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Commentary: 11,000 LA teachers will leave the classroom by 2021, and we can stop it
By Jane Mayer and Jesse Soza, Ed.D. Los Angeles Unified School District alone employs 27,747 teachers, which doesn’t account for the thousands more employed by charters (typically younger and more likely to burn out) or private school teachers. Based on statistics, more than 11,000 of these highly passionate and well-educated members of our society will...
By Guest Contributors | October 3, 2016
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Commentary: Empowering teachers by reinserting their voices into the education space
By Jane Mayer and Jesse Soza, Ed.D. Two previous articles in this series, here and here, have detailed the enormity and the complexity of the teacher turnover problem in our country: more than 1 million teachers entering and exiting the classroom every year, and somewhere between 40 percent to 50 percent permanently exiting within five. This lack...
By Guest Contributors | August 30, 2016
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Commentary: The hidden crisis of teacher turnover in Los Angeles’ public schools
*UPDATED This is the first in a five-part series about teacher sustainability in Los Angeles and California public schools and the available solutions to reversing teacher turnover. When I was growing up in Birmingham, Ala., nearly 30 years ago, the same teachers taught kindergarten year after year. It was almost a given that my sister...
By Jane Mayer | August 11, 2016
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Report sounds alarm on CA teacher shortage, offers solutions
California’s teacher shortage is only going to grow more problematic unless the state takes action, according to a new report from the Learning Policy Institute. The report, Addressing California’s Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and Solutions, analyzes the origins of the shortage and also offers policy recommendations on how to fix it. “Our analysis...
By Craig Clough | January 21, 2016
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
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Poll: Concern among majority of Californians about teacher shortage
A poll released today by EdSource and the Learning Policy Institute shows that the majority of California voters are concerned about the teacher shortage facing the state and support the state’s taking action to help fix the problem. The survey of 1,002 registered voters, which was conducted by the The Field Poll, found that 64...
By Craig Clough | November 17, 2015
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Facing shortages, LAUSD stepping up efforts to find special ed teachers
Facing a statewide and national trend in a shortage of special education teachers, LA Unified officials are mounting an aggressive campaign to find them. And, if they can’t find them, the district is training the teachers themselves. “We are out and relentless as far as it goes for teachers, because university enrollment is down for...
By Mike Szymanski | October 16, 2015
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Commentary: Teachers as mirrors, a reflection on the diversity gap
By Emilio Solano Growing up Mexican-American in a predominantly white community in Oregon, I never had a Latino teacher. I remember men of color working as security guards and coaches, but no one of my ethnicity led a classroom. Even in our textbooks, Cesar Chavez merited just a paragraph. While many Los Angeles residents know we...
By Guest contributor | October 16, 2015
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Report: Fixing CA teacher shortage requires ‘profound shift’ in thinking
Among the biggest challenges facing California school districts in the coming years is a growing teacher shortage. Enrollment in teacher preparation programs has plummeted since 2008, and more than 100,000 teachers are expected to retire in the next decade. Despite the gathering storm, the state lacks any cohesive strategy to solving the problem, according to a...
By Craig Clough | July 29, 2015
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LA Unified offering new teachers a course in stress relief
Acknowledging the challenges facing new teachers with the aim of helping them have long careers, LA Unified is offering classes this month to help freshly-minted teachers learn how to deal with stress. The district is offering a the New Teacher Summer Institute, a five-day series of workshops, with about 1,800 teachers expected to take the courses....
By Mike Szymanski | July 16, 2015
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Teacher shortage around state leading to ’employees’ market’
As LA Unified is currently laying off hundreds of teachers and other employees to deal with a looming budget crisis, there is perhaps one piece of good news for any teacher getting a pink slip: it has become an “employees’ market” for teachers in the state. Due to a growing shortage, many large districts are...
By LA School Report | March 23, 2015