LA Unified made a big commitment Tuesday: by 2023 all students will be college-ready, and — to make sure parents can hold the district accountable — it will now report two different graduation rates. Through unanimous approval of the “Realizing the Promise for All: Close the Gap by 2023” resolution, the board members “publicly commit” to...

As LA Unified school board members press ahead with how to improve the district’s lowest-performing schools, a vote is scheduled for Tuesday on a resolution with higher student achievement and graduation goals as well as ways to strengthen individual schools. Growing frustration by parents who have children in the bottom tier of LA schools led...

Two reports released Tuesday urge LA Unified to start making tough choices to boost student achievement and to move faster in delivering more funds to the schools serving the neediest students. The first study found that LA Unified has been slow to get increased state funding to the schools serving students with the highest needs, particularly...

Every 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.) Lluvia Saenz, whose three kids attend LA Unified’s Huntington Park Elementary, made sure she was in the district’s school board auditorium when the new superintendent, Austin...

With the end of the school year nearing, students are celebrating as they move up to the next grade level. But not all parents are sure their kids are ready. Fewer than 4 in 10 LA Unified students are reading at grade level, even fewer are at grade level in math. But parents can’t hold...

Steven Ireland is one of four candidates running for state Superintendent of Public Instruction. Ireland, 59, was the last to enter the race. He is nonpartisan, has never run for office before, and is running as “the parent candidate.” The only position he has held in education was PTA president at Toluca Lake Elementary School,...

Lily E. Ploski is one of four candidates running for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. She is running as an independent. Ploski, 44, was raised in public schools in Orange County and Riverside County and attended community college at Diablo Valley College in the Bay Area, where she found her life’s passion to work in...

Even before he stepped onto the stage at Tuesday evening’s forum for gubernatorial candidates on children’s issues, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa let it be known that schools would be at the forefront of his statewide agenda. “I will be California’s education governor,” he told LA School Report backstage on the campus of Los...

Every 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.) Emilia Lara knew she needed to be involved in her son’s education. One thing she didn’t know is that as an English learner, her son needs...

*Updated May 2 Austin Beutner is ready to make hard choices to bring about change. “It starts with culture. LA Unified has to become an institution that looks at each issue with the mindset ‘We can do this’ and is willing to change to achieve that objective,” the new superintendent said Wednesday at his introductory...