LA School Report

Jose Lara, a prominent leader of the LA teachers union, UTLA, was recently named the 2015 Social Justice Activist of the Year by the National Education Association (NEA). Lara helped lead a successful grassroots effort to get the LA Unified school board to adopt ethnic studies as a graduation requirement. He is vice president of the El...

An estimated 400 LA Unified seniors without their high school diplomas this summer may have already graduated … or they may not have, and there is nothing they can do about it at the moment. The state’s decision to suspend the July California High School Exit Exam (CASHEE) while the state Legislature debates its future...

English learner students are performing better in charter schools than in traditional schools, according to a new report released by the California Charter Schools Association. The report, “Success for English Learners in Charter Schools,” found that throughout the state, independent charter schools are serving nearly 2 percent more English learner (EL) students than traditional schools....

By The Editorial Board To some people, even 150 years after the end of the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee remains a symbol of honor, chivalry and courage; his memory conjures the Old South, a lost cause and a more romantic era. That’s why his name remains on schools, highways and monuments across...

L.A Unified takes on sexting with education campaign, not punishment The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to roll out what may be the state’s most ambitious educational campaign around the issue. Los Angeles Times Marriage ruling may boost school climate for LGBT families and students California has been in the forefront of efforts to...

The nonprofit Youth Policy Institute (YPI) and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced today the establishment of 94 new AmeriCorps members who will serve LA-area youth. The new positions were made possible by three grants, totaling $4.4 million, enabling the AmeriCorps members to work with youth in low-income schools and community centers all around Los Angeles. “Los...

Steve Zimmer may think that being elected as the new LA Unified board president was the tough part. But now he has to live up to the expectations of his fellow members of the board. Even before he was voted in unanimously last week, the board members laid out their expectations of the future president....

After Steve Zimmer was elected unanimously last week as the LA Unified board president, one of his first orders of business was appointing a Vice President and finding members to represent the district to a series of organizations. In his first move, he named George McKenna, the District 1 representative, as board vice president, which didn’t...

By Emily Cadei When it comes to setting standards for America’s public schools, there’s a remarkable degree of consensus: The system the federal government has in place—known as No Child Left Behind—doesn’t work. Fixing it, however, is about to set off a new round of fierce political combat in Washington, D.C., and draw in 2016...

Hundreds of SoCal students can’t graduate after exit exam canceled As the SB 172 bill moves through the legislature this summer, about 5,000 students across the state are stuck in graduation limbo. KPCC 150 years later, schools still a battlefield for interpreting Civil War Texas’ guidelines for teaching American history do not mention the Ku...