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Amid COVID-19 crisis, closed schools converted to grab & go food centers across Los Angeles are saviors to children and adults alike, ‘bring a little more normalcy’
All 60 Grab and Go Food Centers operated by Los Angeles Unified will be open on Friday, March 20. While the Governor and Mayor have both issued “Stay at Home” orders, they stated that they expect essential services like food centers to remain open. This is an advisory LAUSD sent out Thursday. On a...
By Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters | March 19, 2020
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At least half of CA’s districts are closed due to coronavirus. A look at LAUSD’s plans to teach, feed students — and how community members reacted on Day 1 of shutdown
Updated, March 17 L.A. Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner in a letter to families late Monday announced that the district at this time is unable to open 40 family resource centers as initially planned, as “state and local health and public safety officials cannot assure us it will be safe for the children and adults.” There...
By Taylor Swaak | March 16, 2020
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After record spending and an ongoing union vs. charter power struggle, at least two L.A. Unified board races appear headed to a run-off
*Updated March 6 At least two competitive L.A. Unified school board races are likely headed to a November runoff following the most heated and costly primary season on record and a campaign that once again became a proxy fight over the future of charter schools. As of early Friday, no one candidate in Districts 3 or...
By Taylor Swaak | March 4, 2020
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California schools expel and suspend Native American students at alarming rates. Districts can’t dismiss the data just because their populations are small, advocates say
In one incident, a teacher grew frustrated with a student because he wouldn’t respond to her, not realizing that in the student’s Native American tribe, exhibiting silence is a sign of respect to an authority figure. As punishment, the student was denied recess. In another instance, a Native American student was accused of consuming drugs,...
By Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters | March 3, 2020
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Teacher Spotlight: CHIME’s co-teachers Esther Nodal and Kristin LaFirenza on how sharing a classroom spurs innovation and brings true inclusion for students with a wide range of disabilities
This interview is one in a series spotlighting Los Angeles teachers, their unique and innovative classroom approaches, and their thoughts on how the education system can better support teachers in guiding students to success. More frequently, schools are giving the co-teaching model a chance but at CHIME Institute’s Schwarzenegger Community School, a charter elementary in...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | February 26, 2020
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Biden’s tough-on-crime mantra led to school ‘militarization,’ critics say. Why his legacy on campus cops matters ahead of the SC primary
Just one month after the worst K-12 school shooting in American history, then-Vice President Joe Biden held back tears as he addressed a nation mourning the 26 people killed, most of them young children. “We have a moral obligation — a moral obligation — to do everything in our power to diminish the prospect that...
By Mark Keierleber | February 26, 2020
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Education must-reads: From charter politics still shaping LAUSD school board elections to an audit finding the state lottery is not putting enough money into Education, 10 new things to know about California’s schools (and beyond)
Education Must-Reads is our daily roundup of the most interesting news articles and analysis surrounding students, schools and California education policy. Charter school politics still in play in LA Unified school board elections The majority of Los Angeles Unified school board seats are up for grabs next week, a pivotal election that will shape how...
By LA School Report | February 26, 2020
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Teachers find coaching helpful but most don’t get enough of it, survey says
School staff who coach teachers to become better at their craft can be one approach to improving student outcomes, but few coaches have the time and administrative support to do their jobs effectively, a new survey finds. A large number of teacher coaches surveyed say they oversee at least 16 teachers, more than the recommended...
By Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters | February 24, 2020
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Meet the Etsy of education: Online marketplace lets teachers buy — and sell — millions of classroom materials and lessons
Teachers Pay Teachers represents a growing online marketplace — once dubbed the Etsy of Education — that now has seen 6 million teachers in the past year buy or sell classroom resources. It’s part of an effort to help teachers to help one another create fresh approaches to instruction while getting paid for their work....
By Tim Newcomb | February 24, 2020
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First-time California science test results reveal wide achievement gaps for black and Latino students, dismal scores for the state’s English learners
A state task force newly assigned to narrowing California’s achievement gap got further proof of the challenges ahead with this month’s first-ever release of the California Science Test scores, showing that less than 1 in 5 low-income black and Latino students met or exceeded the standards. The results released by the California Department of Education...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | February 19, 2020