LA School Report

In an attempt to thwart plummeting graduation rates, the LA Unified school board unanimously approved a resolution yesterday easing high school graduation requirements and subsequently launched another districtwide study of A-G implementation. But not before sponsors agreed to last-minute changes and the superintendent pledged to enact an “immediate intervention” plan. While the previous version of...

By The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board California’s high school exit exam is certainly due for revision. The test, which requires high school graduates to demonstrate reasonably proficient reading and math skills to graduate, is out of step with the newly adopted Common Core standards, and aligning it with the new curriculum is important. But...

Grad rates up? Very little, at best! A closer look at the evidence shows that, other than data collection, nothing much has changed in over 20 years. SI&A Cabinet Report San Diego Unified says it will start following the law on charter school space Under the terms of Prop. 39, charters are entitled to use...

Amid a suddenly contentious environment, the Ethnic Studies Advisory Board met last week with a lot of new questions in front of it and the LA Unified school board was set to discuss the issue today. When the LA Unified school board voted in the fall to make ethnic studies a requirement for high school...

By Sandy Banks What if you could create your dream school for your kids, one that’s high-tech and hands-on; diverse and genteel; an urban beehive of creativity with a suburban sense of security? That’s what a group of young upscale parents in South Park set out to do three years ago. They loved their neighborhood’s...

Class of 2015 needs more than high school diploma, experts say The high school diploma — once a ticket to the American middle class — isn’t enough any more, experts say. Los Angeles Daily News San Marino High student claims teachers failed to report rape allegations The lawsuit against the San Marino Unified School District...

The state of California faired poorly in a new report from the Education Law Center that grades states on how fair their educational funding system is in regard to providing extra funding for low-income districts. However, the report is based on data from 2012, before the state enacted the groundbreaking Local Control Funding Formula and...

School may be out for students and teachers but LA Unified School board members still have a lot of work ahead of them at tomorrow’s board meeting with several proposals intended to boost (or at least maintain) districtwide graduation rates. At the top of the list is a resolution to ease rigorous graduation requirements and...

By Elissa Nadworny  The national graduation rate is at an all-time high — 81 percent. It was such big news, President Obama touted it in this year’s State of the Union address. That got us thinking: What’s the story behind that 81 percent? Working with a team of reporters in 14 states, we set off...

Ending senior year with a bang isn’t cheap at many L.A.-area high schools Sticker shock has hit families hard in these final weeks of high school, which are filled with expensive events. Los Angeles Times State lawmakers want to change teachers evaluations State legislators are approving bills that will revamp teacher evaluations for the first...