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Teacher Spotlight: KIPP Iluminar Academy’s Mercedes Jimenez on preparing her 3rd-graders for college, why Latino parents are sometimes scared to ask questions and the goal charter and district schools share

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. Teaching low-income Latino students in East Los Angeles didn’t happen by chance for Mercedes Jimenez, a third-grade teacher at KIPP Iluminar...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 13, 2019
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Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears to back Trump plan to end DACA, potentially putting thousands of students and teachers at risk of deportation

Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared during oral arguments Tuesday to side with the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate a program that protects some 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as young children. The case could deal a hard blow to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and put its...
By Mark Keierleber | November 12, 2019
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Teacher residency and federal dollars: One approach to solving California’s rural teacher shortage

The teaching shortage in one stretch of rural California is so bad that 600 educators are licensed through emergency credentials. The nearest public universities with teaching programs are 50 and 80 miles away. But a new nearly $7 million federal grant is tapping both online learning and year-long classroom experience to train teachers to bolster...
By Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters | November 11, 2019
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The great STEM debate: States can’t agree on what those four letters mean, and that’s a problem

Anyone paying half-attention to schools knows about the acronym STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, the four pillars supporting a career-ready future for students. There’s hardly another term in the education world that’s as commonly referenced. But when strung together, just what do those four letters — or five if you’re observing National STEM/STEAM Day tomorrow...
By Noble Ingram | November 11, 2019
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Teacher Spotlight: Lokrantz Special Ed Center’s Steven Rude on the critical role school psychologists play, why being recognized is important and starting a community garden for preschoolers and their parents

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. Steven Rude has spent nearly 30 years working as a school psychologist for Los Angeles Unified School District, supporting students experiencing...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 6, 2019
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Inside 2019’s ‘disturbing’ NAEP results: Sagging reading scores across America, particularly for eighth graders

Scores released last week from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) held bad news for American schools, with trends that are essentially flat in mathematics and down in reading. Most states saw little or no improvement in either subject, with their lowest-performing students showing the most significant declines in scores. Whether the cause lies...
By Kevin Mahnken | November 4, 2019
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Inside the LA nonprofit whose ‘cradle to career’ programs helped the city’s neediest students before its abrupt closure

LA School Report was preparing to publish a story on the Youth Policy Institute’s work serving some of Los Angeles’s neediest students and families when the news broke Oct. 25 that the longstanding anti-poverty program was closing its doors. This followed the mid-October release of what the Los Angeles Times described as “a devastating audit...
By Josh Sanburn | November 3, 2019
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Teacher Spotlight: Daniel Helena brings his own experiences in helping retain more teachers of color in L.A. classrooms

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. In an attempt to find the answer to why teachers of color across the nation leave their classrooms at a higher...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | October 30, 2019
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Analysis: California’s universities offer much better retirement plans than its K-12 districts. Why we need to offer our teachers more mobility, flexibility and fairness

Why do states give employees at public colleges and universities better retirement plans than they give their employees in K-12 schools? The root of this disconnect started a century ago, when Andrew Carnegie created the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America to provide guaranteed retirement income and life insurance, mainly to college professors who...
By Chad Aldeman | October 28, 2019
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California girl kicks 30-yard field goal, wins Chick-Fil-A for a year, gives prize to opposing coach battling cancer

Pull up to bonita @7 vs Glendora #johnstrong pic.twitter.com/VKn3gSDXnW — Aalias Williams (@kingadub1) October 3, 2019 When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the football team he coaches visited the hospital. So, when he was released a week later, John Langilotti returned the favor. Langilotti, the assistant football coach for Bonita High School in California,...
By Debra West | October 28, 2019