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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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. Carol Park doesn’t take lightly the responsibility of teaching what she calls the “underseen” middle school student. With most of the...

California’s 115 community colleges are in the midst of a major transformation of how students are taught college-level math and English courses. A state law instituted a fall 2019 deadline for community colleges to largely end the practice of forcing students into remedial classes, which repeat coursework that students have already learned in high school....

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. After more than 20 years working in the insurance industry, Polly Buller-Ulm thought it wasn’t too late to pursue what she...

Washington, D.C.  Democratic presidential candidates’ proposals to spend more money on education should come with more detail on how their plans will get better results for students, two former Democratic education secretaries said. The 19 Democrats left in the race have proposed several high-priced education plans, including universal pre-K, dramatically increased spending on low-income students...

This article first appeared in The Chronicle of Social Change A recent federal report found administrative and financial obstacles challenged the ability to keep foster youth in their school of origin. Los Angeles might emerge as a pioneer on fighting those barriers, now that one of the largest school districts in the nation has approved its share...