LA School Report

An ominous reality was made clear in the Department of Labor’s new employment figures Friday morning: Unprecedented job losses hit the least educated the hardest, but even those with higher degrees weren’t protected from the downturn. And just months ago, the United States was celebrating “the longest economic recovery in history,” marked by record-low joblessness among...

In recent days, dozens of Detroit parents — quarantined in COVID hotspots with one of the nation’s widest digital divides — have taken to their phones to demand Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer settle a lawsuit that found the state violated their children’s right to learn to read. Using the hashtags #RightToLiteracy and #settlethiscase, some are...

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos released a new rule Wednesday on how K-12 schools and colleges must address campus sexual misconduct, bolstering protections for accused students as the department seeks to combat abuse “without abandoning fairness.” The regulations, which go into effect in August, make wide-ranging changes to schools’ obligations under Title IX, the federal law...

With school campuses closed nationwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, researchers have warned that students’ time away from the classroom could lead to disruptive learning loss — an anomaly dubbed the “COVID slide.” But most teachers oppose extending the upcoming academic year to confront academic setbacks, according to the results of a new survey. Sixty-five...

Richard Carranza, chancellor of New York City public schools, says he doesn’t allow people to talk about “going back to normal.” Normal, he said in a virtual convening hosted by the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, was a system in which social and economic privilege determined too much about the quality of a student’s...

In times like these, it is easy to feel powerless. Yet now is exactly the time when we must speak explicitly about power— who has it and who is wielding it to respond to the needs of our communities during this uncertain time. Amid the global Coronavirus crisis, we must continue to focus on and...

A Gallup survey done in early April found that 83 percent of parents reported their children were involved in online distance learning. But Gallup conducted the survey online, so it excluded families with no internet connection. That means perhaps a third of students are not participating in remote learning this spring. For them, “summer” will...

After a flurry of proposals early in the presidential primary campaign, as predicted, public education reassumed its usual place near the bottom of the national political hierarchy. The dynamics followed the normal pattern from recent years. While plenty of the presidential debates — and intervening media coverage — featured discussion of higher education affordability and...

School districts in need of a sudden rush of technology will likely have to wait. During a virtual meeting of the Ossining Union Free School District in New York, Superintendent Raymond Sanchez told the school board he is aware of a potential for a five-month gap between placing an order for new technology and receiving...

“Oscar, are you there? Make sure to unmute yourself please!” Like thousands of teachers across the nation, I muttered this phrase in my new virtual classroom. Curriculum and instruction have taken on a completely different meaning as schools attempt to navigate the new digital learning environment. My colleagues and I are doing our best to...