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Porter Ranch leak is over, but when will schools move back?

LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King issued a statement commending Thursday’s announcement that the Porter Ranch well that has been leaking methane gas since October has been sealed, but there was no clear indication of when the two relocated schools and their 1,850 students would return home. Two schools were moved to temporary locations over the winter break...
By Mike Szymanski | February 18, 2016
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Study finds change in California testing policy helped English learners in Los Angeles

Removing services for high school students learning English may have harmful effects on test scores and graduation rates if done too quickly, according to a study conducted in Los Angeles. The research, published in October in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, provides a cautionary note to policymakers hoping to swiftly move students to...
By Matt Barnum | February 18, 2016
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Students, educators rally for public education across LAUSD

As part of demonstrations taking place at schools around LA Unified and in cities across the country, a group of roughly 100 protesters made up of parents, students, district leaders and politicians gathered outside Hamilton High School Wednesday morning to rally in support of public education. “Every day at this school I’m exposed to someone with different...
By Mike Szymanski | February 17, 2016
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5 things you need to know about Vergara as CA appeals court hears arguments Feb. 25

Nearly two years after the trial in Vergara v. California first began, the case is set to move forward as judges from a state appeals court hear arguments Feb. 25. The plaintiffs – nine students in five California public school districts – argue that five laws governing teacher dismissal, tenure, and “last in-first out” layoff...
By Carolyn Phenicie | February 17, 2016
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20,000 expected to ‘walk in’ at LAUSD schools Wednesday morning

More than 20,000 parents, students and teachers in LA Unified are expected to stage a “Walk-In” before school on Wednesday orchestrated by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools to protest charter expansion and call for greater investment in public education. “We have coordinated this with the school district and the superintendent’s office,” said Alex Caputo-Pearl, president...
By Mike Szymanski | February 16, 2016
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Commentary: After Scalia’s death, 3 ways the Supreme Court could change course on education reform

It seems fitting. In life, Antonin Scalia was perhaps the most influential and controversial jurist of the modern era. While his admirers cherished his powerful mind and his detractors considered him a bully or worse, virtually no one denied his impact over three decades on the United States Supreme Court. It therefore seems somehow appropriate that...
By Dmitri Mehlhorn | February 16, 2016
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How this math teacher helps kids get perfect scores

It was cause for celebration when 17-year-old Cedrick Argueta was one in 12 students in the entire world to ace one of the toughest college-level calculus tests. But it wasn’t just one test. Cedrick also earned perfect scores on the English and math sections of the American College Testing entrance exam. And it wasn’t just...
By Mike Szymanski | February 12, 2016
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LAUSD graduation crisis: no district area is untouched

LA Unified’s graduation crisis is hitting every local district and nearly every large high school, from the San Fernando Valley to the South Bay, and from East LA to the Westside. Recent internal progress reports obtained by LA School Report show only 54 percent of seniors are currently on track to meet their “A through G”...
By Craig Clough | February 12, 2016
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Commentary: All families deserve good school choice options

By Shirley Ford I realized there was a problem as early as elementary school. I always knew that my boys were smart – they started reading me the newspaper in the evening when they were 6 years old – but they were clearly bored and not being challenged in school. Like so many young African-American...
By Guest contributor | February 12, 2016
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Q&A: One therapist’s mission to train LA schools, parents and classmates on transgender issues

This week a Poway Unified School District board meeting was packed with people raising questions about student rights after a teenager who was born female and uses the boys’ locker room at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego triggered a dispute over a state law that seeks to accommodate transgender students. Susan Landon, a...
By Lizzie Thompson | February 12, 2016