schools

Schools Aren’t Teaching Kids to Argue Truth to Power

State Education Standards Are Failing Students by Ignoring Why History Matters

Why can’t history classes show students why history matters?

That’s what I thought as I read through a new framework for teaching K-12 history in the U.S.—California’s History-Social Science Framework.

This is supposed to be the new, 21st-century approach. It spans hundreds of pages of minute detail. But the document privileges comprehensiveness over vision. This history framework doesn’t seem to recognize the value of history.

Consider the framework for fifth grade. It’s 164 pages. The book-length document defines the theme for the year (“making a new nation”) and provides a jumble of guiding …

By Rachel Burstein |

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Why Don’t Angelenos Trust Homegrown Talent?

Unfortunately, to Make It Big in L.A., You Often First Have to Go Make Your Mark Elsewhere

By Joe Mathews |

Last week, Michelle King was appointed superintendent of L.A. Unified, California’s largest school district. But can we really trust her to lead the Los Angeles schools? After all, she’s from …

California’s New Homework Assignment Is a Waste of Time

New Local Plans Handed Down by the State Just Further Complicate Our Education System

By Joe Mathews |

Don’t tell my kids I said this, but it really is OK for Californians to skip homework assignments—if they come from Sacramento.

If you’ve lived in California for the past two …

Technology Is Not a Panacea for Struggling Schools

Sure, iPads Can Be Helpful, But They Can’t Create a Culture of Achievement

by Jervey Tervalon |

It’s still mystifying that in this time of limited educational funding, the people running the Los Angeles Unified School District were such an easy sell when it came to technology.

After …

I Want to Eat Healthy–Why Does My High School Make That Hard?

Our Cafeteria’s Stomach-Churning Options Have Turned Breakfast and Lunch Into Skippable Meals

by Rebecca Castillo |

I recently celebrated my one-year anniversary of being a vegetarian. Every second has been worth it, but it has been an exhausting journey. It’s not because I’m dreaming of cheeseburgers …

My First Week of Kindergarten

I Thought I Was Prepared for My Son’s Education to Begin. It Turned Out I Wasn’t Quite Ready, and Neither Are California’s Public Schools.

by Joe Mathews |

“Wait, Daddy,” you say.

You are 5, and you have your priorities. You are reassembling the wooden train tracks into a new configuration. You are building an airplane hangar out of …


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