In my 27 years as a mathematics professor at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), I’ve taught every math course typically offered at a community college, from basic skills through calculus. I’ve also taught every type of student you can imagine. Like the courses I teach, my students run the gamut — each requiring unique...

On November 7, Los Angeles Unified’s two newest board members will face early tests of their commitment to changing the district’s culture as it relates to how it views and relates to the charter schools it authorizes. The LAUSD staff is recommending the board vote to close highly successful, existing charter schools serving thousands of...

When my parents moved our family here, I knew it was their dream to come to the United States to provide a better life for my siblings and myself. At the time, I couldn’t put that into context. As an 11-year-old kid, far away from our home in Guatemala, all that consumed me was the...

Six years ago when I became the principal of Jordan High School (part of the Partnership for LA Schools), in Watts, I walked onto a campus where 20 percent of students were suspended, 34 percent graduated, and 62 percent felt they were safe on campus. In 2016-2017, we had a 2.0 percent suspension rate, we...

At some schools about a dozen times a day, school deans and security walk into LAUSD classrooms and pick out five students to conduct a “random” search. They take us out of class and into the hallway where they go through our belongings. We are told they are searching us for weapons, but they frequently...

In the historic “Is the American Dream at the Expense of the American Negro?” debate in 1965, author James Baldwin locks horns with conservative leader William F. Buckley Jr. about the significance of the American flag. “It comes as a great shock around the age of 5, 6, or 7 to discover that the flag...

Who owns the agenda for education change? It is not uncommon (and in fact it is encouraging) to hear education reformers proclaim: “We need to see parents exercise their power on education to achieve ‘X’!” But ‘X’ is often the agenda the speaker has — with good intentions — set. It may not be the...

It’s only the second month of school and Ernesto has already cussed me out several times. He learned to protect himself in the school of hard knocks, where daily lessons involve neglect, abuse, and distrust from the adults in his life. His father left him when he was young, and his mother worked multiple jobs...

George McKenna is known for waxing eloquently during the school board meetings, and at the meeting on Sept. 12, he wrote down some of his thoughts. Part of the reason was because the new board President Ref Rodriguez is limiting statements to five minutes per topic by each of the board members, but part of it...

By Patricia Rivera This summer, as the beginning of the school year got closer, I started to feel more and more worried instead of feeling excited. After spending nearly six months trying to find my daughter a new middle school, all I had to show for it was an uncertain position on several waitlists. My...