Los Angeles parents traveled to Sacramento Wednesday in hopes of making sure their children’s interests will be reflected in the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, which must be finalized and submitted to the federal government by Sept. 18. A mother from Compton, Esther Covarrubias, was one of a handful of parents who are...

Only eight people showed up at one of the last chances for parents and educators to give input on the state’s overall school plan that they need to submit in order to get about $80 billion from the federal government. Their top concerns for the state as it formulates its Every Student Succeeds Act plan were...

State education officials have solicited meetings all month to work out a plan to let the federal education department know how they will help low-achieving students. Some community education leaders said they think the state still has a long way to go. Two meetings will be held this week in Los Angeles, and two more will...

The Senate voted Wednesday to block Obama administration accountability rules governing how states rate and improve schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The move, which precludes the U.S. Education Department and newly confirmed Secretary Betsy DeVos from issuing any substantially similar regulations, will send even more power back to the states, already retaking the...

By Misti D. Kemmer Just last Thursday, I experienced one of those especially emotional days at work. I got a call that the mother of one of my fourth-grade students had passed away. Not five minutes later, another student went to the back of the room, sat down in a chair and began to cry. I...

This is the last in a three-part series examining California’s approach to education data and school accountability. Part One surveyed how the state’s skepticism of test-based accountability starts at the top with Gov. Jerry Brown, who successfully took on the federal government; Part Two explored how the elimination of certain data systems has limited educational research...

These days, Washington, D.C., policymakers are focused on working through the details of implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which is replacing No Child Left Behind as the nation’s preeminent federal education legislation. The deliberations have included some conversations about how the law treats multilingual students. It’s early days to know how ESSA — and...

When LA Unified and five other school districts unveiled a new school accountability system in February, it represented California’s first significant move toward incorporating more than just test scores while also valuing how well the neediest students are performing. The School Quality Improvement Index, which was developed by the California Office to Reform Education (CORE), is...

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...

According to an analysis of a new school accountability system developed by six California school districts including LA Unified, the district’s 13 lowest performers are all elementary schools, the best high school is Harbor Teacher Prep Academy and the worst high school is Jordan High. These conclusions were made following an LA School Report analysis of LA Unified schools evaluated...