A new poll shows that Americans strongly support the idea of school vouchers, something that 24 states — not including California — offer in some version. The Schooling in America Survey also found that most American’s disapprove of the federal government’s handing of education even while they lack a basic understanding of how much the country spends...

A group of about 170 parents is organizing to keep LA Unified from cutting a Mandarin Immersion program in Mar Vista by raising money and hiring consultants and lobbyists to make their case with members of the board and their staffs. “It’s not over,” parent Jenn Pullen, an organizer of the group, Parents for Progressive Education, told LA School...

By Matt Collette Cheryl Schafer was a veteran math teacher by the time Common Core arrived in New York back in 2010. It was apparent to her almost immediately that teachers didn’t have the materials they needed to teach to the new national standards. Take a middle school staple like the Pythagorean Theorem: “One text series had...

Jose Lara, a prominent leader of the LA teachers union, UTLA, was recently named the 2015 Social Justice Activist of the Year by the National Education Association (NEA). Lara helped lead a successful grassroots effort to get the LA Unified school board to adopt ethnic studies as a graduation requirement. He is vice president of the El...

An estimated 400 LA Unified seniors without their high school diplomas this summer may have already graduated … or they may not have, and there is nothing they can do about it at the moment. The state’s decision to suspend the July California High School Exit Exam (CASHEE) while the state Legislature debates its future...

English learner students are performing better in charter schools than in traditional schools, according to a new report released by the California Charter Schools Association. The report, “Success for English Learners in Charter Schools,” found that throughout the state, independent charter schools are serving nearly 2 percent more English learner (EL) students than traditional schools....

By The Editorial Board To some people, even 150 years after the end of the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee remains a symbol of honor, chivalry and courage; his memory conjures the Old South, a lost cause and a more romantic era. That’s why his name remains on schools, highways and monuments across...

The nonprofit Youth Policy Institute (YPI) and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced today the establishment of 94 new AmeriCorps members who will serve LA-area youth. The new positions were made possible by three grants, totaling $4.4 million, enabling the AmeriCorps members to work with youth in low-income schools and community centers all around Los Angeles. “Los...

Steve Zimmer may think that being elected as the new LA Unified board president was the tough part. But now he has to live up to the expectations of his fellow members of the board. Even before he was voted in unanimously last week, the board members laid out their expectations of the future president....

After Steve Zimmer was elected unanimously last week as the LA Unified board president, one of his first orders of business was appointing a Vice President and finding members to represent the district to a series of organizations. In his first move, he named George McKenna, the District 1 representative, as board vice president, which didn’t...