LA School Report

The LA teachers union, UTLA, organized a press conference at at Hamilton High School in Palms yesterday to draw attention to what it says is overcrowding in classrooms at the school. The press conference featured parents, teachers and students. “If we don’t get the quality education that we need to succeed, then we are being set...

California’s 2013-14 grad rate increased from year before The state’s graduation rate mirrored the previously announced national average of 81 percent. EdSource, by Theresa Harrington Final budget report notes big school spending upturn The Proposition 98 minimum school funding guarantee has jumped almost 32 percent from the depth of the recession to surpass $68.4 billion...

It all begins tonight, the chance for people around the city to weigh in what they want in the next LA Unified superintendent. The first of a series of meetings around the districts is scheduled for 6 pm at the Roybal Learning Center Auditorium, 1200 Colton St. More meetings are scheduled over the next two weeks in...

*UPDATED While classmates were at the beach, the mall or the park, about 150 LA Unified high school students spent part of their Saturday dowtown at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, taking part in a Youth Town Hall. The focus of the meeting was for the students to offer opinions on how the district...

By Anya Kamenetz Recently a neighborhood in Brooklyn made national headlines for a fight over public schools. Lots of affluent, mainly white families have been moving into new condos in the waterfront area called DUMBO, and the local elementary school is getting overcrowded. The city wants to redraw the zones in a way that would...

Schools across US find alternatives to suspending students The school districts in New York, Los Angeles and Denver are just some of those that have moved away from discipline policies that relied heavily on suspensions. Associated Press, by Jamie Stengel How Fresno Unified bond measure caught the eye of investigators Critics say what Fresno Unified...

A day after lawyers for Rafe Esquith said they knew of no outside investigation into his past, the Los Angeles Police Department today confirmed that a department probe begun earlier this year was continuing. “There is an ongoing investigation at this time,” said LAPD public information officer Norma Eisenman, an assertion confirmed by Capt. Julian R....

Facing a statewide and national trend in a shortage of special education teachers, LA Unified officials are mounting an aggressive campaign to find them. And, if they can’t find them, the district is training the teachers themselves. “We are out and relentless as far as it goes for teachers, because university enrollment is down for...

The “Great Public Schools Now Initiative” was unveiled recently and has caused great controversy at LA Unified. Led by the Broad Foundation, it has set a goal of adding 260 charter schools to low-income areas to enroll half of all LA Unified students within eight years. The plan is estimated to cost almost half a...

By Emilio Solano Growing up Mexican-American in a predominantly white community in Oregon, I never had a Latino teacher. I remember men of color working as security guards and coaches, but no one of my ethnicity led a classroom. Even in our textbooks, Cesar Chavez merited just a paragraph. While many Los Angeles residents know we...