LA School Report

Dozens of LA Unified schools lack staff needed to run libraries As many as 145 schools across L.A. Unified may have closed their libraries, according to staffing numbers provided to KPCC this week. The district said it does not have a tally of shuttered libraries, but figures show schools and the district have hired only...

We talk about their success stories, the kids who text them from college, invite them to their weddings, grow up and become teachers themselves. We talk about their heartbreaks, the kids who for one reason or another don’t make it, who drop out, who disappear. We talk about their frustrations, the kids with behavior issues,...

Via Ed Source | By John Fensterwald In a letter on Monday, leaders of the state Senate and Assembly criticized proposed regulations on state funding for the state’s neediest students as inconsistent with the intent of the new school finance law. Their letter to the State Board of Education, which must adopt the regulations in...

California using $2-million arts grant windfall for new programs The California Arts Council, the agency behind state government’s arts grants, is putting down most of its chips from a one-time, $2-million funding windfall on several new bets involving arts education and community improvement through the arts. The nearly $1.6 million allocated at the panel’s most...

It’s that time of year again, and naturally, thoughts turn to LA Unified school board committees. Well, probably not, but it is worth noting that what’s old is new again, as the deliberative process has returned, echoes of a bygone, pre-Monica Garcia as president time. Back then, in the middle of the last decade, as...

Via the LA Times | By Stephen Ceasar When Carmina Rosas visited her son’s first-grade classroom, she got a lesson of her own. She learned that her 6-year-old, who attends New Open World Academy in Koreatown, could read 59 of the 96 “high-frequency” words he should have known by that time in the school year....

L.A. Unified’s local food push is healthy for area economy too The savory smell of nutmeg and cinnamon wafts through the Azusa bakery, where dozens of workers in blue gloves and hairnets cook up L.A. Unified’s newest star product. The “Glorious Morning” muffin is chewy and moist, packed with whole wheat, raisins and carrots —...

As LA Unified debates when to buy keyboards to go along with the district’s new iPads, experts say typing skills and accuracy are essential to student success on Common Core testing. The new Smarter Balanced standardized tests in California will be taken on computers by all students, even at the elementary school level. The language...