The Morning Read
Your Daily Roundup of LAUSD news from across the web | 10.05.21
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Inside Citizens of the World, the intentionally diverse California school network built around community engagement and students’ unique backgrounds
Over the past year, researchers from The Century Foundation have analyzed roughly 5,700 charter schools in all 50 states in an attempt to produce the first-ever nationwide inventory of diversity in the public charter school sector. This school profile was adapted from The Century Foundation report “Citizens of the World Charter Schools: Balancing Network and Community.”...
By Halley Potter | June 22, 2018
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From California to Rhode Island, what a new national report on personalized learning practices reveals about teacher enthusiasm — and the bureaucratic hurdles of school districts
When school districts adopt personalized learning, the bulk of the work falls to teachers, who, while excited about the opportunity to innovate, are often not supported by their school systems to implement and share their ideas. That’s according to new research from the Center for Reinventing Public Education, which analyzed the efforts of districts and...
By Kate Stringer | June 21, 2018
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Commentary: How our LA charter high school is reimagining education for homeless and foster care youth
As graduation season comes to a close, school leaders across the country have the opportunity to reflect on the way our schools are helping students from all walks of life prepare for their future, including students who are homeless, living in foster care, or experiencing challenges that prevent them from thriving in traditional school settings....
By Erin Whalen | June 20, 2018
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‘I live in the same space as you’: As districts nationwide struggle with diversity, how one LA school network is recruiting teachers who look like the classrooms they lead
Each year, on the first day of school at KIPP Academy of Opportunity in South Los Angeles, teacher Kasi Moore-Watts has a reliable way of getting her students’ attention. Her mom was on drugs, Moore-Watts tells them, and her grandparents raised her. When she shares her background with students, she said, she sees “heads that...
By Brendan Lowe | June 19, 2018
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‘The Unafraid’: With DACA’s future uncertain, new film offers intimate look at the struggles of undocumented youth as they fight to attend college
Since the Trump administration announced last year it would end a program that offers protections to undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children, their fate remains in limbo.Si Amid the political gridlock in Washington over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Dreamers must keep pushing forward. Among them are the young...
By Mark Keierleber | June 19, 2018
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LA County Board of Education’s Alex M. Johnson: Answering the call for the greater good — a challenge to the Class of 2018
Graduation season has almost concluded, and students and teachers are anxiously readying to begin summer break. Undoubtedly, many of us have spent the past few weeks taking part in the pomp and circumstance and pageantry that accompany the milestone of matriculation in a student’s educational career. Whether it’s the culmination ceremony of a child going...
By Alex M. Johnson | June 18, 2018
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If Janus ruling means teachers no longer have to join unions, will breaking away from state and national affiliates be a way to save local membership?
The Supreme Court’s pending decision in the Janus case has the potential to decimate the clout and size of public-sector unions by allowing members who disagree with the union’s activity to opt out of membership. But another path to maintaining membership in local unions may be emerging: a split from the more divisive and politically charged state...
By Carolyn Phenicie | June 18, 2018
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LAUSD board frees principals of struggling schools from having to hire teachers sent to them by the district
Updated June 15 About one-fourth of LA Unified schools have just won a coveted freedom: the right to hire the best teacher for the job. However, the majority of Los Angeles schools are still shackled by a longtime districtwide policy that forces principals to hire from a “must-place” list of “displaced” teachers. But that could...
By Laura Greanias | June 15, 2018
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LAUSD cuts positions to plug a budget hole without increasing class sizes
June 20 Update: The LAUSD board approved the 2018-19 budget as expected on June 19, and pledged support for a couple new initiatives, including college savings accounts and free college admissions tests. But again, senior district officials forecast that the district was headed towards financial catastrophe in just four years, when reserves are expected to...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | June 13, 2018
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LA’s graduation rate will now be reported in a second way to reveal how many students are actually eligible for state universities
LA Unified made a big commitment Tuesday: by 2023 all students will be college-ready, and — to make sure parents can hold the district accountable — it will now report two different graduation rates. Through unanimous approval of the “Realizing the Promise for All: Close the Gap by 2023” resolution, the board members “publicly commit” to...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | June 13, 2018