-
Opinion: New study shows that California’s anti-charter law will be ‘devastating’ for LA students

After years of growth, the future of California’s charter sector is in doubt. With the passage of Assembly Bill 1505, which places numerous restrictions on the expansion and operation of charter schools in the Golden State, opponents of charters have claimed their biggest prize since the 2016 election when President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, replaced...
By David Griffith and Caprice Young | November 13, 2019
-
Teacher Spotlight: KIPP Iluminar Academy’s Mercedes Jimenez on preparing her 3rd-graders for college, why Latino parents are sometimes scared to ask questions and the goal charter and district schools share

This interview is one in a series spotlighting Los Angeles teachers, their unique and innovative classroom approaches, and their thoughts on how the education system can better support teachers in guiding students to success. Teaching low-income Latino students in East Los Angeles didn’t happen by chance for Mercedes Jimenez, a third-grade teacher at KIPP Iluminar...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 13, 2019
-
Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears to back Trump plan to end DACA, potentially putting thousands of students and teachers at risk of deportation

Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared during oral arguments Tuesday to side with the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate a program that protects some 700,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as young children. The case could deal a hard blow to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and put its...
By Mark Keierleber | November 12, 2019
-
Commentary: Exams, equity and student outcomes – Why it’s critical to prepare students of color to do well on standardized tests (even if you’re not a fan)

The release of the Nation’s Report Card last week was the exclamation point following a long line of 2018-19 state exam results that came out across the country in the last few months. There are three things I expect to hear every year around this time: ● We don’t even need to see the results. You...
By Colin Seale | November 11, 2019
-
Teacher residency and federal dollars: One approach to solving California’s rural teacher shortage

The teaching shortage in one stretch of rural California is so bad that 600 educators are licensed through emergency credentials. The nearest public universities with teaching programs are 50 and 80 miles away. But a new nearly $7 million federal grant is tapping both online learning and year-long classroom experience to train teachers to bolster...
By Mikhail Zinshteyn, CalMatters | November 11, 2019
-
The great STEM debate: States can’t agree on what those four letters mean, and that’s a problem

Anyone paying half-attention to schools knows about the acronym STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, the four pillars supporting a career-ready future for students. There’s hardly another term in the education world that’s as commonly referenced. But when strung together, just what do those four letters — or five if you’re observing National STEM/STEAM Day tomorrow...
By Noble Ingram | November 11, 2019
-
Analysis: Why is the California Teachers Association hiding the school reform background of its new executive director?

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report The California Teachers Association recently named Joe Boyd as its new executive director, replacing Joe Nuñez, who was mysteriously ousted in July after six years on the job. Boyd was most recently the executive director of CTA’s counterpart, the California Federation of Teachers. The executive...
By Mike Antonucci | November 6, 2019
-
Teacher Spotlight: Lokrantz Special Ed Center’s Steven Rude on the critical role school psychologists play, why being recognized is important and starting a community garden for preschoolers and their parents

This interview is one in a series spotlighting Los Angeles teachers, their unique and innovative classroom approaches, and their thoughts on how the education system can better support teachers in guiding students to success. Steven Rude has spent nearly 30 years working as a school psychologist for Los Angeles Unified School District, supporting students experiencing...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | November 6, 2019
-
Arnett: Strengthening connections between home and school can make a world of difference for students. Technology can help

As educators scope out their work during the early ramp-up of the school year, one important item on their to-do list should be building connections with students’ families and learning about their lives outside of school. This isn’t just a sensible idea: Modularity Theory, a framework that explains how to optimize system performance, illustrates why...
By Thomas Arnett | November 5, 2019
-
Inside 2019’s ‘disturbing’ NAEP results: Sagging reading scores across America, particularly for eighth graders

Scores released last week from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) held bad news for American schools, with trends that are essentially flat in mathematics and down in reading. Most states saw little or no improvement in either subject, with their lowest-performing students showing the most significant declines in scores. Whether the cause lies...
By Kevin Mahnken | November 4, 2019