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Q&A: LA’s New Principal Union President Says Her Members Are Overworked
Maria Nichols, leader of the principals union for the Los Angeles Unified School District, likes to show up for contract negotiations well-prepared. Less than a year into her role as president of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, the former community schools administrator in December moved to officially affiliate her union with the International Brotherhood...
By Matthew Royer | February 27, 2025
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Q&A: Kendrick Lamar ‘Used His Platform’ at Super Bowl as ‘Salute to Black History’
More than two decades ago, Regis Inge showed a shy Kendrick Lamar the power of a thesaurus. Just two weeks ago, he watched the Grammy winner perform “a salute to Black history” at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. A 30-year educator in the Compton Unified School District, Inge is a 2015 California League of Middle...
By Trinity Alicia | February 26, 2025
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After LAUSD Enrollment Falls by 11,000, Board President Says Schools May Close
After another year of dramatic enrollment losses, the Los Angeles Unified school board president is considering the possibility of closing or merging schools. The nation’s second-largest school district now enrolls 408,083 students, according to figures published Jan. 31. In the 2023-24 school year, LAUSD enrolled 419,749 kids; the year before that, 429,349. “I’m kind of...
By Ben Chapman | February 25, 2025
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Lawsuit Charges Misuse of Arts Education Funding at LAUSD Schools
This story was originally published at EdSource Vicky Martinez feels cheated that her children haven’t had much exposure to the arts at their Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD) schools despite state funding through Proposition 28, the state’s landmark arts education mandate. She believes access to the arts could help them cope with their anxiety and ADHD, conditions...
By Karen D'Souza and Mallika Seshadri, EdSource | February 24, 2025
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How Los Angeles Unified Slumped On The Latest Federal Tests
The nation’s second largest school district isn’t exactly coming roaring back from the pandemic, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the nation’s report card. But the Los Angeles Unified School District also isn’t lagging behind either, according to the federal measure of math and reading skills, which, among other things, is...
By Ben Chapman | February 20, 2025
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How Artificial Intelligence Could Change Schools & Change How We Test Students
Among other distinctions, Kristen DiCerbo can lay claim to being one of the first people on the planet to come face-to-face with the educational potential of generative artificial intelligence. In the fall of 2022, months before the public got a glimpse of ChatGPT, DiCerbo, a learning scientist and chief learning officer at Khan Academy, got...
By Greg Toppo | February 19, 2025
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How A South Central L.A. Elementary School Built A Culture of ‘Family’
It is a sunny Friday afternoon in South Central LA, music blasting through the speakers at Figueroa Street Elementary School as nine-year-old Alan runs around the playground with friends, a smile across his face. “Everyone is very nice to me, and I feel like I belong here,” said Alan, a third grader. “I feel like...
By Katie VanArnam | February 13, 2025
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Kept in the Dark: Inside a Trio of Los Angeles School Cyberattacks
Kept in the Dark is an in-depth investigation into more than 300 K-12 school cyberattacks over the last five years, revealing the forces that leave students, families and district staff unaware that their sensitive data was exposed. Use the search feature below to learn how cybercrimes — and subsequent data breaches — have played out...
By Mark Keierleber | February 11, 2025
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After the Fires, LA Teachers Are Experiencing ‘Secondary Trauma,’ According to One Expert
After a natural disaster like the Los Angeles wildfires, teachers are often a first line of support for children processing trauma — but teachers can also experience what expert Stephen Hydon calls secondary traumatic stress. In this interview, Hydon, who serves as the director of the School and Educational Settings specialization program at USC’s Dworak-Peck...
By Daniella Lake | February 6, 2025
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Demand for Immigration Legal Services Spikes At California Colleges
This story was originally published on CalMatters. As President Donald Trump begins his second term with a declaration of a national emergency at the southern border and a steadfast pledge of mass deportations, California’s colleges and universities have been holding workshops and partnering with legal service nonprofits to help undocumented students on their campuses stay...
By Delilah Brumer & Mercy Sosa, CalMatters | February 5, 2025