Across California, students face a daunting academic reality.  In January, scores from the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) showed that students in our state performed significantly below pre-pandemic levels in reading and math. Gaps between low-income students and their wealthier peers widened. As the world becomes more complex, it is critical that youth are...

In states like Florida, where restrictions on AP African American History, DEI censorship and books bans have caused turmoil, Juneteenth is an opportunity for educator Brian Knowles to explore with his students the “more despondent areas of American history that are often avoided.” That includes examining the intellectual and cultural foundations of the holiday: the...

As spring showers give way to rising temperatures, teachers and families across the country are bracing for another record-breaking hot summer — and this time, they’re heading in with even fewer resources and protections. A slew of funding cuts from the Trump administration impact everything from school heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to...

Families are mostly satisfied with their LAUSD schools — although they want improvements in school safety and better mental health services for students, an annual survey of district parents has found. The 79-page “Family Insights” report found LAUSD families saw improvements in their schools in the past year, with support for leadership of the nation’s...

In the agricultural regions of California’s San Joaquin Valley, schools like Firebaugh Middle School are surrounded by fields. But many of Firebaugh’s students struggle to read that word. If they were to see “field” on the board, they would likely pronounce it as “filed,” a reflection of their unfamiliarity with the varied pronunciations in English....

Chronic absenteeism remains a problem for LAUSD, but the school district is making gains, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said on his last house visit of the year aimed at driving student attendance.  The district made progress this year with the tricky challenge, Carvalho said during the home visit last month, but officials could not say how...

In 2022, near the end of her youngest child’s freshman year in high school, a Southern California mom spotted an unfamiliar male name on an online biology assignment: Toby. When she asked the teacher about it, he shrugged it off as a nickname. While scrolling through Instagram, the mother noticed her child’s friends also called...

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said Monday school police will create “perimeters of safety” around high school graduation ceremonies to keep out immigration enforcement agents after federal raids rocked the city last week.  Speaking at a press conference at LAUSD headquarters, Carvalho also said the district would offer transportation to graduation events,...

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. When Brigitta Hunter started her teaching career, she had $20,000 in student loans and zero income – even though she was working nearly full time in the classroom. “We lived on my husband’s pathetic little paycheck. I don’t know how we did it,”...

This article was originally published on CalMatters  This spring, the National Institutes of Health quietly began terminating programs at scores of colleges that prepared promising undergraduate and graduate students for doctoral degrees in the sciences. At least 24 University of California and California State University campuses lost training grants that provided their students with annual stipends...