One in three students in Pacoima and Panorama City attends a low-performing school, but parents on Saturday heard a message of hope. Great Public Schools Now, a nonprofit formed to accelerate the growth of high-quality public schools in LA, held its first in a series of town halls with parents and community members from those...

A teacher who worked as an education policy advisor in President Barack Obama’s administration announced Tuesday she is running for the East San Fernando Valley District 6 seat on the LA Unified school board. Kelly Gonez, a 7th-grade science teacher at Crown Preparatory School in Los Angeles, joins five others who are seeking to replace...

Data obtained by LA School Report show how each LA Unified high school’s scores on the state standardized tests improved or declined over the past two years. The district overall showed a 3 percentage point increase in math scores and a 6 percentage point increase in English language arts test scores. The improvements came along with increases...

Make sure you complete your ballot. That’s the message that came from LA Unified school board members at a committee meeting Tuesday night. During the meeting, the board’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee heard a presentation from Pedro Salcido, the district’s co-director of government relations and legislative affairs, on key initiatives related to the school...

At a goal-setting meeting last week for LA Unified school board members and Superintendent Michelle King, board President Steve Zimmer said he wanted the district to focus on eradicating the school readiness gap. Described as the variations in academic performance among children entering kindergarten and first grade who are from low-income and diverse backgrounds compared to their...

Great Public Schools Now announced Thursday it will give up to $3.75 million in grant funds next year to expand up to five academically successful LA Unified school campuses in underserved areas — the nonprofit’s first partnership with the school district. GPSN launched its program in June, when it gave its first grants, totaling $4.5 million, to...

A new website has launched that encourages thoughtful discussion about issues involving LA schools and school board elections. The new site, www.voteLAUSD.com, is run by Loren Bendele, a technology entrepreneur who co-founded coupon website www.savings.com.  Bendele, a father of two, said he first thought of the idea about eight years ago when he became interested...

*UPDATED LA Unified is facing a budget deficit that will increase to nearly half a billion dollars within the next three years primarily due to declining enrollment and increased pension and healthcare costs. Last weekend, the Los Angeles Times, CALmatters and Capital Public Radio published the first of a series of stories examining the effects...

A judge in Northern California on Monday denied the claims in a lawsuit that challenged school districts that don’t use student test scores as part of teacher evaluations. Students Matter, the nonprofit organization that filed Vergara v. California, sued 13 California school districts last year, saying those districts were not in compliance with the Stull...

LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer recently sat down with LA School Report at his field office tucked away in an east Hollywood strip mall, where there is a unique partnership with the Youth Policy Institute and the school district that hosts after-school programs, adult classes and classes for homeless youth. During the hour-long...