A new survey of Los Angeles County voters, parents and students finds strong support for the expansion of skilled trades education in Los Angeles public high schools. More than 80% of those surveyed believe trade classes can better prepare students for a career, and the majority think it can be valuable for both college- and...

  The last time Congress increased the child tax credit — during the pandemic — Sarah Izabel used the extra cash to enroll her son in an afterschool program so she could apply to graduate school. “If my son was home, then I would be taking care of him,” said the Stanford University student, who’s...

Thirteen years ago this month, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare. In theory, the ACA shouldn’t have affected public school districts all that much. Most already offered health care plans that met the ACA’s requirements to at least cover 10 “essential benefits,” and a “Cadillac Tax” on high-cost plans that...

The gym was silent as the next question was presented. Each team gathered at their station, and each member focused intently, while spectators in the stands quietly whispered to themselves trying to decipher the answer.  This was the scene at LA Unified’s annual Academic Decathlon held last month — where students spend countless hours training...

A new report has found Black and Latino students continue to be more likely than their white peers to leave postsecondary education even as college enrollment has slowly increased since the pandemic. The report from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation surveyed more than 14,000 respondents in the fall of 2023 — including about 6,000 enrolled...

In my District of Columbia neighborhood, everything pretty much ground to a halt on Friday, March 13, 2020. My kid won the school’s bilingual spelling bee in a crowded auditorium buzzing with speculation that the school probably wasn’t reopening next week. Hours later, an announcement from administrators confirmed it: our pandemic had begun. By March...

Thursday is officially Pi Day, offering Americans the annual opportunity to geek out over math, geometry and all things STEM. (It’s also recently become #DressForSTEM Day, celebrating women in science — more on that below) In honor of 3.14, we recently canvassed the country, searching out STEM students with noteworthy projects and inventions. You can...

With a majority of California third graders unable to read at grade level, proposed legislation would mandate teachers use the phonics-based science of reading.   Assemblymember Blanca Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and 13 co-authors have proposed a bill that would update the state’s English curriculum with the science of reading – research that has found the best...

A new study has found more than 80 percent of high schoolers value on-the-job training over other postsecondary options, including a four-year degree — laying bare students’ interest in immediate employment and disdain for a college education. The study, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, surveyed more than 1,700 high school juniors and seniors, with 83 percent saying...

  In Natasha Sonia Alford’s newly released memoir, American Negra, she describes an early childhood memory of being the new kid at school: “What are you?” another student asked. “I’m Puerto Rican and Black,” she responded, noting these were “the only words I had at the time to explain my identity in terms that made...