Santa Ana Unified serves a low-income, high-minority population in Orange County, California. District leaders have set the goal of having all students graduate ready to enroll at a University of California or California State University upon graduating from high school. To accomplish this, Santa Ana Unified leaders have implemented a host of policies from revamping curricular resources to moving mores students into higher-level courses and supporting them along the way. This appears to be working. Since 2010, there has been a steady increase in the number of Santa Ana students leaving high school with the requirements needed to enroll in California’s leading higher education systems.
This brief is part of the Districts Rising series. Each brief in the series tells the story of a school district and its efforts to raise student achievement and prepare students for college and career. The briefs describe the strategies that districts have employed to raise academic standards for students, improve educator effectiveness, and engage stakeholders in the design and implementation of new policies. Nancy Zuckerbrod from KSA Plus Communication was the lead author of this brief.
