Enrollment is down for LAUSD’s popular and revamped winter recovery program

On the first day of Los Angeles Unified’s Winter Academy, enrollment began 14% lower than last year with about 64,000 students signed up for a week of credit recovery and enrichment camps.

The district moved the program to start in January this year, ahead of the second semester, rather than keep it in December at the end of the first semester, as in previous years. And it is now a full week instead of three days.

The program started in 2022 as "acceleration days,” meant to help students make up for lost learning time during the COVID-19 pandemic using winter and spring breaks.

“ I believe that even though the enrollment is a bit lower, attendance hopefully will be higher,” said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho on Monday.

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Subscribe

Some families did sign up in person Monday and brought enrollment to just over 65,000 students by the end of the day, according to a district spokesperson.

Enrollment in previous years has ranged from 71,000 to 74,000 students, with an average attendance of 55% to 60%, the spokesperson said in a statement.

Variations on winter recovery

Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies is one of 319 campuses offering Winter Academy. About 200 students attended the school’s enrichment camps, which in addition to STEAM programs (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics), included focuses on writing and math.

Middle schoolers at SOCES on Monday crowded around lab tables to watch folded paper flowers bloom when placed in a pan of water, a display of “capillary action”— the movement of sticky water molecules through a porous material.

Norman Goss keeps a foil ball aloft with the power of static electricity as classmate Catherine Galvez, left, watches, on the first day of SOCES' Middle School STEAM Camp during Winter Academy.

(

Mariana Dale

/

LAist

)

Seventh grader Catherine Galvez said her dad signed her up for the camp because she wants to be an astronomer.

“We're trying to find STEM programs that are like, inviting, but also, like, easy to get into,” Galvez said.

Teacher Riley Leary said unlike the traditional Winter Academy, the Middle School STEAM Camp is not focused on replacing work from the school year.

“This is based on curiosity. This is based on wonder,” Leary said.

Across campus, seventh grader Sophia Bezgubenko's wonder is limited to whether she can bring up her grades in health and science. She's one of the 300 students who are signed up for credit recovery. Bezgubenko is here at her mom’s urging.

“ I'm a little annoyed, but it’s alright,” she said of having to get up early during the last week of winter break.

The Algebra II students in Raymond Toleco's Winter Academy classroom review linear functions and absolute value functions.

(

Mariana Dale

/

LAist

)

A few doors down, 31 of 35 students enrolled showed up for Raymond Toleco’s Algebra II class.

Toleco said the additional days of Winter Academy give him more time to review with students instead of just assigning them work to complete on their own over the break.

“Mostly I have hardworking students and some of them wanna improve from D to hopefully a B,” Toleco said.