LA School Report

Three more states — Alaska, Hawaii and West Virginia — have been awarded so-called “waivers” from some of the key provisions of the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). But there’s still no news on the fate of LAUSD’s application, or whether the state will try and get a statewide waiver. *UPDATE:...

Antonio Sanchez always introduces himself to voters the same way, telling them within ten seconds that he grew up in Pacoima, went to San Fernando High School, and graduated form Cal State Northridge before going on to UCLA. And so when he canvases precincts in San Fernando on Saturday, he knows most of the streets. He...

Going door-to-door in the Sunland section of the East Valley one evening this past weekend, District 6 School Board candidate Monica Ratliff‘s pitch to voters goes something like this: “Hi, my name is Monica Ratliff. I’m a teacher, and I’m running for the Board of Education. Do you have any questions or concerns about the school district?”...

  The most recent LA Times / USC poll has candidate Eric Garcetti up 7 points over his rival Wendy Greuel in tomorrow’s Mayoral runoff. However, the poll suggests that education is not a very big factor for voters making up their minds — despite all the policy proposals, campaign trail back-and-forth between the candidates, and school...

Governor Jerry Brown continued to promote his Local Control Funding Formula proposal at a Friday morning press conference at East LA’s Humphreys Elementary. Joining him was an All-Star cast that included LA Chamber of Commerce CEO Gary Toebben, United Way CEO Elise Buik, School Board member Bennett Kayser, former State Senator and City Council candidate Gil...

Read between the lines of June Kronholz’s Education Next piece (Still Teaching for America) and you’ll see find lots of interesting tidbits for both Teach For America (TFA) fans and skeptics  — though, alas, nothing specific about TFA LA. The piece takes a look at the much-discussed school reform organization as it goes through a...

So expect school districts to go on a spending binge this summer—Los Angeles Unified School District aims to equip all of its 650,000 students with tablet computers—and then unions in the fall to protest draconian budget cuts and layoffs. – Allysia Finley in the Wall Street Journal (California’s Shrinking Surplus) Previous posts: Union Focusing on...

Promise Neighborhoods — “a national initiative to end the cycle of intergenerational poverty” — are coming to Los Angeles, thanks to federal funding and a high-scoring application from a consortium of LA education nonprofits led by Youth Policy Institute. The Promise Neighborhoods idea was popularized by Geoffrey Canada’s New York City effort (called the Harlem Children’s...