It’s a weird time to be having a national conversation about teacher shortages. Thanks in part to the surge of federal relief funds, schools have ambitious hiring plans — but they have been unable to bring on as many people as they would like. As of last month, job openings remain elevated well above normal levels. And yet,...

L.A. Unified’s latest state test scores reveal dramatic decreases in student performance — and an even more striking decline for some ethnic groups and vulnerable students. The outcomes of the 2022 Smarter Balanced assessment showed just 28.47% of LAUSD students met state standards in math, while 41.67% met English standards in the 2021-22 school year...

Scorned by the bureaucracy of Los Angeles Unified School District and the tumultuous politics of reopening schools in the spring of 2021, Carrie Kangro moved her oldest son to a charter school in the midst of the pandemic. Kangro, unsure if LAUSD would reopen schools, made the move despite having a particular love for the...

As the shady ransomware gang Vice Society took credit for a hack that sent Los Angeles school officials scrambling last week, cybersecurity experts noticed something peculiar.  Vice Society, an “intrusion, exfiltration and extortion” group that experts believe is based in Russia, has become notorious for waging cyber warfare against K-12 schools, leveraging the theft of...

California middle and high schools began the academic day later this year, implementing a state law other states are now considering. After long-standing research showed the devastating impact of early classes on teens’ health, California’s district middle schools will start no earlier than 8 am; and high schools will start no later than 8:30 am....

Ask a Boomer or Millenial what they think of Gen Zers and their observations are far from flattering: Overly sensitive, socialist, disengaged, dependent on technology. But those stereotypes have little basis in reality, according to the book, Fight: How Gen Z is Channeling Their Fear and Passion to Save America, released earlier this year. John Della Volpe,...

New polling on the American education system shows widespread approval of local schools — along with ominous signs of dissatisfaction among both parents and the public at large. In a report published today by PDK International, a professional organization for teachers, over 1,000 adults expressed higher levels of faith in their community’s public schools than have ever...

At the moment in March 2020 when American schools were transitioning to remote instruction — around the time when people were making jokes about Corona beer and commentators still mused about spending two weeks to “flatten the curve” — Anya Kamenetz was making calls. Kamenetz had spent years covering the heaviest stories on the education...

Cloud Mejia, 13, who goes by they/them pronouns, said that they couldn’t even keep track of how many days of middle school they missed last year. “I rarely got myself to go,” Cloud said. “It’s not that I didn’t want to go to school, I just don’t feel welcome there a lot of the time....

When Baltimore students sign into their school-issued laptops, the police log on, too. Since the pandemic began, Baltimore City Public Schools officials have tracked students’ online lives with GoGuardian, a digital surveillance tool that promises to identify youth at risk of harming themselves or others. When GoGuardian flags students, their online activities are shared automatically with school...