California has a literacy problem.  In 2022, Capitol Weekly reported California had the lowest literacy rate of any state in the nation. In 2023, just 43% of California’s third graders were reading at grade level.  Literacy experts, teachers, and lawmakers all say the issue is dire, but they haven’t been able to agree on a...

The Los Angeles Unified School District showed improvement on state test scores released this month, but most students are still not hitting state proficiency standards.  Like other school systems across the country, LA Unified saw student achievement plummet during COVID-19. LAUSD scores have risen some since then, with underperforming student groups making particularly big gains.    ...

This story was originally published at CalMatters In her fifth grade class in a Los Angeles school, on a day when outdoor temperatures reached 116 degrees, the heat gave Lilian Chin a headache. The air conditioner in her classroom was broken. Her fingers felt numb and she vomited in class, according to her mother. The nurse...

A new report has found one in three LAUSD Black and Latino teachers are considering leaving their jobs — and the district must do a better job retaining these educators.  A study by GPSN found 71% of the Black and Latino Generation Z teachers intend to leave the classroom in the next one to two...

LAUSD teacher and charter school booster Dan Chang is running to unseat incumbent Scott Schmerelson in LA Unified’s Board District 3, covering the West San Fernando Valley and Studio City.  Chang, who is endorsed by a statewide charter school group, is a math teacher at James Madison Middle School in North Hollywood, who routinely calls...

Former LAUSD teacher and principal Scott Schmerelson is running to keep his seat in LA Unified’s Board District 3, covering the West San Fernando Valley and Studio City.  Schmerelson, who is endorsed by the teachers union, is running for his third consecutive four-year term against upstart Dan Chang, a math teacher with a fondness for...

Longtime community activist and education advocate Kahllid Al-Alim is running to represent South Central LA and Mid-City as Los Angeles Unified School Board member for District 1. Al-Alim, who had been endorsed by the United Teachers Union, which represents more than 35,000 Los Angeles teachers, lost that union’s support after a series of controversial social...

Former basketball coach and dean Sherlett Hendy Newbill, is running to represent L.A. Unified’s Board District 1, encompassing much of South LA, such as Crenshaw, Koreatown and Mid-City.  District 1 is also home to Newbill’s high school basketball alma mater which she said opened the doors to her becoming a first generation college student at...

Sitting diligently in a South Carolina elementary school classroom, Brian Rashad Fuller felt awash with pride, confusion and fear. School was becoming the place he poured all his energy into, on the heels of his father’s incarceration and uncle’s murder. But simultaneously, from as young as four years old, disgusted looks from educators taught him...

The number of homeless students who attend Los Angeles Unified schools rose by more than a quarter in the last school year, new statistics show.  As of the 2023-2024 school year, LAUSD enrolled 17,245 homeless students, up 26% from the previous school year, according to data the district made public last month. The dramatic jump...