A slight plurality of LA Unified teachers said they would favor continuing the iPad program, according to a new UTLA survey that produced mixed results in a district contemplating the next phase of a billion dollar digital device program. The union poll was conducted over a week in late October, with 255 teachers from the...

California’s eighth graders made the biggest gain in reading scores in the country last year, according to the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Results for fourth and eighth grade reading and math were released today, “The resilience and tenacity of our schools have seen them through some...

I want to take a bit of editorial license here – actually, the editor’s license — to call attention to this: Chase Harrison, an 18-year-old senior at Millburn High School in northern New Jersey, won a seat last night for a one-year term on the Millburn Township School Board. He knocked off the board’s vice...

Over eight hours today, in another tedious LA Unified board meeting, members one-by-one pledged to forge ahead with the district’s ambitious technology program to bridge the digital divide for some of the nation’s poorest students. But for the first time, some board members signaled that the way forward may not include Apple iPads. The meeting...

LA Unified campuses are safer this year with increased security efforts that reflect concerns over school violence, particularly shooters that might make their way on to campus. The district this year has implemented new training and new policies, with an increased number of safety personnel at elementary schools and other campuses. Steve Zipperman, the district’s...

As LA Unified continues distributing iPads, the district for the first time is providing cost estimates for continuing the program beyond its current end date, December 2015. And in a presentation planned for tomorrow’s school board meeting, the Common Core Technology Project committee, chaired by board member Monica Ratliff, is also revealing several possibilities for how...

Either as a response to iPad problems or as prelude to the LA Unified School Board’s meeting tomorrow that’s focusing on technology — or maybe both — the district sent around a one-pager last week to set the record straight on the iPad program. It takes the form of “myth busting.” Here is a concise...

A new proposed statewide ballot initiative that would allow school districts to fire employees accused of abusing children or selling drugs to children has been submitted for certification and could go before voters a year from now. LA School Report has learned that the initiative, called “Stop Child Molesters, Sexual Abusers, and Drug Dealers from...