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The $1.1 billion math solution? Gates Foundation makes math its top K-12 priority

As the nation witnesses unprecedented declines in academic achievement, one of the largest education philanthropies has announced it will fund $1.1 billion in K-12 math initiatives over the next four years. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s investment marks the beginning of a decade-long strategy to prioritize math gains, particularly for Black, Latino and low-income...
By Marianna McMurdock | October 19, 2022
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Suspended: How an LAUSD journalism teacher’s ‘dream’ job at school named for slain reporter Daniel Pearl turned into nightmare

On the day she made a decision leading to suspension from her “dream” journalism teaching job at an L.A. Unified high school named for slain reporter Daniel Pearl, Adriana Chavira had no second thoughts and taught her classes as usual. But the chain of events stemming from publication of a November, 2021 student newspaper article...
By Bryan Sarabia | October 18, 2022
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ACT scores fall to lowest level in 30 years

In yet another data point on missed learning during the pandemic, ACT scores from this year’s high school graduates dropped to their lowest level in three decades, according to a report released Wednesday. Exam-takers averaged 19.8 out of a possible 36 total points on the college admissions test, the first time since 1991 that nationwide results dipped...
By Asher Lehrer-Small | October 17, 2022
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Police experts: Swatting hoax targeting schools ‘absolutely’ coordinated, but may still be kids

After the police in more than a dozen South Carolina communities fielded calls last week alerting them to active school shootings, officers rushed to campuses where students and educators hid in fear for their lives. Ever since the mass school shooting in May at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school, families nationwide have been on high...
By Mark Keierleber | October 14, 2022
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Q&A: LAUSD District Superintendent Frances Baez on her challenges and achievements

Determined to provide herself with a quality education in the 1980s when opportunities for Latino students were limited, a young Frances Baez endured more than two hour bus rides from her Boyle Heights neighborhood to a LAUSD affiliated charter school in Pacific Palisades. “I had to take a bus and go across the city to...
By Nicholas Dinh | October 13, 2022
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Surviving genocide: Native boarding school archives reveal defiance, loss & love

It is a desperate plea from a father seeking information about his missing son. Morris Jenis Jr.’s father knew only his son, a Native American student at the Genoa Indian School in Nebraska 100 years ago, had not been seen in a year. Morris ran away from the school in 1921 — “deserted,” according to...
By Marianna McMurdock and Meghan Gallagher | October 10, 2022
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LA parents sound off after cyberattack leaves students vulnerable

For Christie Pesicka, the Los Angeles Unified School District cyberattack hits home. During “The Interview” hack in 2014, Pesicka was one of thousands of Sony Pictures employees that had their private information exposed in the midst of aggressive attacks by a North Korean hacker group. Now, as a mom, Pesicka worries about protecting her son...
By Joshua Bay | October 6, 2022
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Leaving Los Angeles: These 10 LAUSD schools lost the most students during COVID

Enrollment in Los Angeles Unified schools has been dipping for years, declining even more during the pandemic — but which schools saw the biggest drops and why? The enrollment drop of close to 6% during the pandemic came from a concoction of factors including families moving out of state, students switching to non-LAUSD schools with...
By Cari Spencer | October 6, 2022
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LAUSD downplays student harm after cyber gang posts sensitive data online

Updated, Oct. 4 The Vice Society ransomware gang reportedly published over the weekend a trove of sensitive student records from the Los Angeles school district. The data was posted to the gang’s dark-web “leak site,” after education leaders refused to pay — and at first even acknowledge — a ransom. Yet in a press conference...
By Mark Keierleber | October 3, 2022
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College mental health supports reduce suicide risk 84% in LGBTQ students

LGBTQ students whose college or university provides mental health services had 84% lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year than those who had no access, according to a new brief from The Trevor Project. And while the vast majority, 86%, reported that their college offers such services, a significant number of students cited barriers to...
By Beth Hawkins | October 3, 2022