As the presidential primaries enter their hothouse phase, one 2016 election lesson is clear: the United States’ demographic shifts are more politically important now than in other recent contests. Of course, this new diversity has been coming for some time — much of it driven by immigration patterns and low birth rates among native-born Americans....

LA Unified announced this month that the district may graduate 80 percent of its seniors this year, a record high, but a growing number of critics say that record is suspect because online credit recovery courses are largely responsible for the achievement. The news of the potentially record-breaking graduation rate came mere weeks after a projection in...

It was a devastating time for the young teachers who worked at John H. Liechty Middle School near downtown Los Angeles. It was 2009, and 72 percent of the school’s teachers were handed pink slips, casualties of America’s crumbling economy. Brendan Finch, working there through Teach For America, was among those let go, though he...

Melissa Campos says senior year is a breeze for many of her friends and former teammates attending neighborhood high schools in Los Angeles Unified. Many of them get out for “work study” after a few periods of electives, she said. They are done with math, science and foreign language classes, and there are no AP...

Editorial: Are LAUSD students really ready for college? The time is up in the LAUSD time table to get every student to earn a D or better in college prep classes. Are the students ready? Los Angeles Times UCLA or USC? Where are you better protected against an active shooter?,City Watch How high school would...

Even before the deputy attorney general got to finish a single statement, the 2nd District Court of Appeals justices hearing a landmark education case Thursday jumped in to ask questions. How do you tell if a teacher is “grossly ineffective”? Is there proof that discrimination has occurred? What is the impact on the state? For...

KIPP Raíces Academy School in East Los Angeles celebrated its National Blue Ribbon Schools award on Tuesday. After the ceremony, LA School Report caught up with the school’s founding principal, Amber Young Medina, who opened Raíces in 2008 and is now the managing director of KIPP LA Schools. This is an edited transcript of the conversation. LA School Report:...

Arguments in one of the most important lawsuits involving public education will be heard Thursday morning in the state Court of Appeals in Los Angeles. The case of Vergara v. California seeks to overturn five laws involving teacher tenure, dismissals and the last-in, first-out layoff policies. The case was brought on behalf of nine students in five...

Although LA Unified stands to potentially have its highest graduation rate ever this year, the district doesn’t want students to settle for D grades. In fact, the percentage of students maintaining a C or better in college prep or A-G classes has more than doubled in 10 years, according to the latest LA Unified statistics. In a...