San Diego Unified’s Grad Rate Miracle Relied on Online Courses
Last school year, 1,381 seniors – more than 20 percent of San Diego Unified’s class of 2016 – took an online version of a course required for graduation. Roughly 92 percent of them passed. It’s an...
View ArticleTeachers Unions Maintain Grip on County, San Diego Unified School Boards
Despite unprecedented spending from a group backing charters schools, the two major education boards in San Diego County will remain filled overwhelmingly with union-backed politicians. Sharon...
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In Southeastern San Diego, Charters Are the New Neighborhood Schools
There are two schools in southeastern San Diego where more than 90 percent of students come from the surrounding neighborhood. Families are welcomed on campus and students walk down neighborhood...
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The Learning Curve: We Called in Backup to Cover Bilingual Ed
The Learning Curve is a weekly column that answers questions about schools using plain language. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦ The...
View ArticleSchool District Retroactively OK’d More Than $200K for Foster Investigation
Last year, when the San Diego Unified school board called for an investigation into one of its members, the board laid out the terms: The investigation would cost no more than $40,000. A full report...
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The Learning Curve: More Grad Rate Scrutiny Is Coming
Last week, Education Week reported the U.S. Department of Education is auditing graduation rates in California and Alabama, making sure the two states are accurately reporting how many students...
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Lincoln High and the Challenge of School Turnarounds
How far does a school district’s responsibility extend when it comes to turning around a struggling school – and what’s a parent to do when the district doesn’t fix the problems? That’s the question...
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In Search of Safe Harbor, Parents Look Beyond Neighborhood Schools
Rosalia Hurtado wanted a school that could send her child to college. She lives nearby Morse High School, in southeastern San Diego, but she didn’t like what she saw. She watches in the afternoons as...
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The Learning Curve: Race and Class Often Color the Debate Over Charter Schools
Charter schools have existed in San Diego since 1994, but the debate over whether they’re good for public education shows no signs of slowing down. Charter schools are publicly funded but independently...
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Cindy Barros Helped Lincoln High Parents Find Their Voice
It was a tough year for students and parents at Lincoln High. Despite multiple attempts to rebrand and restructure the school, it has yet to find a solution to low enrollment, sputtering test scores...
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5 Lessons San Diego Schools Taught Us This Year
The Learning Curve is a weekly column that answers questions about schools using plain language. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦ Each...
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California Said Yes to Bilingual Education. Now What?
Eddie Caballero, principal of Sherman Elementary, a bilingual immersion program in Sherman Heights, accomplished something never before tried in San Diego Unified. He created a successful bilingual...
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The Learning Curve: What California Can Expect From Betsy DeVos
The Learning Curve is a weekly column that answers questions about schools using plain language. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦...
View ArticleLincoln High’s Middle College Program Takes Another Disastrous Turn
A program created to give Lincoln High School students access to community college courses left the majority of its students with failing grades last semester. In response, San Diego Unified etched out...
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4 Solutions Being Floated for Lincoln High
The Learning Curve is a weekly column that answers questions about schools using plain language. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦...
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The Learning Curve: A Local Look at Charters and Segregation
The Learning Curve is a weekly column that answers questions about schools using plain language. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦ The...
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Principal Says All Vice Principals in SD Elementary Schools Will Be Cut as...
For the past month, district officials have been scrambling to plug the looming $124 million budget shortfall they face for next year. Thus far, district officials have been mostly mum on how those...
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What Parents Can Do About Impending School Budget Cuts
The Learning Curve is a weekly column that answers questions about schools using plain language. Have a question about how your local schools work? Write me at Mario.Koran@voiceofsandiego.org. ♦♦♦...
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Schools Try to Thread the Needle Between Soothing Deportation Fears and...
To quell rising anxieties over immigration enforcement and deportation, Superintendent Cindy Marten this week sent a letter to San Diego Unified parents, assuring them that immigration agents wouldn’t...
View ArticleStruggling Students Moved to Online Charters, Boosting District’s Record Grad...
Charter schools that allow students to recover credits through online courses are serving as an escape hatch for high school students in San Diego Unified who are least likely to graduate. Between 2014...
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