By Carol Arocha Random wanding has prevented some students from harming others. The weapons may not be guns or bombs, but have no doubt, handmade knives (shanks), clubs, brass knuckles, pepper spray, and other such instruments have been found and removed, saving children from physical harm. Wanding has helped administrators remove drugs and alcohol from...

By Max Arias It is no coincidence that this year, Los Angeles’ largest Labor Day march will begin in front of Ramon Cortines High School. The popular narrative is that labor unions and public schools are on opposing sides; that somehow addressing issues of wages, hours, and working conditions is at odds with putting kids first....

By Haena Shin Teachers can tell when they are effective. In my first year as a special education teacher in a pre-kindergarten setting, the signs were small but profound — a nonverbal student who started to greet me in the mornings, a student who didn’t know how to hold a pencil properly who learned to...

By Francisco C. Rodriguez and Thomas F. Rosenbaum  We oversee two very different institutions. The Los Angeles Community College District is a network of community colleges that serves 250,000 students of all ages. The California Institute of Technology is a private university in Pasadena, with a few thousand undergraduates and graduate students dedicated to exploring...

By Jenny Hontz The LAUSD Board votes Tuesday on a resolution to oppose the creation of an innovative new state-authorized STEM middle and high school intended to increase the pipeline of qualified under-represented students of color and women attending elite STEM universities and entering science, technology, engineering and math professions. The resolution against this proposed school, which...

By James L. Woodworth The ultimate goal for an education system is to enable individuals to become happy, engaged, productive members of society. Unfortunately, at this time, measuring happiness, productivity, and civil contribution of individuals is difficult. Tracing those measurements back to the schools attended by an individual is practically impossible. Thus, researchers and other...

“Wooooow. They built this just for us?” By Glenn Gritzner This week, a significant milestone is being achieved for the students of LAUSD that deserves to be celebrated. The final school — Bell High School — is coming off the year-round calendar, meaning that every school in LAUSD will now be on the traditional nine-month...

By Emilio Pack The new goal charter networks have adopted — boosting the college graduation rate for their alumni — is a wise one. It’s definitely time to move past the short-sighted goal of only ensuring they win admittance into a college. But in rushing to meet this new goal, it’s easy to overlook an awkward...

By Nancy White Horse  As parents, we spend a lot of time worrying about our children’s education: we nag them to finish their homework every night, we push to pair them with the best possible teachers, and we lay awake at night hoping they are going to be prepared for their future. However, we often...