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Analysis: California is still the Golden State for teacher unions
By Mike Antonucci While teachers-union affiliates across the country ponder what went wrong on Election Day, the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers are celebrating another successful year at the polls. The unions helped deliver Hillary Clinton a 29-point margin of victory in California and backed Kamala Harris in her successful bid to...
By Guest contributor | November 30, 2016
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Please do something about bullying, Mr. Trump
By Hannah Bartlebaugh In the days following the election of Donald Trump, there have been incidents across the country of increased harassment and bullying that have made students feel unsafe and unwanted in their public schools. As we move into the era of a Trump presidency, it’s more important now than ever to address bullying....
By Guest contributor | November 20, 2016
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Transparency and accountability: Measuring school effectiveness through growth
By Dr. Cristina de Jesus America’s inequality crisis is getting worse, with the gap in opportunities based too often on parents’ income levels, ZIP code or ethnicity. Too many students and families are not able to tap into the promise of the American Dream because their public education options are limited, and it is long past...
By LA School Report | November 17, 2016
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Prop. 58 will maximize potential of English language learners and increase opportunities for bilingual education
By Kelly Gonez When you are a teacher with a student who is engaging and clearly capable of big things, it breaks your heart to see an obvious barrier to success. One of my students, I’ll call him Julian, faced this kind of challenge. He was the kind of student who makes you really appreciate...
By Guest contributor | November 7, 2016
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The cool factor in embracing California’s bilingual-education vote: Multiculturalism
Now, at the tail end of a historically fraught election season, seems like as good a time as any for a reminder: Multiculturalism is one of the jewels of American civilization. How can you tell? Because it’s delicious. Californians know this better than anyone else. By the time the rest of the country is discovering...
By Conor Williams | November 3, 2016
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I’m Latina and immigration is not one of my top issues during this election cycle
A recent report from the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) lends credence to an old complaint often made but rarely acknowledged. An increasing number of Latinos don’t know any other home than the United States, and yet we get immigration shoved down our throats every four years to the detriment of other issues we care about....
By Caroline Bermudez | October 24, 2016
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The absurdity of charter school oversight in LA
Imagine a school that has 97 percent of its students receiving free or reduced-price lunch. It is 98 percent Latino. Sixty-two percent are English-language learners. Despite these challenges, the school is thriving. On the Smarter Balanced Assessment, 54 percent and 50 percent of its students met or exceeded performance standards in English language arts and...
By Caroline Bermudez | October 20, 2016
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Prop. 58 can help eliminate stigma around bilingual education
By Christina Kim More than twenty years ago I was classified as an English learner. I spent my first few elementary school years in a classroom not learning much or improving my ability to communicate in English. Then, Californians voted in favor of an array of anti-immigrant propositions, including Proposition 227, which eliminated most bilingual...
By Guest contributor | October 20, 2016
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Commentary: We are asking the wrong questions about flavored milk
By Brent Walmsley I’d like to respond to the upcoming LAUSD board vote regarding a return of flavored milk at targeted LAUSD pilot schools to study if there will be a decrease in waste. At the moment, there is a lobby attempting to bring sugar-infused (flavored) milk back into schools. The arguments to do this have...
By Guest contributor | October 14, 2016
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Commentary: Benefits of early school start date outweigh concerns about summer heat
By Marisa Crabtree In the new era of the Local Control Funding Formula and the Every Student Succeeds Act, school districts have begun showing a renewed dedication to teacher, parent and community engagement. I was disappointed, however, that the Los Angeles Unified School District missed an opportunity to weigh student, family and community concerns before deciding to shift the school...
By Guest contributor | October 7, 2016