Native American students’ unique needs for too long have been poorly served, but culturally relevant charter schools could help change that. And the federal government is poised to fund their expansion. A new handbook on how to open and sustain charter schools for these students shows how charters can work with Native communities to make...

*Updated July 27 Fewer than half of California’s high school graduates last year met the minimum requirements for the state’s public universities, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Education. That’s despite what the department calls a “significant upward trend” in graduation rates this decade. But that upward trend ended with Thursday’s...

As immigration issues drive more Latinos into political activism, education is a ripe opportunity for Latino parents to wield considerable influence. A panel of education experts at a national convention last weekend in Miami agreed that Latino parents have catapulted this year from being mostly silent on political issues to becoming a significant voice in...

Each week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Maria Cerda is an LA Unified parent who advocates not only for her children’s schools but also for the school where she works. Cerda, a cafeteria...

You have to go to school, but schools aren’t required to teach you to read and write. Now a judge has ruled that California can be put on trial for failing to give low-income students equal access to literacy instruction.  A ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos, which was made public Monday, means...

*Updated July 26 The ouster of Los Angeles Unified School District board member Ref Rodriguez — who resigned Monday after pleading guilty to money-laundering charges — means the remaining board members must now decide when and how to replace him. They have 60 days to decide a path forward, and the clock is ticking. Right...

It’s official: Los Angeles Unified’s Ref Rodriguez is out. Early Monday, the embattled school board member pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy and four misdemeanor counts for making campaign contributions in another person’s name. As part of a deal with prosecutors, he agreed to immediately resign from office. Rodriguez won’t serve any jail...

New data show that almost half the teachers at LA Unified’s lowest-performing schools have not been evaluated for at least three years, and nearly all of those who were had received favorable ratings. Now the school board’s vice president is calling for more regular evaluations, which he said could require negotiating changes to the city’s...