Leaders and advocates alike had high hopes for the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) introduced in California in 2013. Both of us certainly did. Eight years later we see clearly that the implementation of a system that promised equity and accountability has fallen short in two key areas: equity and accountability. A fundamental cause of...

To succeed in the classroom, children must be able to cooperate with other students and their teachers, focus their attention, control impulsive behaviors and manage their emotions so they can concentrate on the tasks at hand. They need to have a sense of belonging and purpose, be able to plan and set goals, and persevere through challenges....

Sign up here for LA School Report’s newsletter. A generation ago, leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and Thurgood Marshall advocated for quality education as a civil right for all children. A decade ago, President Barack Obama declared education “the civil rights issue of our time.” And yet, the tragic reality today for millions of...

Sign up here for LA School Report’s newsletter. The movement to green the American economy is gaining momentum. At the federal level, as well as in places like Illinois, Maine and New York City, lawmakers have passed legislation designed to reduce carbon emissions while creating green jobs in diverse industries such as transportation, construction, environmental management and agriculture. These have...

Sign up here for LA School Report’s newsletter. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Holly Daniels’ third grade son and second-grade daughter could be found in the backyard building a treehouse. After spending the morning completing school assignments remotely with help from a hired instructor, they would join a handful of other kids in...

Sign up here for LA School Report’s newsletter. At a critical time when the U.S. education sector is facing high teacher attrition rates fueled by the pandemic and a stream of legislative restrictions around classroom content and teaching methods, the new and much-loved Abbott Elementary tells a more nuanced story of how a group of passionate, tenacious...

When I first saw West Side Story, one moment brought me back to my high school principal’s office. The Jets were singing, “We ain’t no delinquents, we’re misunderstood. Deep down inside us there is good!” I could have said the same thing when my principal was suspending me for truancy. He told me I would never...

Researchers from Brown University, the University of Connecticut, the University of North Carolina and Michigan State recently released a very interesting study that examined the effects of teacher evaluation reforms on student outcomes across the country. While prior studies have looked at the effects of changes to evaluation in various individual districts, this new research is...

What a difference a year can make. In fall 2020, COVID-19 vaccines were still months away from availability, and most students (57 percent) were enrolled in fully remote schooling, with just 25 percent attending schools fully in person. By fall 2021, vaccines were available to all adults and teens, with approval for children aged 5...

This school year, recovery is the name of the game in K-12 education. Although COVID-19 persists, schools have reopened and are focusing on getting students back on track. But plenty of the challenges schools are tackling have long predated COVID. Indeed, schools are not just facing the need to recover from the pandemic — they...