More than 3,000 government, business, science, tech and and philanthropy leaders have been gathering in Los Angeles over the past few days for the annual Milken Institute Global Conference. The conference mission is to find answers to some of the world’s biggest problems, and one of the major topics under discussion this year is education....

Harris Newmark High School near downtown LA is celebrating today after being named a Model Continuation High School by the California Department of Education. The event scheduled for 11:30 included a keynote address from LA Unified school board member Monica Garcia. A total of 29 schools received the honor from the state this year, and Harris Newmark...

By Annie Gilbertson | KPCC One in three Asian students is labeled as gifted by his or her school, according to data released by the Los Angeles Unified School District for a school board committee meeting scheduled today. The latest numbers again raise questions about the over- and under-representation of ethnic groups in the district’s Gifted and...

* UPDATED One week after a landmark deal that will bring LA Unified teachers a double digit salary increase, more than a hundred members of the teachers union, UTLA, protested potential district layoffs this morning before the start of hearings to challenge the cuts. The school board last month authorized 609 layoff notices that were issued to...

A California judge has denied a request for state intervention at six schools for students’ being assigned open classes that lack academic value. The same judge had ordered the state to intervene at LA Unified’s Jefferson High School in October over the same issue and as part of the same lawsuit. Bay Area Superior Court Judge...

By Valerie Strauss | The Washington Post The four corporations that dominate the U.S. standardized testing market spend millions of dollars lobbying state and federal officials — as well as sometimes hiring them — to persuade them to favor policies that include mandated student assessments, helping to fuel a nearly $2 billion annual testing business,...

Despite only modest spending on behalf of Bennett Kayser in the race to represent LA Unified’s board District 5, the teachers union said today it’s not abandoning him in the May 19 run off against reform darling, Ref Rodriguez. According to the latest data from the LA City Ethics Commission, the political action committee connected...

The LA teachers union, UTLA, released documents today that it says proves the administration of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools has been illegally blocking a unionization attempt by its teachers. Alliance, in turn, acknowledged the documents were real and said that they prove nothing. The documents outline a clear strategy by the administration to win the hearts...

By the Editorial Board On May 19, when Angelenos head back to the polls for runoff elections, there will be three L.A. Unified school board seats in play. Technically, four seats are being decided, but incumbent George McKenna is running unopposed. This is an especially important election because it is the members of the new...