LA School Report

“Yo me siento muy feliz porque yo hace mi proyecto”, dice un pequeño estudiante rubio de tercer grado, sentado en la alfombra. “Hice mi proyecto”, corrige la profesora María Lomeli a través de un micrófono conectado a unos altavoces situados a un lado de los que se encuentran reunidos. Es un comienzo tranquilo del 100º...

This year, I’ve been speaking with everyday Americans to hear their ideas about the purpose of public schools and how to improve them. One aspiration cuts across all perspectives: Everyone wants their children to feel a sense of belonging in school. Parents can’t understand why this isn’t more of a priority in education policy, and...

Aug. 21 marks 50 years since the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was passed into law. Back then, student privacy looked a lot different than it does today: The classrooms and textbooks of yesteryear presented much less risk than Google or artificial intelligence do, but education officials still had growing concerns over databases...

It is a bromide in a presidential election year to fret that young people will not turn out to vote, and that the election will therefore be dominated — as in so many past years — by wealthy older voters. As thoughtful observers have already pointed out, that notion is — statistically and philosophically — a red...

In the last few weeks news media outlets have reported problems with Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) new AI chatbot portal.  But while district officials work through the program’s kinks, for many Latino and Indigenous families, talk about the use of advanced technologies to improve or simplify communication with schools is daunting. Even parents...

Hey, young people: Want a good job? You might consider becoming a teacher. You won’t get rich, but teachers earn more money than you might think. Plus, you’ll have a much easier time landing (and keeping) a job than many of your peers. This might sound like counterintuitive career advice given the current state of...

The Child Tax Credit isn’t a subject you’d expect to receive much attention in the middle of a heated presidential campaign. Somewhat technocratic in nature, invisible to a large share of the electorate, the benefit was established in 1997 to provide relief to parents while their kids were young. Its reach is impressive, granting up...

A week before classes at Los Angeles Unified began earlier this month, attendance workers tasked with fighting chronic absenteeism fanned out across the city, visiting the homes of children to make sure they’d show up for the first day of instruction.  Knocking on the doors where kids had repeatedly missed school, the workers told parents...

Heading into a divisive national election, a new poll shows that when it comes to education, at least, Americans overwhelmingly agree that the next president should focus on two things: preparing students for careers and attracting top teachers who will stay in the profession. “There are clear priorities that overwhelming numbers of Americans on both...

In an era when partisan echo chambers have produced polarized public discourse and a politically aligned unwillingness to entertain inconvenient facts, clear investigative journalism is among the highest forms of public service. It’s also increasingly rare, with many media outlets struggling to find their footing in an era of financial, political and technological instability. More...