The Locke Transformation Project

On Tuesday, September 11, 2007, the Los Angeles Unified School District made history when they approved the motion to transform Alain Leroy Locke High School into a Green Dot Charter High School. Starting in the fall of 2008, Locke High School will be run as a partnership between Green Dot Public Schools and LAUSD.

This historic alliance signifies a new era in which Locke High School will pull together and put all our effort into a singular mission:

All Locke students will receive the education they deserve to be successful in college and life...

Locke students will become true change agents and come back to transform South LA and Watts...

Locke will become a successful urban public high school, and will raise the bar for urban schools across the country.

Press Conference in front of Locke High School with Green Dot Founder Steve Barr,
the Los Angeles Parents Union, and Locke High School teacher Bruce Smith. May 10, 2007.

After transformation, the new Locke schools will serve 50% more students by increasing student retention (reducing dropouts). Based on Green Dot's results to date, more than 80% of students will graduate in four years, and more than 70% of graduates will go on to four-year colleges, with almost all the rest going to community college. We believe that similar results can be achieved at Locke.

In Fall 2007, Animo Watts 1 and Animo Watts 2 opened to serve some of Locke's incoming 9th graders, as the first step of the Locke Transformation Project. The project will be in full swing by fall 2008. At this time, Animo Watts 1 and 2 will house 9th and 10th graders. Two new ninth grade academies will open in the fall, as well as the Locke Launch to College Academy, which will house all of Locke's current 10th-12th grade students.

For more information about how Locke will be set up next year, download the Locke Newsletter below.