By Judy Lin More than 50 civil rights and education reform groups are using Jerry Brown to remind Jerry Brown of his pledge to help black and Latino students following an interview with CALmatters in which he suggested that disparities will persist despite government intervention. In a letter dated May 3, dozens of advocacy groups...

Bagpipes, pom-poms greet Academic Decathlon champs at Granada Hills Charter High The national champion Academic Decathlon team got a hero’s welcome Monday at Granada Hills Charter High School. The team returned this weekend — from Alaska — after winning the competition for the fifth time in six years. By Gregory J. Wilcox, Los Angeles Daily...

UTLA is helping parents organize protests on May 4 at schools throughout the district, and in a letter more than 500 charter school parents are asking to stop it. The Reclaim Our Schools protest is part of a nationally scheduled demonstration for Wednesday, and UTLA says 80 cities and counties have signed up to rally against...

A recent report issued by the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) found that charter schools in the state are excelling at getting historically disadvantaged students into college over traditional schools. According to the report, “African-American and Latino charter students almost twice as likely (19 percent) to apply to [the University of California system] as their...

Two teenage boys were found dead this weekend after drowning in the Los Angeles River near Cypress Park. For the second time in five weeks, Superintendent Michelle King issued a statement of condolences over the drowning of an LA Unified student. “On behalf of the district, I express my deepest condolences to the boys’ families...

As I’ve recently written, most of the hottest K–12 topics are already settled for the 2016 election cycle. But that doesn’t mean that education is going to be entirely relegated to the sidelines. Keep an eye on early education policy, where various candidates have strong interest in and credentials for making their mark with new, interesting (or, erm, “interesting”)...

Granada Hills Charter High School wins U.S. Academic Decathlon Granada Hills Charter High School won its fifth U.S. Academic Decathlon national championship on Saturday, defending its prestigious title in Anchorage, Alaska. By Dana Bartholomew, Los Angeles Daily News High school club spices up sex ed with music, theater and humor, KPCC 12-year-old girl claims LAUSD failed...

There is a wide gulf of disparity when it comes to the performance of races and subgroups in LA Unified’s A through G completion and graduation rates, but these groups have come a long way and are doing better than ever before. Recent district reports breaking down the graduation rate as it heads into the final...

April is graduation month, at least for parents in LA, and tomorrow more than 400 parents will be honored in their own graduation ceremony with a keynote address by Mayor Eric Garcetti and welcome from LA Unified board member Monica Garcia. Saturday morning’s event at Roosevelt High School is the last of three graduations taking...

The LA Unified school board faced a difficult decision in June. It had previously voted to raise the bar on its graduation requirements starting in 2016 in an effort to get more students into college, but it was clear not enough students were ready for the challenge and graduation rates would plummet if aggressive action...