LA School Report

BUENA PARK, Calif. — Sliding off their backpacks as they come through the front door of the local Boys and Girls Club, a group of students grab pool cues. Outside, children laugh as they bat around a beach ball on the lawn. But the upbeat mood belies the more serious reason that brings many of...

A version of this essay appeared on the GonzalesforSchools blog. On May 2, I announced that I will be stepping down early from my role on the Oakland Unified School District board. In many ways, I’m proud of the progress the district has made over the last 7.5 years. However, our core issue has not been addressed, and...

Sign up here for LA School Report’s newsletter Take a stroll along the La Jolla Shores Beach in San Diego, and you might find sand between your toes. But users of the new Our Worlds app, winner of the 2022 SXSW EDU Launch Competition, might also find much more. Through augmented reality, they can look...

Updated May 18 This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Los Angeles Unified high school senior Hailey Galvan had never considered attending one of the country’s most elite colleges — until she took a special college course offered at her school. It was in...

Since the 2020 election, schools have emerged as some of the most contentious venues for American cultural discourse, with debates over the teaching of race, human sexuality, and U.S. history erupting into yelling matches and viral confrontations. The political impact is increasingly seen in state and local elections, where school board members have faced a...

If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. Megan Waskiewicz used to sit at the top of the bleachers, rest her back against the wall and hide her face behind the glow of a laptop monitor. While...

Jonathan Chait has been writing about the fraught politics of education reform for over a decade. The veteran political columnist for New York Magazine is a vigorous advocate for the pillars of liberal education reform: high academic standards, school choice, and test-based accountability for schools and teachers who aren’t meeting expectations. It was an outlook that largely...

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.  When the pandemic hit, 10-year-old Luis, who has autism, quickly started to regress. Luis’s mother said the boy stopped socialializing after his fourth grade class at his Los Angeles Unified school in Southeast L.A. shut down....

Today’s political debate about the fundamental value of public education is unlike anything our country has seen. Across party lines, schools and school boards have become political front-page news. The culture wars have infiltrated America’s classrooms. There is no doubt that the politics being forced into our public education system will be front and center...

This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.    Three Los Angeles mayoral candidates discussed their vision for Los Angeles Unified schools, touching on issues confronting students ranging from poverty, mental health and public safety. Despite the mayor not having direct control over LA...