LA School Report

While statistically Venice High School was the most-improved LA Unified high school in 2015-16 based on state test scores, the real story behind the jump is participation: how many students actually took the tests and how the school’s administration turned the tide of a strong “opt-out” movement that had swept through the campus. The school’s numbers...

By Kelly Gonez When you are a teacher with a student who is engaging and clearly capable of big things, it breaks your heart to see an obvious barrier to success. One of my students, I’ll call him Julian, faced this kind of challenge. He was the kind of student who makes you really appreciate...

The majority of  Vista Del Valle Dual Language Academy students in San Fernando don’t have just one teacher, they have two. And they don’t have just one classroom, they have two, where they spend half their day learning in English and the other half learning in Spanish. It’s all part of the school’s dual language immersion program,...

*UPDATED Parents and supporters of charter school students on Friday delivered a lawsuit to the Huntington Park City Council and Mayor Graciela Ortiz in response to the council’s recent enactment of a one-year ban on new charter schools in the city’s limits. The lawsuit was filed Thursday by the California Charter Schools Association in Los Angeles County Superior...

By Kathleen O’Connor When Jumoke Hinton-Hodge was elected to the board of the Oakland Unified School District eight years ago, the district was emerging from state receivership after a $100 million bailout, the largest in California’s history. At the same time, enrollment in city schools was declining, the Great Recession was in full effect, and...

A biology class that solves a murder mystery. Online maps of how to finish a degree. And a dogged determination to get underserved students across the graduation line. These are some of the ways Pasadena City College is reaching record graduation rates and closing the achievement gap. And now it is up for a prestigious...

October was National Bullying Prevention Month, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for LA Unified. Anecdotal evidence and interviews with dozens of teachers, administrators, parents and students over the past three months point to an increase in school bullying, inappropriate language and public humiliation that many believe can be specifically attributed to...

Data provided by the California Charter Schools Association. Note: Orange is a charter school; purple is a traditional school. The California Charter Schools Association on Tuesday released its first ranking of every public charter and traditional school in the state. Each school is ranked from 1 to 10 as a statewide rank and a “similar...

    For the first time since LA Unified has collected such data, the number of incidents involving fights, suicidal behavior, bullying, drugs and other disruptions on campuses was higher at middle schools than at high schools. The district last week released the 2015-2016 iSTAR Annual Report, which stands for the Incident System Tracking Accountability...