For six years, 16-year-old Riley Gantt has gathered her family and friends to go to schools in the northeast San Fernando Valley to give backpacks to students who need them. It grew from a field trip she took as a 9-year-old from her comfortable neighborhood in Sherman Oaks to a less-privileged section of the Valley...

It was bound to happen sooner or later. In implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the nation’s new education law, the odds were high that the U.S. Department of Education would issue a regulation meant to protect the rights of poor children (for instance), that congressional Republicans would interpret as the department’s effort to chew...

Not so long ago, students at Dahlia Heights Elementary School could receive tutoring during and after school. They enjoyed the services of a music teacher and a part-time librarian and could access free after-school enrichment and homework assistance. Teachers at the Eagle Rock school got $20,000 worth of professional development.. All those benefits came through...