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LA Unified faces criticism after collapse of splashy AI tool “Ed”
Parents, educators, and advocates criticized Los Angeles Unified’s bumpy rollout and collapse of its splashy artificial intelligence chatbot “Ed” – even as the district moved ahead with more projects powered by the cutting-edge technology. LAUSD last month shut down the chatbot after the firm hired to build it lost its CEO and furloughed workers. District officials...
By Ben Chapman | July 23, 2024
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Future of LAUSD’s AI student chatbot in doubt 3 months after launch as ed-tech firm furloughs staff
The future of LA Unified’s heavily-hyped $6 million Artificial Intelligence chatbot was uncertain after the tech firm the district hired to build the tool shed most of its employees and its founder left her job. Boston-based AllHere Education, founded in 2016 by Harvard grad and former teacher Joanna Smith-Griffin, figured heavily in LAUSD’s March 20...
By Ben Chapman | June 26, 2024
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‘Tip of the iceberg’: Student homelessness in LAUSD worse than data show, warns Carvalho
LA Unified senior Kamryn Williams is studying for finals this week — in the Chrysler sedan where she lives with her mother and their dog. Kamryn, 18, who graduates next month from Hamilton High School in Culver City and will attend college in the fall, is one of about 15,000 homeless students enrolled in Los...
By Ben Chapman | May 29, 2024
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LA’s charter school wars are headed to court. Here’s what’s at stake
The California Charter Schools Association last month filed a lawsuit against LA Unified over its controversial new policy barring charters from using classrooms in certain district school buildings. It’s unclear if the CCSA will prevail in court, but the suit is already making an impact on the nation’s second-largest district. LAUSD’s new colocation rules were...
By Ben Chapman | May 8, 2024
Studies: Pandemic Aid Lifted Scores, But Not Enough To Make Up for Lost Learning
‘Astonishing’ Absenteeism, Trauma Rates Root of Academic Crisis
Reinventing Report Cards: Reading, Writing, Collaboration and Other Work Skills
Older Immigrant Students Say High School Admission Bettered Their Lives in U.S.
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LAUSD schools roll out science of reading and training, state lawmakers reject mandate
Los Angeles Unified is pushing ahead with district-wide lesson plans based on the science of reading even after state lawmakers rejected legislation requiring the curriculum. About half of the 434 elementary schools in the nation’s second-largest school system have already adopted lessons aligned to the phonics-based science of reading, according to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. The...
By Ben Chapman | April 30, 2024
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Oscar or no, LA schools’ ‘Last Repair Shop’ at center of nominated documentary has already won big
Even if they don’t win an Oscar, they’ve already won a makeover. Surrounded by blocks of choking Los Angeles traffic, homeless encampments and garbage, a windowless warehouse encircled by a security fence is the unlikely setting for “The Last Repair Shop,” an inspiring documentary now up for an Academy Award on March 10. “You don’t...
By Ben Chapman | March 7, 2024
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The nation’s biggest charter school system is under fire in Los Angeles
The nation’s largest experiment with charter schools is no longer growing. These days, Los Angeles charter leaders say their schools are just trying to survive. With tough, new policies, falling enrollment, and a hostile district school board, the decades-old charter school sector in Los Angeles has never faced headwinds so stiff, operators say. Los Angeles,...
By Ben Chapman | February 21, 2024
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New LAUSD policy barring city’s charter schools from hundreds of public school buildings could lead to evictions
Charter schools will be barred from hundreds of Los Angeles Unified District school campuses under a new policy that is among the most restrictive of its kind. The new rules, presented at a school board meeting Tuesday, prevent charters from being sited in campuses that have been identified as serving vulnerable students, accounting for roughly...
By Ben Chapman | January 31, 2024
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Carvalho: ‘Not out of the woods yet’ — LAUSD enacts targeted freeze as federal aid expires
Los Angeles Unified has enacted a targeted hiring freeze and is considering closing or consolidating schools as it faces the loss of federal pandemic aid and declining enrollment, superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in an interview last week. Carvalho, who nearly two years ago assumed leadership of the nation’s second largest school district, said LAUSD is...
By Ben Chapman | December 12, 2023
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The fight over charters in LAUSD school buildings: What’s really happening
Los Angeles charter school operator Alfredo Rubalcava can’t sleep at night. Like other educators in Los Angeles, the CEO of Magnolia Public Schools is awaiting the unveiling of a new policy limiting the use of nearly half the city’s school buildings by independently run charter schools. But with LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho on the verge...
By Ben Chapman | November 13, 2023