Each week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Isabel Martinez is celebrating that her daughter is the first in her family to go to college. She graduated from Mendez High School in Boyle Heights...

Native American students’ unique needs for too long have been poorly served, but culturally relevant charter schools could help change that. And the federal government is poised to fund their expansion. A new handbook on how to open and sustain charter schools for these students shows how charters can work with Native communities to make...

As immigration issues drive more Latinos into political activism, education is a ripe opportunity for Latino parents to wield considerable influence. A panel of education experts at a national convention last weekend in Miami agreed that Latino parents have catapulted this year from being mostly silent on political issues to becoming a significant voice in...

Each week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Maria Cerda is an LA Unified parent who advocates not only for her children’s schools but also for the school where she works. Cerda, a cafeteria...

You have to go to school, but schools aren’t required to teach you to read and write. Now a judge has ruled that California can be put on trial for failing to give low-income students equal access to literacy instruction.  A ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos, which was made public Monday, means...

New data show that almost half the teachers at LA Unified’s lowest-performing schools have not been evaluated for at least three years, and nearly all of those who were had received favorable ratings. Now the school board’s vice president is calling for more regular evaluations, which he said could require negotiating changes to the city’s...

*Updated July 23 Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos ruled on Monday denying the petition of the State of California and allowing the lawsuit on behalf of the 10 students to proceed. Morrison & Foerster partner Michael Jacobs, who is leading the firm’s pro bono team on the case, said, “We are pleased that the court is allowing us to proceed...

Each week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) “When my son was only 13 years old, he wanted to end his life because he’s gay and was being bullied in school.” Candelaria Medina says...

Updated July 12 Water levels were rising dangerously high and time was running out to rescue a team of soccer boys and their coach who had been trapped for two weeks in a Thailand cave. Thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, Elon Musk, the famed founder of the SpaceX rocket company, and his crew...

June 20 Update: The LAUSD board approved the 2018-19 budget as expected on June 19, and pledged support for a couple new initiatives, including college savings accounts and free college admissions tests. But again, senior district officials forecast that the district was headed towards financial catastrophe in just four years, when reserves are expected to...