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After a costly campaign, charter- and union-backed candidates each win seat on L.A. Unified school board
Updated Nov. 9 Charter school supporters and teachers union backers each won a seat on Los Angeles Unified School District’s school board Tuesday after a campaign that again set records for spending. Incumbent Scott Schmerelson, who was endorsed by United Teachers Los Angeles, is expected to hold on to his seat representing District 3 despite...
By Laura Fay | November 5, 2020
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LA school officials cheer passage of $7B bond to improve facilities and tech
Voters in Los Angeles passed Measure RR, a $7 billion bond to update and improve school infrastructure and technology, according to projections by the Los Angeles Times and others. The measure had about 71 percent voter support in “semiofficial” results posted Wednesday. The measure will raise property taxes on residents of Los Angeles Unified School...
By Laura Fay | November 5, 2020
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California ban on affirmative action in college admissions to stay in place
Updated The effort to reinstate affirmative action in California officially failed Wednesday, with the no vote staying at 56 percent. Ward Connerly, who led the effort to pass the original ban in 1996, tweeted that voters “said to the Legislature and all who want to impose ‘equity’ race politics on California, NO, NO, NO! We are...
By Linda Jacobson | November 4, 2020
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California voters to decide crucial school-related ballot measures on taxes, teen voting and race-based admissions
Supporters of three education-related ballot initiatives in California are hoping the potential for what one advocate called “record-shattering” turnout on Tuesday will give their measures a lift at the polls. Voters in the Golden State will decide if a tax assessment formula that has been in place for more than 40 years should be amended...
By Linda Jacobson | November 2, 2020
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Using tutors to combat COVID learning loss: New research shows that even lightly trained volunteers drive academic gains
As students seek to cope with the threat of learning losses wreaked by COVID-19 and months-long school closures, some families have already hit upon a solution of sorts: hiring professional tutors. The idea — commonsensical for the well-off, but prohibitively expensive for most — has engendered a storm of controversy. If a small portion of...
By Kevin Mahnken | November 2, 2020
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Parents and educators hope the rise of online learning lives on after the pandemic, report finds. But researchers say privacy protections shouldn’t be sacrificed
Although the pandemic forced students into an abrupt shift to haphazard online learning earlier this year, a majority of parents and educators support the boom in education technology and hope online learning goes on after the public health emergency subsides, according to a new report. But researchers argued that the surge in digital education shouldn’t...
By Mark Keierleber | October 29, 2020
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Survey: More than half of teachers felt less successful after COVID-19
New public opinion research indicates that COVID-19 and the hurried transition to remote learning presented teachers with an array of challenges that seriously damaged their sense of self-efficacy. The quality of school working conditions, including fair expectations and clear communication, was found to be critical in sustaining the educators’ perceptions of professional success. While over...
By Kevin Mahnken | October 28, 2020
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Report estimates that up to 500,000 students across California — and 1 to 3 million kids nationwide — have been missing from schools since March
Between 1 to 3 million students in the U.S. possibly haven’t attended school since pandemic-related closures began in March, according to estimates released last week by Bellwether Education Partners. Pulling from news reports and federal data sources, the team of researchers predict that between 10 and 25 percent of students in the most marginalized populations have...
By Linda Jacobson | October 27, 2020
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Politics, not science, is driving school reopening decisions to a ‘really dangerous’ degree, research suggests
Over seven months after much of society shut down in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no uniform policy guiding school districts through the return of tens of millions of students to in-person education. In most jurisdictions, officials have spent the last few months balancing risks and responsibilities, resulting in millions of American students...
By Kevin Mahnken | October 22, 2020
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Study: In 28 districts, middle and high school students lose more than a year of learning due to suspensions
In 28 districts across the U.S., students in middle and high school lost more than a year of learning due to suspensions, according to a new study released Monday. The study from the Civil Rights Project at UCLA analyzed discipline data from 2015-16 for almost every district in the nation. The most extreme losses ranged from 183...
By Linda Jacobson | October 20, 2020