This morning, The 74 CEO Romy Drucker will be moderating a panel at the 24th annual California Charter School Conference in Sacramento about how the mainstream press covers, and occasionally distorts, America’s charter schools sector. You can stream the event live here, beginning at 10:45 a.m.: Ahead of the conversation, three of today’s panelists have published a special...

* UPDATED Five independent public charter schools were denied Tuesday night by the LA Unified school board. The board granted one petition of the nine schools on the special agenda that had been recommended for denial. Another school will likely keep its charter under a last-minute deal, and two were petitions withdrawn. Here is the action Tuesday...

*UPDATED The day before the LA Unified school board is scheduled to vote on the fate of 23 charter schools, the district was hit with a bombshell of a letter signed by 64 charter school leaders. The schools serve 90 percent of the charter students in the district — 196 schools serving 94,595 students, according to...

*UPDATED A record number of charter schools, all outperforming nearby district schools, have been recommended for denial by LA Unified staff when their petitions come before Tuesday’s school board meeting. More than 15,000 students could be affected by board decisions involving charter schools that are up for renewal or revision. Seven schools that have 6,730 students...

When Principal James Lee learned that his students at Sylmar Charter High School had among the biggest jumps in state test scores in the local school district, he was thrilled but surprised, because they managed to pull it off despite a well-publicized lunchtime brawl that erupted on campus right in the middle of testing. He credits the...

A new report shows that growing numbers of the 12 million Hispanic children in American public schools are turning to charter schools, where they tend to reach higher levels of achievement than at traditional district schools. “While district public schools still continue to serve the majority of Hispanic students, an increasing number of Hispanic families...

*UPDATED While LA Unified is firmly committed to online credit recovery classes as a means to the district’s newly stated top goal — 100 percent graduation — Los Angeles charter school operators use these classes much more sparingly, as their graduation rates tend to be far ahead of the district’s. At three of the city’s...

KIPP Los Angeles College Preparatory School in Boyle Heights has been named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. The designation was given Wednesday to 279 public schools across the country and is considered the highest honor the federal government can bestow on a school. KIPP LA Prep is an independent public...

Thousands of people marched through the streets of San Fernando and Pacoima on Saturday, calling on their leaders at LA Unified and Sacramento to support the charter school movement. The “Rally in the Valley” began at Vaughn Next Century Learning Center in San Fernando, which was the first charter school to be started at LA...