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Teacher Spotlight: Sylvan Park’s early ed teacher Diego López on exposing preschoolers to technology without limits

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. Diego López has been part of the Los Angeles Unified School District since he began his education in a Head Start...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 25, 2019
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Americans view principals positively, according to Pew study comparing school leaders to lawmakers, journalists, tech execs

A majority of Americans hold a positive view of K-12 public school principals, who are typically seen as caring and trustworthy. How about tech executives, journalists and members of Congress? Not so much. A Pew Research Center survey released Thursday found that Americans hold mixed views about the job performance of people in positions of power,...
By Mark Keierleber | September 24, 2019
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Tips for parents: Is this high-quality preschool really working? To find out, ask school leaders about these unseen issues

For many families, searching for a high-quality early education program can be a challenge. Aside from very real issues of cost and convenience, parents must consider a wide range of factors that will impact their children’s learning and development. And there is a catch — many of the key factors are not ones that families...
By Nonie Lesaux and Stephanie Jones | September 23, 2019
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California is the country’s largest school textbook market. Now EdReports is disrupting the industry by putting teachers in charge of selecting course materials

In early 2011, when Maryland and other states were adopting the Common Core State Standards, teachers in the Baltimore City Public Schools were starting to grumble. “The materials in a lot of districts fell woefully short of the new standards,” said Sonja Santelises, now Baltimore’s superintendent. “[I was] hearing classroom teachers rightly point out that...
By Brendan Lowe | September 23, 2019
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Millions of students are chronically absent each year. Improve school conditions and more kids will show up, report argues

An obvious educational rule of thumb is that in order for students to learn at school, they first have to show up. But with millions of children counted “chronically absent” each year, a new report argues that educators can improve attendance by first making their schools more welcoming places to attend. The report, released Tuesday...
By Mark Keierleber | September 23, 2019
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California Teachers Association is flush with campaign cash to advocate for its 2020 agenda

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report There isn’t much to occupy California’s teachers unions politically for the rest of 2019, but that only allows them to accumulate more funds for what promises to be a very busy 2020 on the campaign trail. Choosing a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President,...
By Mike Antonucci | September 18, 2019
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California has voted to expand its ban on “willful defiance” suspensions. A look at how an even more expansive 2013 reform has played out in L.A. Unified

Updated and corrected, Sept. 20 As California this month expanded a statewide ban on suspending younger students for defiant behavior, lessons on how this increasingly sweeping school discipline reform may play out can be found in Los Angeles, which barred such suspensions on an even broader scale six years ago. Previously in California, “willful defiance”...
By Taylor Swaak | September 18, 2019
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Fisher: Who you know — 3 ways schools can foster competency-based education by focusing on student relationships

Competency-based education has seen its fair share of champions over the past decade, offering the promise of a new architecture of learning. As the competency bandwagon continues to get more crowded, however, there is a critical — and too often ignored — through line between competencies and connections. My recent book, Who You Know, focused...
By Julia Freeland Fisher | September 17, 2019
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As schools diversify, principals remain mostly white — and 5 other things we learned this summer about America’s school leaders

While kids were running through sprinklers and eating popsicles this summer, a handful of education researchers crunched the numbers about their principals. Reports released this summer offer new insight into America’s school principals, from their racial diversity to how turnover affects student achievement. The new papers add to a growing body of research about principals...
By Laura Fay | September 16, 2019
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Teacher Spotlight: Alliance’s Guillermo Lopez on setting higher expectations in math for low-performing students and convincing their teachers that excellence is possible

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. Guillermo Lopez has one expectation for all his students, including the ones with the most challenges to learn, and that is...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 16, 2019