Nowhere in the Los Angeles Unified District are the feelings of parent frustration, anger, and confusion more palpable than in the district’s central parent committees. These are groups of parents elected by their peers in local districts to represent the parent voice and provide feedback to the superintendent and Board of Education. It is here...

The Every Student Succeeds Act requires school districts to set aside at least 1 percent of their Title I funding for parent engagement. Yet the parent engagement policies we’ve seen rarely reach their potential to improve student success. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, district funds are often spent on programs that teach parents...

A lobbyist for the California Teachers Association took to Twitter recently beating the drum for transparency and accountability in advocating for a bill related to charter schools. Having private and secret meetings to discuss how tax dollars will be spent is not acceptable. Too much is at risk when our students are counting on sound...

An open letter to the governor of California prior to his final State of the State Address: Dear Governor Jerry Brown, Your January 25 State of the State Address coincides with the midpoint in the academic year for our local schools and students. A review of public education’s progress and challenges is warranted. Much work...

In fall 2016, one of my students dropped a well-written essay on my desk. It was the first essay of the semester, so I only asked students to write three to four pages. He wrote six. Fernando Arellano had just enrolled in Mt. San Antonio College after years serving in the National Guard. A father...

My wife and I have two boys, ages 3 and 1. We are just a few years away from sending them to kindergarten, and like all parents, we want them to go to a “good school.” We want our children to learn and grow academically and socially so they can live rewarding and secure lives...

Teachers are at their best when teaching material they are passionate about. The current curriculums in our education system are too restrictive and hinder teachers from reaching their full potential. To bring out their passions and reach their occupational apex, teachers need the opportunity to innovate, which requires a level of curricular freedom. If we...

Oh, California, you paradise, you far-flung western shoal, you frontier beyond purple mountains and fruited plains, you earth-shaking technological marvel, you never-ending party — California, you’re the land of good news, where the economy booms and the culture is wildly, diversely, supremely cool. You’re the golden realm at the end of our national rainbow. Fittingly,...