LA School Report

When Los Angeles sophomore Marco Sanchez quit Chatsworth Charter High School’s baseball team, he needed to find a new outlet to build on the teamwork skills he left behind. He said his parents were worried too, wondering “what is Marco going to do now?” The 16-year-old started to consider the school’s Esports program at the...

“I see dual language immersion almost like language reparations,” said José Miguel Kubes. “There was harm done during those 18 years of English-only, and it’s our jobs as educators to do something about it.” Kubes is the superintendent of Delhi Unified, a small district of five schools nestled in California’s Central Valley. Over 90% of...

This story was originally published on CalMatters.org. More than 17,400 high school seniors last fall got the sweetest news any anxious student can get: Congratulations, because of your high school GPA, you’re automatically admitted to one of 10 California State University campuses of your choice — and they’re all relatively affordable. Even with less than...

Like many education leaders, I’m alarmed by the youth mental health crisis. However, I’m also surprised by the limited solutions offered to solve such a dilemma. In a 2022 CDC survey, 15.3% of youth aged 12-to-17 had current diagnoses of anxiety, and 7.5% of the same age group had current depression diagnoses. These numbers are...

A little more than one month in, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s cell phone ban is getting praise from parents – and hatred from students.   LAUSD launched its cell phone prohibition on February 18th of this year. It allows schools to design their own policies for banning the use of phones by students on...

Eric Kinley, a student support coordinator at Aveson Charter School, has seen firsthand the devastation of the deadly Eaton fire in Altadena – but he’s also seeing how students, parents and teachers are adapting post-fire. Aveson was one of the schools destroyed in the historic wildfires that swept through Los Angeles in January. More than...

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent proposal to ban cellphones in New York schools has sparked a heated debate. Advocates argue that phones are a major distraction, pulling students away from learning and exacerbating mental health issues.  On the surface, it seems like a simple solution: remove the distraction, and students will focus. But as someone who...

Los Angeles school district officials are preparing for the Trump administration to change, cut, or significantly diminish federal public school funding.  President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday to shut down the U.S. Department of Education where leaders have already laid off more than 1,300 employees — and has also threatened to withhold funding...

The Los Angeles Unified School District is at a critical turning point, with fresh obstacles from both the recent wildfires and changes in federal aid and policies under the Trump administration, a new report argues. The 26-page document, “Looking Ahead as LAUSD Confronts Fire Recovery and Federal Policy Uncertainty,” found those twin events will place...

March brings a welcome respite from the chaos of the current political climate with its NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament. March Madness provides an opportunity to put stressful concerns on the back burner and delve into the mysteries of brackets, the aesthetics of breakaways and the heart-stopping unease of buzzer-beaters. But the NCAA tournament...