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USC Professor Warns of LA Fires’ Trauma Impact for Children
Firefighters have now contained deadly wildfires that just after the new year devastated whole swaths of Los Angeles. Schools are reopening and, for some families, life is returning to normal. But the historic blazes, which in January prompted the emergency closure of the nation’s second-largest district and burned some schools completely, made a lasting impression...
By Ben Chapman | February 4, 2025
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Will New Bond Funds Be Enough to Rebuild LA Schools?
This story was originally published on CalMatters. It’ll be a while before Los Angeles can fully assess the damage to its schools from this recent spate of fires, but a few things already seem certain: rebuilding will take a long time, it will be expensive, and it may sap the statewide fund for school repairs. At least a...
By Carolyn Jones, CalMatters | February 3, 2025
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Online Censorship in Schools Is ‘More Pervasive’ than Expected, New Data Shows
This story was originally published on CalMatters. Aleeza Siddique, 15, was in a Spanish class earlier this year in her Northern California high school when a lesson about newscasts got derailed by her school’s internet filter. Her teacher told the class to open up their school-issued Chromebooks and explore a list of links he had curated from the...
By Tara García Mathewson, CalMatters | January 30, 2025
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New NAEP Scores Dash Hope of Post-COVID Learning Recovery
Hopes for a post-COVID academic recovery were dashed Wednesday morning with the publication of new federal testing data for elementary and middle schoolers. Newly released scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card, show that both fourth and eighth graders have lost ground in reading — not...
By Kevin Mahnken | January 29, 2025
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Content Guru Natalie Wexler Urges Us to Move ‘Beyond The Science of Reading’
Over the past few years, millions of educators have embraced the science of reading, in many cases radically transforming how the youngest students learn how to read. But a new book argues that the current approach remains deeply flawed. Though phonics instruction has emerged as a key component of reading lessons, stagnant NAEP scores, among...
By Greg Toppo | January 28, 2025
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California Rural Schools Battle for Funding Congress Cut
This story was originally published on CalMatters. Rural school districts — already beset with financial struggles — are furiously scrambling to save a century-old funding source that Republican lawmakers last month eliminated from the federal budget. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, which has been approved almost continuously since 1908, is intended to compensate rural counties...
By Carolyn Jones, CalMatters | January 27, 2025
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For Childcare Providers, Wildfires Are Just One More Crisis
This story was originally published at LAist In an instant, Blanca Carrillo and her daughter Aurys Hernandez lost everything. Their home in Altadena was also the place they’d built a thriving daycare for young children. So when it burned in the Eaton Fire, they were left homeless and without work all at the same time. “Overnight...
By Libby Rainey, LAist | January 23, 2025
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Q&A: Ex-Star Teacher and LAUSD Board Member On What’s Ailing LAUSD, Post-Fires
As usual, David Tokofsky is annoyed about something at LA Unified. This time it’s the school board, which Tokofsky says is failing to post materials for public meetings online in a timely enough manner. He peppers reporters with unheeded calls for stories on the scandal. Tokofsky is the guy who shows up at board meetings...
By Ben Chapman | January 22, 2025
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Altadena Girls: Meet the Middle Schooler Behind the New Organization Supporting LA Teens (and Inspiring Celebrities) After the Fires
Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle have all chipped in to support teen girls who have lost their homes to the Los Angeles wildfires — through a call to action launched by a middle schooler. Fourteen-year-old Avery Colvert started Altadena Girls to provide free supplies like sports bras, T-shirts, sneakers, deodorant, hair...
By Jim Fields | January 21, 2025
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LA Schools Reopen, But Recovery Will Be Long and Painful
It was just after 1 am when Los Angeles charter school superintendent Ian McFeat started getting text messages and phone calls at a relative’s house where he was sheltering from the fires. His neighbors said his house was burning down in the wildfires – along with his entire Altadena neighborhood of Los Angeles. Aveson School...
By Balin Schneider & Ben Chapman | January 21, 2025