As reading scores climb overall, gap persists Despite higher reading scores in classrooms across the nation, the achievement gap between white, black and Hispanic youth has seen very little improvement according to a report released last week by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that monitors how children and teens use media. S&I Cabinet Report...

Justice Dept. investigating California’s services for English learner students The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is looking into whether California is adequately overseeing the education of 1.4 million students in the state who are still learning English, according to court records. The investigation began after civil rights lawyers filed a lawsuit in April 2013...

Thousands turn out for LAUSD’s Kids Ocean Day beach cleanup On its 21st birthday Thursday, Kids Ocean Day came full circle as an alumnus returned to clean up the beach with her class of North Hollywood third-graders. Fair Avenue Elementary School teacher Armine Pogosian was a youngster in 1993 when she attended her first Kids...

California among worst in the nation in school segregation As racial separation in education steadily grows, California now leads the nation in children going to school with their own kind, a UCLA study released Wednesday contends. On the 60th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education ruling intended to dismantle...

In revised budget, Governor details 30-year plan to fix teacher pensions Gov. Jerry Brown is predicting that the state will take in $2.4 billion more in revenue in 2014-15 than initially estimated, but highly expectant education leaders won’t get a piece of it to implement the Common Core state standards or make a down payment...

LA Schools budget debate: more teachers, custodians, health services The Los Angeles Unified school board is scheduled to discuss Superintendent John Deasy’s 2014-2015 proposed budget at its meeting Tuesday – and it promises hours of debate over long lists of competing wants. Board members commended the superintendent’s $6.8 billion proposal when it was released last...

State’s new computerized exam tryout plagued by glitches New state standardized exams, given for the first time on computers this spring, really have been a test. But not always a test of math and English. Students had trouble logging on; then many were logged off, sometimes for inactivity while they read lengthy passages. Some devices...

LA schools’ new parent advisory group grapples with $6.8 billion budget In a Sammy Lee Elementary’s auditorium in Koreatown, 50 parents are combing through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s proposed budget for next year, a 33-page draft of a document called the Local Control Accountability Plan. Inside, bullet points a swath of complex policy...

Rialto school officials apologize for Holocaust assignment What started as an eighth-grade critical-thinking writing assignment has become a source of relentless controversy for Rialto school officials, who apologized profusely and publicly this week for asking that students consider whether the Holocaust was created for political gain or didn’t happen at all. The assignment, developed by...

LAUSD quietly disbands Miramonte child-abuse investigative panel The Los Angeles school district has quietly shut down a high-profile special investigative panel intended to review the Miramonte Elementary child-abuse case, citing its cost. The school system had pledged to form the commission in 2012 as a measure of its commitment to protect students after the arrest...