LA School Report

For the fifth time in the past 10 years, LAUSD is searching for a new superintendent. The school board’s list of required qualifications likely include: • Able to drive and execute on an academic improvement vision for more than 640,000 students. • Able to turn around or close hundreds of low-performing schools. • Able to...

As California struggles to close a stubborn achievement gap for its English learners, integrating math education with English language development can be a key to unlocking their potential, a new study says. The Education Trust—West report, Unlocking Learning II: Math as a Lever for English Learner Equity, highlights school districts — including three in the...

Los Angeles parents will get a simpler way to evaluate and compare schools, if a plan by three LA Unified school board members is passed next month that gives schools a single score or rating based primarily on student achievement and growth. It’s been five years since the Academic Performance Index, which ranked California schools...

Six Los Angeles moms who started out as classroom and field trip volunteers — then helped elect a school board member — were honored Tuesday with the 2018 Hart Vision Volunteers of the Year Award by the California Charter Schools Association. Xitlali Castro, Ramona López, Esmeralda Medina, Roxann Nazario, Mireya Pacheco, and Bielma Pérez, all...

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Lia Martin’s 10-year-old son, Taylor, used to be two years behind grade level and didn’t want to go to school. Now he’s a year ahead in...

For Democrats and Republicans alike, charter schools have long provided a happy compromise between vouchers for religious schools and no school choice at all. Charters give families an alternative schooling option but remain publicly funded, secular institutions authorized by government agencies. They have been warmly endorsed by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama,...

For nearly six minutes Saturday, school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood at a podium in front of almost 1 million people, on national television, and said nothing. It was a remarkable and chilling silence — one that rang louder than the star-studded musical performances that took the stage in Washington, D.C., before Gonzalez got up to speak. “Six minutes...

California parents looking for better public schools for their kids will get to elect a new state schools chief in November, and this week was their first chance to compare the three candidates side by side — something parents can’t yet do with schools. The three candidates for state superintendent of public instruction met for...