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Commentary: How ESSA is driving states to create education transition policies for incarcerated students
Note: SB 304 is scheduled to be heard Tuesday, April 18. This column originally appeared at AheadOfTheHeard.org By Hailly Korman Last month, I gave testimony before the California Senate Education Committee on SB 304, a state bill to define the required elements of an education transition plan for a student leaving a juvenile court school and returning...
By Guest contributor | April 17, 2017
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Want to cause a problem in the future? Name your school after someone famous today
By Kevin Mahnken There are three middle schools in Palo Alto, each named after an important figure in local history: Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School honors the co-founder of Stanford University; David Starr Jordan Middle School is named after Stanford’s first president; and Terman Middle School memorializes the psychologist Lewis Terman and his son Frederick,...
By Guest contributor | April 16, 2017
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Analysis: If March Madness were about schools’ graduates climbing the income ladder, UCLA would be champ
For one more day, the nation gets to continue its escape from world events via the thrills of March Madness. While important issues of governance have been tying Congress and the Trump administration into knots, a wide cross section of the population has been preoccupied instead with the Sweet Sixteen and the Final Four, fixating...
By Guest contributor | April 3, 2017
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Commentary: New California accountability dashboard provides little light for poor families
By Seth Litt “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin For more than a year, families from Parent Revolution’s Parent Power Network have voiced their concerns about the direction of California’s school accountability system. They’ve met with legislators, taken multiple overnight bus...
By Guest contributor | March 30, 2017
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Commentary: Keeping the DREAM alive — how to talk to students and what you can do
By Stephanie Kozofsky On a recent field trip, Paola told me that she has not seen her parents in four years. A senior, Paola has a 3.4 GPA, is on the flag football team and the varsity soccer team, and is taking a college course after school. Her love for this school, her education, and...
By Guest contributor | March 23, 2017
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Commentary: Let’s make teacher tenure meaningful
By Phylis Hoffman I was glad when I received tenure in LAUSD. I was also surprised. As a new teacher in LAUSD, I had no idea I was under evaluation for tenure until that moment. Suddenly, the code on my paycheck changed, notifying me I’d been granted the permanent status known as tenure. I’d been...
By Guest contributor | March 22, 2017
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Petruzzi: As ESSA scales down federal oversight, educators and local leaders must rise to the challenge
By Marco Petruzzi In today’s world of frenzied news alerts from the D.C. bubble, speculation about the new administration and persisting education debates make it easy to forget that out here in the real world, education leaders and local communities are quietly moving forward adapting new federal guidelines designed to help ensure access to a quality...
By Guest contributor | March 21, 2017
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Commentary: Why parent choice matters
By Hilda Torres There’s a growing debate here in Southern California as to whether public charter schools are making positive impacts in our communities. As a single mother of a student attending Celerity Dyad Charter School, I am pleased with my decision to choose the school that fits best for my family. I know LAUSD schools well and the...
By Guest contributor | March 17, 2017
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Commentary: The new politics of the Los Angeles school board race, as more families prefer charters
This piece was produced in partnership with The 74; see profiles of all 2017 LAUSD school board candidates. By Laura Waters When I first ran on a three-person slate for my local New Jersey school board 12 years ago, I thought we’d hit the big time. Media coverage! Bellicose debates! Political intrigue! Our “Team for Change”...
By Guest contributor | March 2, 2017
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Pedro Noguera: Why LA’s low voter turnout will deny a high-quality education to those who need it most
By Pedro Noguera Turnout is expected to be low for the March 7 primary election even though the results may very well determine the future of public education in Los Angeles. The nation’s second-largest school district is beset by a number of complex challenges: daunting structural budget deficits, declining student enrollment, a significant number of...
By Guest contributor | March 1, 2017