LA School Report

*UPDATED LA Unified’s scores on state standardized tests continue to fall below the state average, even though its students posted slightly better gains, according to results released Wednesday. But English learners made no improvement. Their near-stagnant scores last year had caused deep consternation in the district, with one board member saying “the data is miserable.”...

*UPDATED California’s public school students performed about the same this year as they did last year on standardized tests, with LA Unified students showing slightly more improvement. But you’d need a magnifying glass to see the differences. California’s improvement in math was so minuscule that for the first time the results were released in decimal points....

More high school seniors are on track to graduate so far this year than in any of the past dozen years, according to an LA Unified report released last week. “We are seeing numbers higher than last year and the year before, and the expectations are increasing,” Chief Academic Officer Frances Gipson said. “We are...

When the LA Unified school board said the Pledge of Allegiance Tuesday afternoon, at least three people in the audience of about two dozen took to their knees. Most prominent was Cecily Myart-Cruz. She is vice president of both the National Education Association and the local United Teachers Los Angeles. She was flanked by two other...

In a vote that fell along the reform and labor lines, Mónica García on Tuesday became the new president of the LA Unified school board. She named Nick Melvoin to the vice president’s position. Melvoin joined the board in July after defeating the former board president in May’s general election. She also confirmed that she...

A national survey shows that 1 in 4 students experienced bullying, and those who identify as something other than male or female are bullied at slightly higher rates. The YouthTruth Student Survey, released Tuesday by the San Francisco-based education nonprofit, found that more than 48,000 students — or 25 percent — surveyed in 34 states said...

Bilingual education is making a comeback in California, and one reason is research that proved its benefits, Latino education experts say. At a recent conference of Spanish-language journalists from across the country, panelists including a UCLA researcher laid out how far bilingual education has come over the last two decades. During a panel discussion on...

It’s only the second month of school and Ernesto has already cussed me out several times. He learned to protect himself in the school of hard knocks, where daily lessons involve neglect, abuse, and distrust from the adults in his life. His father left him when he was young, and his mother worked multiple jobs...

Mónica García — a staunch education reformer and a favorite of the district’s Latino majority — will likely become LA Unified’s new school board president next Tuesday. She has served as president twice before, for a total of six years, and she is already the longest-serving school board president in district history. The District 2...

Four years ago, a group of college students from across Los Angeles gathered in a coffee shop to share stories. Some of them were difficult to hear: what it felt like to take remedial classes, to be talked down to by a professor, to be the first person in their neighborhood or family to attend...