In a black suit and red bowtie, his smile full of braces, Jason Finuliar stands by a fountain on the Santa Clara University campus as his mother snaps a photo. It was December 2018, and the promising young speech competitor had just placed fourth in a California tournament, qualifying him for nationals. “It was literally...

White families may have embraced pods and microschools as a short-term fix to cope with the pandemic. But for many Black parents, they offer something more permanent: an alternative to traditional schools where their children have historically faltered. “Our motivation for building outside of the system is because we saw our system crumbling in the...

In the earliest weeks of the pandemic, researchers associated with NWEA made two jaw-dropping predictions. The first — that school closures would lead to lower math and reading scores — has been borne out over and over since then. The second — that the already broad range of academic levels within classrooms would yawn wider — has...

As remote learning in the Los Angeles Unified School District ended in spring 2021, Liliana Madrid discovered her daughters were struggling with their math and science classes. As a Spanish-speaking parent, Madrid had difficulty navigating prolonged online learning and finding the best ways to support her daughters Alexa Godoy and Itzel. “They’re dealing with anxiety...

As the pandemic moves toward the rearview, its effects on education linger. The latest edition of the Nation’s Report Card, which includes federal, state and local 4th and 8th grade math and reading scores, was released last month with grim and sobering results. Test scores are an essential benchmark, but they only tell part of...

Community group leader Maria Brenes and school board president Kelly Gonez lead in a close race for two open spots on the Los Angeles Board of Education. Brenes, leading with a 50.80% voter approval, is against education researcher Rocío Rivas to represent school district 2 – in the Eastside neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Gonez, leading...

Incumbent Tony Thurmond has won another bid to serve as California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, leading the vote over opponent Lance Christensen by about 2 to 1 as of midday Wednesday with about 42% of districts reporting. Thurmond will guide California’s K-12 schools through a period of academic recovery and curricula reform in math and...

California public schools will receive close to $1 billion for arts and music programs as voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28, Tuesday’s Election Day results show. “This is a big step forward for public education,” former Los Angeles schools superintendent Austin Beutner said in a press release. “It’s the first guaranteed increase in funding for California...

We’re just now beginning to process how COVID has reshaped our schools — and the state of our education politics. From historic test score declines to fractured learning recovery efforts, a teen mental health emergency, a high school absenteeism crisis and imploding college enrollment, the foundation of our education system has been rocked. Amid these...

As two LAUSD school board races headed to runoffs in Tuesday’s election, LA School Report interviewed the four candidates vying for the seats. Here is an interview with Maria Brenes, who is running to represent school district 2 against Rocio Rivas: Running as an outsider to represent predominantly low income families living in the Eastside...