JACK O/CONNELL STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION October 12, 2010 Ramon Cortines, Superintendent Los Angeles Unified School District 333 South Beaudry Avenue Thank you for coflacting the California Department of Education (CDE) regarding your request for student-level assessment data for students attending charter schools chartered by the Los Angeles Unified School! District (LAUSD) that have elected to test students independently of the district. Your e-mail to me indicated you wanted the data in order to “identify best practices and support schools that are struggling.” Ihave always encouraged schoo! districts to use state and local data in order to support student achievement and to evaluate programs and schools to ensure students receive a quality education. | applaud your efforts to monitor the charter schools in the Los Angeles area and to provide guidance to them to improve their programs. Current state law, California Education Code (EC) Section 60607 indicates that: Any pupil results of a record of accomplishment shall be private, and may not be released to any person, other than the pupil's parent or guardian and a teacher, counselor or administrator directly involved with the pupil, without the express written consent of either the parent or guardian of the pupil if the pupil is a minor, or the pupil if the pupil has reached the age of majority or is emancipated. Because of the legal restrictions imposed on the release of student-level assessment data, the CDE is unable to fulfill your current request. If you received these data in the past they were delivered in error. However, | have enclosed a CD-ROM that includes summary level Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) results for all LAUSD schools that you may use in assessing the performance of all of your schools, including your charter schools, to identify best practices and support schools that are struggling, These data will provide you the information you need in order to meet your objective. 1430 N STREET, SACRAMENTO, CA 95814-5901 + 916-319-0800 » WWW,CDE.CA.GOVRamon Cortines, Superintendent October 12, 2010 Page 2 Ifyou have any questions regarding this subject, please contact Rachel Perry, Director, Assessment, Accountability, and Awards Division, by phone at 916-319-0869 or by e-mail at iperry@cde.ca.gov. Sincerely, ie \CK O'CONNELL JO:re 2010-0608