At a recent town hall held by Great Public Schools Now, Myrna Castrejón, the leader of the nonprofit seeking to expand excellent schools in Los Angeles, waded into the audience of parents, community members and LA Unified officials to ask what kind of schools they wanted for their kids. One parent whose son has a...

Although there have been improvements over the last two years, wide racial disparities remain for children in Los Angeles County and California when it comes to education, health, welfare and well-being, according to a new report from Children Now. The 2016–2017 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being found that although 41 percent of students in LA are...

*UPDATED Students in East Los Angeles on Monday morning walked out of classes from at least five high schools to protest in the wake of Donald Trump‘s election as president. Walkouts at school campuses began last week following Trump’s victory on Tuesday. Students at Garfield, Mendez, Roosevelt, Wilson and Lincoln high school walked out of...

A yearlong revival of social-emotional learning at 109 LA Unified schools is in danger of being shut down because the district doesn’t have money earmarked to continue the programs, district officials confirmed. Concerns about losing this fundamental tool in learning led LA Unified’s Commission on Human Relations, Diversity and Educational Equity to vote Thursday evening to support social-emotional learning and...

Groups that support charter schools and education reform spent millions in the 2016 election cycle, and it seems it paid off as several candidates they backed appear poised to be heading to Sacramento in December. Education reform independent expenditure committees, like EdVoice and the California Charter Schools Association, spent 10 times more in the general...

*UPDATED Following two nights of protests as well as student walkouts in Los Angeles and around California in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election, LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer joined other leaders in calling for unity Thursday and told students their schools were safe. “We, like the LAPD, are...

With California’s voters passing Proposition 58 this week, millions of students will now have increased access to bilingual education. That’s especially good news for LA Unified, where the district’s English language learners significantly trailed their peers at other large districts in the state on the most recent standardized tests. While LA Unified had plans to expand bilingual...

When Principal James Lee arrived at school Wednesday morning to find a sea of anxious faces, he knew he had to do something. Donald Trump was now the president-elect, and Lee recalled how his students had reacted with fear to some of the rhetoric during the presidential campaign about immigration, deportation and “the Wall.” Sylmar Charter High...

*UPDATED Education leaders in Los Angeles reached out to their schools and communities a day after Donald Trump was elected president to address “feelings of fear and anxiety.” During his campaign, Trump had vowed to deport millions of immigrants and build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. LA Unified’s student body is 74...

Here are overnight results from some education-related races in California. For national races with education impact, follow The 74’s Election Day live blog throughout today. Incumbents Sweep Oakland School Board Race: A heated Oakland school board contest fueled by the growth of charter schools failed to knock any of the incumbents out. Jody London, Jumoke Hinton-Hodge,...