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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...