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South by Southwest Education: 10 new ed tech startups about to grab the spotlight in Austin

As the ed tech industry continues to expand, breaking into the game means facing stiffer competition from companies keen on occupying the same space. But as teaching, student learning, and the delivery of educational content continue to evolve, there has never been a greater opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the students....
By Tim Newcomb | March 8, 2017
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Protesters join family of father arrested by ICE agents outside his daughter’s school at rally in downtown LA

More than 100 parents, educators, and students on Monday rallied and chanted outside the Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in downtown Los Angeles to protest the arrest of a father who was taken from his family outside his daughter’s school. “We’re better than Trump, we deserve better than this, we are not...
By Mike Szymanski | March 6, 2017
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Community groups offer ways to simplify state accountability system

A coalition of community activist groups concerned with education issued a report to show how California can create a simple rating for schools that all can understand. A busload of three dozen families from Los Angeles will attend a state Board of Education meeting in Sacramento on Wednesday to urge the state to keep it...
By Mike Szymanski | March 6, 2017
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All sides push for earlier inclusion of charters as LAUSD readies its Unified Enrollment site

LA Unified is preparing to launch this fall its new and easier way to apply to different kinds of schools within the district, but the system is not going to include charter schools. Not yet, anyway. And that’s not acceptable to stakeholders throughout the district, even those usually on opposite sides of the table. The Unified Enrollment...
By Mike Szymanski | March 1, 2017
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After reported opposition, DeVos defends ending transgender protections to friendly CPAC crowd

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos briefly defended the Trump administration’s decision this week to rescind protections for transgender students in remarks to a supportive conservative crowd Thursday. “This issue was a very huge example of the Obama administration’s overreach to suggest a one-size-fits-all approach … to issues that are best dealt with and solved from a...
By Carolyn Phenicie | February 23, 2017
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What’s behind the federal raids on Celerity?

Questions about Celerity Educational Group, a Los Angeles charter school management organization now under federal investigation, and its relationship with affiliated nonprofit entities have been probed by LA Unified for nearly a decade, according to public documents and school board meetings, and the concerns are widely thought to have prompted last month’s highly publicized raids by seven federal...
By Mike Szymanski | February 22, 2017
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Federal inquiry into LAUSD’s iPad program ends with no charges

A federal grand jury inquiry into LA Unified’s purchase of iPads has ended, officials said Tuesday. No charges were filed. “We have received notification from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that the investigation has been closed,” LA Unified’s General Counsel David Holmquist said in a statement. It has been more than two years since the school...
By Sarah Favot | February 21, 2017
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LAUSD notifies 1,600 administrators of potential layoffs: Too little, too late or just a mirage?

Nearly 1,600 LA Unified administrators will be notified in mid-March that their contracts may end in June. But is this attempt at bringing administrative staff more in line with the declining number of students too late to help a looming budget deficit, as some school board members fear? Or will there even be a staff reduction?...
By Mike Szymanski | February 21, 2017
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Fighting teacher burnout: Great Public Schools Now grants aim to retain effective educators

When Hrag Hamalian opened Valor Academy Middle School in 2009, teacher retention was his foremost concern, so he decided to find out what educators desired in the workplace. Now executive director of Bright Star Schools, which includes six other charter schools, Hamalian surveyed his highly effective teachers in search of the answer. He found that...
By Sarah Favot | February 17, 2017
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Zimmer convinces school board to go for ‘clean money’ elections

Although he’s currently the recipient of campaign cash in what may be the most expensive school board race ever, LA Unified board President Steve Zimmer pushed through a “Clean Money” resolution on Tuesday but said it is not about him. Zimmer convinced his often disparate group of colleagues on the school board to unanimously approve the...
By Mike Szymanski | February 15, 2017