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Special ed enrollment at charters nearly matches district’s percentage, but exodus from LA Unified looms
LA Unified’s district schools and independent charters enroll nearly the same percentage of students with disabilities after five years of gains by charters, a new report shows. But cooperation between nearly 100 of LA Unified’s 221 charters and the district could slide into chaos if the LA Unified school board decides not to continue a...
By Craig Clough | July 22, 2016
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Demolition of long-closed West Valley schools to begin Monday, leaving empty lots
*UPDATED LA Unified will begin demolition Monday at the first of two schools to be razed in the West San Fernando Valley. But no new construction is planned, leaving empty lots in residential neighborhoods. The Oso Avenue and Highlander Road elementary schools have sat mostly empty for more than 30 years, becoming eyesores and a source of...
By Craig Clough | July 14, 2016
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How this LA Unified math teacher and blogger hooked his kids on data
*UPDATED There were three days left in the school year, and final grades had already been turned in. Benjamin Feinberg’s 8th grade algebra students at Luther Burbank Middle School in Highland Park were looking forward to graduation and officially becoming high schoolers. But despite these kids having no tangible reason to stay engaged in the lesson...
By Craig Clough | July 12, 2016
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JUST IN: No lawsuit for 20th Street Elementary as parents, LA Unified agree to plan by Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
After two legal attempts by parents to take over a South-Central LA elementary school they said was failing their children, an agreement has been reached for the school to join the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The deal averts a threatened lawsuit and ends a two-year “parent trigger” battle. The agreement moves 20th Street Elementary...
By Craig Clough | July 5, 2016
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By the numbers: Did ‘all hands on deck’ save LA Unified’s sinking graduation rate?
LA Unified began the new year facing a formidable challenge, as only 54 percent of its senior class was projected to be on track for passing all their A through G standards, a series of courses required for acceptance into California’s public universities. The new, higher graduation standards went into effect for the first time...
By Craig Clough | June 14, 2016
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Livestream of today’s LA Unified school board meeting
The LA Unified school board is scheduled to hold an open session meeting today. The agenda includes a vote on approval of revisions to a year-old teacher evaluation system and a public hearing on next year’s Local Control Accountability Plan. Click here to watch the livestream of the meeting.
By Craig Clough | June 14, 2016
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First graduating class at Alliance’s Smidt Tech High boasts 4 Gates Millennium Scholars
A Los Angeles public high school graduating its first senior class this week has an extra reason to celebrate: four seniors have scored the same prestigious scholarship. One thousand students this year were selected to participate in the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, a $1.6 billion initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that...
By Craig Clough | June 8, 2016
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Judge issues mixed rulings in unionization struggle between UTLA and charter school operator Alliance
*UPDATED A California Administrative Law judge has issued a number of rulings in the year-plus legal battle between Alliance College-Ready Public Schools and the LA teachers union, UTLA. Friday’s rulings on several complaints that were brought to the California Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) were mixed, with some in favor of the independent charter school operator and some...
By Craig Clough | June 7, 2016
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State lawmakers approve audit of Alliance schools’ use of funds in battle with UTLA
The California Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted Wednesday to audit Alliance College-Ready Public Schools over the charter management organization’s use of funds in its unionization conflict with the LA teachers union, UTLA. Alliance operates 27 independent charter schools in LA Unified. The organization’s management has for more than a year been resisting an attempt by UTLA...
By Craig Clough | May 25, 2016
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Report: Students in LA get far less bang for their educational buck
California may spend more on its students, but the high cost of living means students in the state — and particularly in Los Angeles — are getting far less on average than those in the rest of the nation, a new study shows. But even if there’s less purchasing power for education in California, at...
By Craig Clough | May 23, 2016