By Diane Ravitch | The New York Review of Books Fifty years ago, Congress passed a federal education law to help poor children get a good public education: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. Revised many times, it is still the basis for federal education policy today. When it was last reauthorized...

Later today, an LA Unified committee will discuss the importance and feasibility of sustaining a program aimed at helping children in their first years of life as they approach kindergarten. While experts regard this time as critical to child development, money the district has used to fund such efforts are sunsetting: The proposed budget calls...

By Jeffery Fleishman | Los Angeles Times In a studio where wall-length mirrors laid bare imperfections, a young ballerina floated in deceptive grace. “Balance,” said her teacher. “Open shoulders, round the arms.” The dancer wiped the sweat away. Music cued, a slipper scraped like a whisper across the floor. She spun in pirouettes, again and...

A quarter of women living in Los Angeles do not hold a high school diploma, almost twice the number of women nationally, according to a new study focusing on issues affecting the women and girls of LA. The report, called the Status of Women and Girls in Los Angeles, was produced by Mount Saint Mary’s...

By Neil Irwin | The New York Times Suppose you accept the persuasive data that inequality has been rising in the United States and most advanced nations in recent decades. But suppose you don’t want to fight inequality through politically polarizing steps like higher taxes on the wealthy or a more generous social welfare system....

* UPDATED LA Unified met today’s deadline and filed an application for a No Child Left Behind waiver without one of the key requirements of the U.S. Department of Education — an agreement with the teachers union on a three-level teacher evaluation system. If approved, the California Office to Reform Education (CORE) Waiver would clear...

A group of Mar Vista community members and parents is mounting a protest againt LA Unified school board member Steve Zimmer over his support for a Mandarin immersion elementary school slated to be built in their Westside neighborhood. The $30 million school, currently dubbed the Mandarin and English Dual-Language Immersion Elementary School project, was approved by the...

With more than two months remain before the end school year, LA Unified officials are making summer school plans for special education students and students who have failed at least one mandatory class for graduation. It is the second straight year the district is offering struggling students the opportunity to catch-up on subjects after years...