One of the many surprises of being a new parent is just how many diapers a tiny baby can go through in a day. In the haze of those first weeks and months adjusting to having an infant, parents shouldn’t have to worry about whether they can afford enough diapers — or what financial sacrifices...

The first time a 5-year-old told me swimming wasn’t for him, I asked him what he meant. He shrugged. No one in his family had ever learned. It just wasn’t for people like them. And he said it in the same matter-of-fact manner as if telling me the sky was blue. The fourth time a...

While reform around reading instruction continues to gain momentum, about a third of teachers are using  “discredited” methods to teach kids how to read and aren’t fully committed to the science of reading, a new report found. In a survey of more than 1,200 K-3 educators in the fall of 2025, researchers at the Fordham...

Most California parents assume that when they send their children to school on a hot day, someone is responsible for keeping them safe. They assume there are rules and that the adults in charge will notice if a child is struggling in the heat. That assumption is not always true. Until very recently, it was...

Ten-year-old Bella Perez, from Manhattan, has had the same fear for months: She worries that her mother, who hails from the Dominican Republic, will be detained and deported, despite having a green card. “I’m scared because if someone takes her away, what am I supposed to do about it?” the fifth grader said. “I’ve been...

At LA’s BEST, we believe in this city. We believe in its people, its resilience and its capacity to do right by every Angeleno, including its youngest ones. And we believe that when the City of Los Angeles and its community partners work together, extraordinary things happen. Then-Mayor Tom Bradley, in a move both practical...

This story was originally published by EdSource. Sign up for their daily newsletter. State leaders’ recent attention to early literacy has led to funding and new programs to help close the literacy achievement gap. But math? The state hasn’t focused on it. And that neglect shows. State and national scores reflect many of California’s systemic weaknesses,...

In 10 years, you see a lot. You see students enter kindergarten and grow into young adults ready to step into the world. You see educators develop their craft, take on new challenges and at times struggle under growing demands. You see communities change — economically, culturally, emotionally. And if you are paying attention, you...

This story was originally published on LAist. When Eduardo Mira started his senior year at Ánimo Pat Brown Charter High School, he thought politics was a “fool’s game.” “All I saw from the media was just negativity and division and, like, political violence,” Mira said. “Nothing good, but now I do see the beauty in...

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license. The primary for the state’s top K-12 schools job is in less than a month, but judging from the polls, it’s debatable whether anyone is paying attention. A whopping 32% of voters are undecided with just a few weeks...