Urban schools test for grit, but will it improve test scores? Something new is happening at a batch of California urban schools. Students are being asked if they are happy at school. The recent focus on the social and emotional well-being of students as a way to improve test scores is gaining statewide traction. Civil...

Education secretary takes heat for pushing single rating of schools California is moving toward establishing a new accountability system made up of multiple measures, in place of the state’s previous Academic Performance Index, which assigned schools a single “summative” number based on test scores. This new approach has been championed by Gov. Jerry Brown and is...

Lawyer: LAUSD playing ‘dirty’ in drowning lawsuit The family of a Los Angeles Unified School District special needs student who drowned while on a school field trip said the district is playing dirty and trying to move the upcoming trial out of LA County. If the judge decides to allow the case to be heard somewhere...

Activists reveal more dark-money donors to campaigns against unions and schools-funding tax The campaign for extending a schools tax on high-income Californians kicked off this week with the release of undisclosed donors involved in fighting against the levy when it last appeared on the ballot. The new group, California Hedge Clippers, released the names Tuesday as part of a...

By Peter Jamison Charter-school founder Steve Barr will run for Los Angeles mayor in 2017, opening up a potentially challenging front for incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti in what has so far shaped up as an all but uncontested re-election bid. Barr, a Silver Lake resident and darling of education-reform advocates who has not previously held elected office, said he...

Leg up or catch up? Wealthier students use summer school to get a step ahead Summer school is no longer only for students who want to erase an “F” grade. It’s increasingly becoming, for those who can afford it, the time when high school students stack their transcripts with classes for college admission. By Adolfo...

By Jenny Hontz  When LA School Report reported this week that 181 LAUSD staffers are currently being paid to sit around and do nothing while they are investigated for alleged misconduct, costing the district $15 million a year, school board members expressed surprise. The numbers are staggering, but it should be no surprise to anyone that...

New state agency gets infusion of money to promote school success The new agency charged with helping to implement and enforce the state’s school accountability and improvement system has a fresh source of money and a plan to spend it, starting this fall. The California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, overseen by Carl Cohn, a former State Board of Education member...

By Howard Blume and Zahira Torres Two organizations set up to work within the traditional public school system are moving away from their original mission — and from the Los Angeles Unified School District — in the name of better helping students. The governing boards of the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education and the group LA’s Promise have voted to...

Parents and principals could weigh in on charter placements at LA campuses Families and schools in LA Unified could get more of a say in the way the district allocates space to charter schools, thanks to a committee the Los Angeles Unified School District board voted to create Tuesday. The school board directed the superintendent to form a...