By Jeffery Fleishman | Los Angeles Times In a studio where wall-length mirrors laid bare imperfections, a young ballerina floated in deceptive grace. “Balance,” said her teacher. “Open shoulders, round the arms.” The dancer wiped the sweat away. Music cued, a slipper scraped like a whisper across the floor. She spun in pirouettes, again and...

A quarter of women living in Los Angeles do not hold a high school diploma, almost twice the number of women nationally, according to a new study focusing on issues affecting the women and girls of LA. The report, called the Status of Women and Girls in Los Angeles, was produced by Mount Saint Mary’s...

By Neil Irwin | The New York Times Suppose you accept the persuasive data that inequality has been rising in the United States and most advanced nations in recent decades. But suppose you don’t want to fight inequality through politically polarizing steps like higher taxes on the wealthy or a more generous social welfare system....

* UPDATED LA Unified met today’s deadline and filed an application for a No Child Left Behind waiver without one of the key requirements of the U.S. Department of Education — an agreement with the teachers union on a three-level teacher evaluation system. If approved, the California Office to Reform Education (CORE) Waiver would clear...

A group of Mar Vista community members and parents is mounting a protest againt LA Unified school board member Steve Zimmer over his support for a Mandarin immersion elementary school slated to be built in their Westside neighborhood. The $30 million school, currently dubbed the Mandarin and English Dual-Language Immersion Elementary School project, was approved by the...

With more than two months remain before the end school year, LA Unified officials are making summer school plans for special education students and students who have failed at least one mandatory class for graduation. It is the second straight year the district is offering struggling students the opportunity to catch-up on subjects after years...

By Owen Phillips | National Public Radio Every year, thousands of fresh-faced teachers are handed the keys to a new classroom, given a pat on the back and told, “Good luck!” Over the next five years, though, nearly half of those teachers will transfer to a new school or leave the profession altogether — only...

They’re off… and spending. Over the last 10 days the California Charter School Association political action committee has resumed pumping in money to help Ref Rodriguez win the District 5 seat on the LA Unified school board in the May 19 runoff. The group has spent $18,347 on two flier mailings and one phone banking session....

With 154 schools under his supervision, Robert Bravo can never be in as many places as he wants or talk to as many educators as he’d like. But every Thursday, Bravo reaches hundreds of teachers and principals from around the district, and even some from as far away as Pakistan and Russia, with his weekly...

By Steve Lopez | The Los Angeles Times They meet on Mondays at lunch. They remove their earbuds, hide their smartphones and communicate without the aid of electronic devices. They are the coolest kids at Mendez High School in Boyle Heights. They are the Reading Club. “This is truly the biggest club on campus,” said...