A poll released today by EdSource and the Learning Policy Institute shows that the majority of California voters are concerned about the teacher shortage facing the state and support the state’s taking action to help fix the problem. The survey of 1,002 registered voters, which was conducted by the The Field Poll, found that 64...

An LAUSD budget committee discussing the unlikely possibility of establishing an all-charter school district today found merit nonetheless in seeking waivers from state rules that grant charters a greater degree of autonomy than traditional schools have. Mónica Ratliff, chair of the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee, said that it didn’t seem fair that the charter...

By Ama Nyamekye What makes a great school? This fundamental question has been lost in a heated debate about a draft proposal spearheaded by the Broad Foundation, the most controversial part of which includes a plan to accelerate charter school growth in LAUSD. This idea has sparked concern and curiosity among parents, community members, philanthropists...

By Roxana Kopetman Students sit down for homework, plug in their earbuds and turn on their cellphones. And they don’t get yelled at. Because they’re actually working. Their history class, at Esperanza High, is part of a small but growing trend in education. The teaching method, “flipped” learning, is catching on in Orange County and...

LA Unified’s preliminary graduation rate climbed seven points for the class 2014-15, making it the ninth straight year the district has seen an increase. Seventy-four percent of seniors earned their diploma in the spring, the district announced this afternoon. An additional four points was added to the total from Senate Bill 725, the district said, which...

The LAUSD school board plans a meeting tomorrow afternoon to set the guidelines for a Leadership Profile that the board will us in picking the next school superintendent. The meeting was called last week after the search firm of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates presented its compilation of input from community forums, private interviews and surveys....

Charter schools are asking for input into getting their fair share of LA Unified’s bond program funding. The dispute is particularly about the reallocation of $339 million after the planned Mandarin Foreign Language Immersion Program Elementary School project was cancelled. The district board voted last week to use the money for upgrades to school facilities to...

Students and staff at the Emerson Adult Center are concerned that their building will be taken over by a charter school and that LA Unified is growing less committed to adult education. The message from LA Unified’s board: relax. The board and LAUSD officials say there is no commitment to separate the adult programs from the...

The more you hear about attempts to improve the nation’s schools, the sorrier you have to feel for the kids. After years of “No Child Left Behind” and “Race to the Top” initiatives, national test scores dived deeper into failure and mediocrity in the last reading. In a stunning reversal, the Obama administration, a tireless...

Spending cuts. Layoffs. Early retirement packages. Reductions in benefits. These needs, which were among recommendations made by LA Unified’s independent Financial Review Panel on Tuesday, are the kind that would make any union leader lose sleep. But three full days since the doom and gloom report was presented at the LA Unified school board meeting, with recommendations that...