LA School Report

LA Unified has so many different kinds of schools it’s hard to keep them all straight. With such varied terms as affiliated charter, independent charter, magnet school, pilot school, continuation school, option school and others, it can be a challenge to understand what they are, what they offer and how they differ.  This is the third...

Los Angeles conflict escalates as charter schools thrive Throughout the 1990s and well into the new millennium, the massive Los Angeles Unified School District barely noticed the many charter schools that were springing up around the metropolis. But Los Angeles parents certainly took notice and started enrolling their children. In 2008, five charter-management organizations announced...

Last month, NPR’s Education blog published what is being called a “takedown piece” on Rocketship Education. As co-founder and CEO of Rocketship, a leading network of nonprofit public charter schools, I have grown accustomed to anti-charter attacks like this. But my staff and parents are not. They flooded my inbox with outrage over the voices missing...

Like Yelp for school: How a charter network uses student reviews to change how they teach A focus group-style exit interview has become part of the year-end ritual at PUC Schools. Over five weeks this year, co-founder Jacqueline Elliott spoke with all of the roughly 260 seniors graduating from the charter network’s high schools in...

The district’s best teachers should be teaching at struggling schools, some LA Unified school board members suggested last week, with at least one board member calling for a future discussion on the issue. The comments were made during a Committee of the Whole meeting last week on how the district can improve and “reimagine” middle school,...

By Lindsay Sturman The epic battle over how to improve public education in California grew more stratified last week when a bill to mildly reform California’s onerous teacher employment laws was gutted beyond recognition and quickly died. With it went the hope that our elected officials would finally decide the question which is at the...

Los Angeles Unified has most to gain from upcoming income tax initiative Already facing an uncertain budget future, Los Angeles Unified has the most to gain of any district in the state from passage of a ballot measure in November that would extend income taxes on the state’s highest earners. By Michael Janofsky, EdSource Cloning...

After two legal attempts by parents to take over a South-Central LA elementary school they said was failing their children, an agreement has been reached for the school to join the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The deal averts a threatened lawsuit and ends a two-year “parent trigger” battle. The agreement moves 20th Street Elementary...

Gov. Jerry Brown last week signed the state’s $171 billion budget for 2016-17. Here are some highlights of education spending in the budget, including increases for additional preschool seats, efforts to address the teacher shortage and programs to prepare students for college. 1. Overall numbers The $171 billion state budget includes total funding of $88.3...

Urban schools test for grit, but will it improve test scores? Something new is happening at a batch of California urban schools. Students are being asked if they are happy at school. The recent focus on the social and emotional well-being of students as a way to improve test scores is gaining statewide traction. Civil...