State to fight lawsuit by impoverished students State officials granted the California Department of Education $3.4 million to fight a lawsuit that demands the state fix disruptive conditions in some schools. Ed Source California schools step up efforts to help ‘long-term’ English learners A new law requires the state to define and identify a “long-term...

Representatives for the teachers union, UTLA, lowered their salary demand yesterday, asking LA Unified for a one-year 9 percent pay increase for the current academic year, with future increases tied to that. Vivian Ekchian, the district’s chief negotiator, said the proposal “is under review and we will ascertain the cost to the District.” While the...

Report on LCAPs finds mixed success An advocacy organization analyzed dozens of school districts’ inaugural improvement plans and found mixed results. Ed Source Students’ active engagement in music leads to brain gains, study finds Brain researchers are finding increasing evidence that music is a powerful learning tool. KPCC An alternative to suspension and expulsion: ‘Circle...

Via Los Angeles Times | By Sandy Banks An ethnic studies course changed my life when I was a teenager — though not in the way that today’s opponents of ethnic studies seem to fear. It didn’t teach me to feel like a victim, to despise America or to resent white people. I learned that...

Amid safety concerns, LAUSD students hauling home iPads Students at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granda Hills are among the first in LAUSD cleared to tote home their iPads for homework. KPCC Group seeks oversight of military arms after LAUSD’s arsenal revealed An advocacy group is calling on LAUSD to create a citizens...

* UPDATED The City Clerk’s office today completed verification of petitions to qualify for the March primary in LA Unified’s four school board races. After a random draw of letters, the ballot order is now set for how candidate names will appear. Here’s the way they will be listed: District 1 George McKenna, incumbent (No...

Via The Los Angeles Times | By the Editorial Board Ideally, high school history courses would not be so overwhelmingly focused on the accomplishments of white males and would pay more attention to the roles played by others. There has been progress in that direction — in fact, the College Board has come under withering...

San Francisco to offer ethnic studies at all of its 19 high schools The San Francisco school board voted unanimously on Tuesday to require all of the city’s 19 public high schools to offer ethnic studies courses. Huffington Post Districts want to highlight retirees’ costs The coalition isn’t asking for the state to pick up...

* UPDATED Members of an LA Unified board committee were told today that the district would need 10 times current funding to address the capital needs of all district schools. The board’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee was shown a power point presentation that said the cost of capital improvements necessary to modernize every district...