The state of California faired poorly in a new report from the Education Law Center that grades states on how fair their educational funding system is in regard to providing extra funding for low-income districts. However, the report is based on data from 2012, before the state enacted the groundbreaking Local Control Funding Formula and...

School may be out for the summer, but things are not cooling down for the LA Unified school board as no less than three organizations are planing rallies or protests at Tuesday’s scheduled board meeting. The LA teachers union, UTLA, the Ethnic Studies Now Coalition and a conglomerate of organizations in favor of the district...

With Superintendent Ramon Cortines voicing opposition to the idea, the future of LA Unified’s plan to make the district the second in the state to require an ethnic studies course as a high school graduation requirement appears to be in doubt. In a May 8 letter obtained by LA School Report addressed to the Ethnic Studies Advisory...

California is woefully deficient in providing quality math education to low-income students and students of color and needs to make a better coordinated effort as it switches to the new Common Core State Standards in math (CCSSM), according to a new report from Education Trust-West. Fifteen percent of low-income eighth-grade students in California earned proficient...

The Social Justice Humanitas Academy in the San Fernando Valley has been honored as one of seven winners of the 2015 National Community Schools Award for Excellence as a result of the school’s huge spike in graduation rates. The award, which is granted by the The Coalition for Community Schools, highlights schools that successfully partner with community organizations to...

Despite a state budget flush with extra billions for education, Gov. Jerry Brown is receiving criticism from some early education advocates for a “strikingly minimal” approach to early education funding. In response to the growing body of evidence of the importance of preschool, a coalition of academics, lawmakers, community leaders and business leaders has created...

The LA teachers union, UTLA, has had a busy, visible 2014-15 school year, staging numerous rallies, boycotts and strike threats on the way to securing a new three-year contract and 10.4 percent raise. But before the school year is out — or technically, just after, as the last day of class for LA Unifed is...

Few topics in California education are as polarizing as the Vergara case, one of the most prominent battlegrounds for the reform vs. status quo wars. The ruling by a California Superior Court Judge last year wiped out job protection laws for teachers when it comes to layoffs, tenure and dismissals, but a new report and...

*UPDATED A bitter war of words between the management of  Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and UTLA, the union trying to organize its teachers, got nastier today. UTLA accused Alliance management and the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) of “anti-teacher activity” by paying alumni to call parents of students to sway their opinion against union efforts to draw the...