LA Unified school board President Steve Zimmer recently sat down with LA School Report at his field office tucked away in an east Hollywood strip mall, where there is a unique partnership with the Youth Policy Institute and the school district that hosts after-school programs, adult classes and classes for homeless youth. During the hour-long...

LA Unified began the new year facing a formidable challenge, as only 54 percent of its senior class was projected to be on track for passing all their A through G standards, a series of courses required for acceptance into California’s public universities. The new, higher graduation standards went into effect for the first time...

LA Unified increased its official graduation rate to a new high last school year, with 72.2 percent of students receiving a diploma, the district announced this week. The number is a two-point increase over the previous year, which was also a record high. Since 2009-10, when the state began using four-year cohort rates as the official...

There is a wide gulf of disparity when it comes to the performance of races and subgroups in LA Unified’s A through G completion and graduation rates, but these groups have come a long way and are doing better than ever before. Recent district reports breaking down the graduation rate as it heads into the final...

The LA Unified school board faced a difficult decision in June. It had previously voted to raise the bar on its graduation requirements starting in 2016 in an effort to get more students into college, but it was clear not enough students were ready for the challenge and graduation rates would plummet if aggressive action...

While LA Unified’s projected graduation rate continues to tick up this spring as seniors complete extra credit recovery courses to make up those they previously failed, 30 percent of those the district considers “on track” for graduation currently aren’t because they are failing at least one A through G class. To be labeled “on track” a...

LA Unified’s $15 million credit recovery program has already been making a big impact on its projected high school graduation rate this year, and a school-by-school breakdown report released by the district shows that the progress is across the board. The report, which highlights how many students are on track to complete their “A through...

LA Unified appears to be making significant progress on its projected graduation rate this year through a “very personalized approach,” with a new report stating the district may even surpass last year’s record rate of 74 percent. A January progress report obtained by LA School Report showed that only 54 percent of seniors were on...

Only roughly one in two LAUSD high school seniors is currently on track to graduate, and the district is scrambling to get extra assistance to an estimated 15,000 students in danger of being left behind this June. According to internal district reports obtained by LA School Report, an estimated 54 percent of seniors are on track to...

California’s public colleges and universities are turning away a record number of applicants and raising admission standards due to insufficient state funding, a new report has concluded. The report, “Access Denied: Rising Selectivity at California’s Public Universities,” which was produced by the Campaign for College Opportunity, comes just as LA Unified’s effort to get more of its...