LA School Report

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...

By Michael Mahoney The California high school exit exam is dead. The short and purposeless life of the exam began in 2001 when it was first administered to ninth-grade volunteers. It ended last week when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that not only suspended the test but also nullified the results for anybody who...

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles along with LA Unified is co-hosting a Youth Town Hall on Saturday when an estimated 150 students from the district are expected to gather and offer recommendations on priorities for the next Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), which outlines how the district spends state education dollars. Governor Jerry...

Following up on a months-long threat, high-profile attorney Mark Geragos today slapped LA Unified with a class action lawsuit, calling for an end to the practice of “teacher jails” and asking for more than $1 billion in damages. The suit was filed in state superior court on behalf of Rafe Esquith, a well-known teacher who was dismissed...

By Howard Blume and Zahira Torres The Los Angeles Board of Education voted this week to fire nationally recognized teacher Rafe Esquith, following a misconduct investigation that included allegations he made an improper joke to students and inappropriately touched minors, according to sources with knowledge of the decision. The longtime educator at Hobart Avenue Elementary School,...

Long Beach, Los Angeles win grants to develop ‘learning mindsets’ Both districts have been systematically developing learning or “growth” mindsets, which are the skills that teach students how to think and learn. EdSource, by John Fensterwald How an LAUSD school is providing cleaner air for its students Students at Murchison Street Elementary School in Boyle...

LA Unified announced today a final agreement with Pearson, the software company, that will bring $6.45 million back to the district as reimbursement for the content and services delivered under a technology partnership. The settlement ends one aspect of the district’s iPad program, that was built upon a deal with Apple and Pearson and was...