LA School Report

By Emma Brown U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Wednesday plans to appeal to the nation’s states and cities to dramatically reduce incarceration for nonviolent crimes, and he is proposing to use the estimated $15 billion in savings to substantially raise teacher pay in high-poverty schools. Duncan argues that such a move would help persuade...

Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorses charter expansion effort “I would support any effort to expand high-quality education,” Villaraigosa said. “So I could certainly support that.” Los Angeles Times, by Howard Blume California denied renewal of federal funding for charter schools This will be the first time California, the state with the largest number of...

Two dozen LAUSD adult students will share $10,200 in scholarship money for  aircraft mechanics classes operated by the district’s Disvision of Adult and Career Education. Clay Lacy Aviation is offering the scholarship money based on the students’ higher education goals, academic achievements and community involvement at the Aviation Center (AV-Center) at Van Nuys Airport, which is part of...

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recognized 335 schools today as National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2015, and included on the list is one from LA Unified, the independent charter Kipp Raíces Academy School. Kipp is one of 33 schools from California to receive the honor, which recognizes both public and private elementary, middle, and high schools in...

*UPDATED Most of his teachers never checked their school emails. Many of them were “seasoned teachers” who never before touched an iPad. The school’s computer lab was rarely used. Yet, in the past year, Griffin Avenue Elementary School principal Leonel Angulo managed to inspire teachers and students to use computers in their classrooms, and the school became an...

By Sarah Butrymowicz You can see it all over our map of graduation rates by district: a pocket of low graduation rates surrounded by higher ones, indicating a city and its surrounding suburbs. It should come as no surprise that urban districts tend to have lower graduation rates than suburban ones. They often have more...

3 years later, results of LAUSD’s arts experiment are mixed A KPCC analysis of the most recent district data found that at about 100 elementary schools, the vast majority of students get no arts instruction. KPCC Test scores indicate more students ‘college ready’ in English language arts For math, the percentage decreased compared to last...

More than 40 agencies, representing a diverse coalition of bipartisan support, are urging California Gov. Jerry Brown to sign a bill requiring preschool for all children in low-income families. The governor has until Oct. 11 to sign or veto the bill. The bill is sponsored by Early Edge California, an educational advocacy group that is working...

LA Unified School Board President Steve Zimmer kept up his attack against the Broad Foundation charter schools expansion plan, appearing on KNBC’s “News Conference” yesterday and calling the plan a “perversion of what the charter movement was supposed to be.” “The reason why I’m concerned is because this is really a business plan that doesn’t address all students,”...

Just months having securing a new three-year contract that included a hefty raise for its members, all is not well at the the Los Angeles teachers union, UTLA. The latest issue of its monthly newsletter is no easy, breezy read, and it suggests that the months and years ahead may be as tumultuous as the recent past. UTLA...