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Report: Half of LA families are using school choice programs, but many struggle to find quality options

Half of Los Angeles public school students are part of school choice programs, but that doesn’t mean quality options are accessible for all students, according to a report released Wednesday. Parent Revolution, an LA group that works with parents through organizing, individual school choice and advocacy, spent a year helping families enroll in school choice programs...
By Sarah Favot | January 25, 2017
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Dual language education for the youngest learners could help save LA Unified, committee is told

Some LA Unified officials see teaching dual language at an early age as a way to save the district, which is faced with educating the largest English learner population in the nation. With speakers that included a program director from Sacramento, parents from dual language schools and school administrators from the superintendent’s office, the Early Childhood Education...
By Mike Szymanski | January 24, 2017
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LA schools staying dry thanks to past El Niño preparations

Despite record-breaking rainfall over the past week in Los Angeles, the number of leaks and flooding issues at LA Unified schools is minimal and administrators credit the preparations they did for last year’s rather wimpy El Niño. As of Monday morning, there were 2,000 open service calls for issues throughout the district, but only 20...
By Mike Szymanski | January 23, 2017
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Latino community celebrates as KIPP LA Prep is honored as a National Blue Ribbon School

Education leaders in Los Angeles along with families and members of the community of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles on Thursday celebrated that one of their neighborhood’s schools — KIPP Los Angeles College Preparatory School (KIPP LA Prep) — has been named a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. The National Blue...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 20, 2017
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EXCLUSIVE: 42 percent of LAUSD’s record graduation rate was due to credit recovery or makeup classes.

Forty-two percent of LA Unified’s 2016 graduates re-took a class they had previously failed or needed some other kind of credit recovery in order to graduate, district officials said Thursday. Superintendent Michelle King announced in August that the preliminary graduation rate was a record 75 percent, but the district had not calculated how many students...
By Sarah Favot | January 20, 2017
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LA education coalition helps parents navigate LAUSD with new Parent Engagement Toolkit

Community leaders, parents and even educators across Los Angeles agree that navigating LA Unified can be confounding and frustrating, so on Thursday two groups — United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Communities for Los Angeles Student Success (CLASS) Coalition — launched a Parent Engagement Toolkit to help parents understand academic terms, education policies,...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 19, 2017
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LA teachers union leads protest at schools against Trump

About 400 parents, teachers and students joined union leaders at a Los Angeles elementary school on Thursday, one day before the presidential inauguration, to protest the incoming administration and to support public schools. The demonstration, called a “Shield Our Schools Action,” drew thousands throughout LA Unified, said President Alex Caputo-Pearl, president of United Teachers...
By Mike Szymanski | January 19, 2017
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LA Unified prepares for Trump inauguration, declares ‘Unity Day’

In preparation for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, LA Unified has declared Friday “Unity Day.” In addition, a district official said LA Unified will be prepared for any potential policy changes under the new Trump Administration and any resulting loss of federal funding. Pedro Salcido of LA Unified’s Office of Government Relations said the district is...
By Sarah Favot | January 18, 2017
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Pilot programs are preparing district for new state science tests

About two dozen pilot programs throughout LA Unified are helping prepare the entire district for new, more comprehensive state science tests that fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders will start taking in 2019. The new California Science Test (CAST) will replace the California Standards Test (CST). It will be taken on computers rather than on paper and...
By Mike Szymanski | January 17, 2017
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MLK spirit on display at Crenshaw High as 700 volunteers take part in day of service

Honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds of young volunteers from City Year in coordination with local partners on Monday commemorated Dr. King’s dream of the “Beloved Community” by beautifying Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles. City Year, a national organization dedicated to helping students and schools succeed by...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | January 16, 2017