prop 28, Green Dot is now focused on expanding arts options at the secondary level and building out vertical pathways, including offering AP arts courses for students to deepen their VAPA education and ensuring the quality of every VAPA class at Green Dot is high-level.
“As an art teacher, you see firsthand what art class can do to empower students’ sense of their own academic and creative potential and provide a vehicle to develop their voices. The arts are inherently a celebration of each student’s identity and experience, and brings joy to school.” Rosa Joo, VAPA Coordinator: Green Dot Public Schools
The VAPA program at Green Dot has made an impact on students and communities since the inception of their first school. For example, Green Dot has been hosting a network-wide writing, spoken word, and visual art competitions called Animo Voices for the last seven years. Green Dot continues to engage families and students to ensure their voices are heard about what arts programming, and hopes to form an arts-focused advisory councils to guide future decisions, such as who to partner with for school murals. Gathering such community input is a core component of Prop 28 and helps ensure school offerings align with student and community needs and priorities. With the additional funding from Prop 28 and a full-time network level position focused on supporting the VAPA program and teachers across the network, Green Dot is excited to deepen the impact that arts education can have on students and families across all their schools.
Appendices
Create CA and WestEd would like to thank and acknowledge individuals who supported the creation of the LEA education program profiles for Create CA’s Prop 28 AMS Planning Toolkit. Greed Dot Public Schools
Rosa Joo, Visual & Performing Arts Program Coordinator
Green Dot Public Schools California
rjoo@greendot.org
Daniel Helenius, Director of History/Social-Sciences and Electives Programs
Green Dot Public Schools California
dhelenius@greendot.org
This profile was made possible by the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and developed by Create CA and WestEd
Create CA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.