About 100 students, teachers and parents picketed Hobart Boulevard Elementary School this morning to protest the removal of celebrated teacher Rafe Esquith by LA Unified while an investigation continues, focused on him and his nonprofit program, the Hobart Shakespeareans. Carrying signs that say “Reinstate Rafe” and chanting “Be Nice, Work Hard,” the students marched around the front...

As the curtain goes up tomorrow on another LA Unified school year, many of the problems of last year appear resolved, giving hope that the new year will unfold with fewer headaches despite a flurry of changes. The last school year featured weeks on end of trouble, including scandal, labor unrest, technology problems, a polarizing...

By Jon Street Three years after California voters passed a ballot measure to raise taxes on corporations and generate clean energy jobs by funding energy-efficiency projects in schools, barely one-tenth of the promised jobs have been created, and the state has no comprehensive list to show how much work has been done or how much...

Rating California schools is a big battle It’s extremely difficult, bordering on impossible, to know what ratings system will emerge, or when. Fresno Bee As school starts, LAUSD officials work to boost vaccination rates LAUSD officials said preparations are underway to get ready for a stricter state law. Los Angeles Daily News Report: No relationship...

LA School Report has confirmed that an LAPD sex crimes unit has an open investigation of celebrated teacher Rafe Esquith involving allegations of “inappropriate touching.” Meanwhile, Esquith’s attorneys are striking back with threats of additional lawsuits and a “declaration of war against LAUSD.” One of Esquith’s attorneys, Ben Meisales, said, “This continued defamation by LAUSD...

As the school year begins next week, Mónica Garcia is celebrating her 10th year on the LA Unified School Board and her 15th year working in District 2, where she served as an academic advisor. A lifelong East L.A. resident, her parents met at Stevenson Middle School in the 1950s and they remember more of...

* UPDATED In the latest wave of his ongoing staff shakeup, Superintendent Ramon Cortines has reassigned three top administrative leaders, demoting them to the role of school principal. The moves were made without any public announcement, but LA School Report has learned that former Chief Academic Officer Gerardo Loera, former Director of Curriculum and Instruction Susan Tandberg and former...

By Anya Kamenetz There are few household names in education research. Maybe that in itself constitutes a problem. But if there was an Education Researcher Hall Of Fame, one member would be a silver-haired, plainspoken Kiwi named John Hattie. Hattie directs the Melbourne Education Research Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He also directs...

As ‘Sesame Street’ heads to HBO, will low-income kids lose out? The deal will allow Sesame Workshop to produce more episodes and to expand its puppet-related kids content with new shows and spin-offs. NPR Science, art camp sneaks in language for English learners Students who are English learners learned new, advanced English words and phrases...