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Teacher Spotlight: Synergy Academy’s Paulina Morales on teaching culturally relevant history, being excited about Teen Court and loving graduation day

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. For a history teacher like Paulina Morales, there has not been a better time than now to engage students in learning...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | December 4, 2019
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Three years into new federal requirement, LAUSD leading the way among the few California districts focused on keeping foster students in their home schools

This story originally appeared in The Chronicle of Social Change In the eastern suburbs of Sacramento County, Kamika Hebbert keeps a watchful eye for signs of how an unstable environment affects young minds. There’s the restlessness that comes with worry about biological parents and siblings. The thousand-mile stare that comes with trauma. The mouthing off...
By Susan Abram | December 2, 2019
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How one organization is using films made by children to bridge cultural differences

As a New York Times reporter, Holly Carter was struck by the rapid disappearance of foreign news bureaus in America. Carter worried that the loss of those agencies would lead to a drastic shortfall of informed citizens, which she said could be “dangerous” for a functioning democracy. As a mother, Carter was growing frustrated by...
By Lauren Costantino | December 2, 2019
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Teacher Spotlight: KIPP Corazon’s Michelle Torres on preparing students to navigate the system better than she did, championing restorative justice and appreciating her trusting 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. Michelle Torres never planned to become a teacher but her own struggles as a college student made her realize that through...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 20, 2019
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Exclusive: Less than 25% of LAUSD seniors last year took the type of math/quantitative reasoning class California State University wants to make a requirement

As the country’s largest four-year public university considers adding a fourth-year math/quantitative reasoning requirement to its admissions standards, new data obtained by The 74 shows less than a quarter of L.A. Unified seniors last year took such a class. About 23.5 percent of seniors — or 8,472 of 36,124 — were enrolled in a fourth-year...
By Taylor Swaak | November 18, 2019
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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