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The Learning Curve: The Schools-Within-a-School Model
Friends, parents, fellow patriots, Over the past few months, I’ve enjoyed working on The Learning Curve, a weekly column in which I help find answers to the questions you send in. Since March, together...
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The Learning Curve: A Strong Foundation for Certain Students
As a kid in rural Wisconsin, there were a lot of things about my school I took for granted. In the mornings, I’d walk down my driveway and catch the bus. My school had an art and a music teacher, one...
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The Case Against Isolating English-Learners
Ángel Solorzano spoke so little English when he arrived at Kearny High he had to communicate with the school’s principal, Ana Diaz-Booz, through sign language. That’s not unusual for Diaz-Booz. The...
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The Learning Curve: No Plans to Change Post-and-Bid
A year ago, the Vergara v. California case invigorated school reformers and inflamed teachers unions nationwide. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu found laws governing how teachers are hired...
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The Parent Who Seized a Charter School
In March 2014, teachers and parents of Harriet Tubman Village Charter School filed into a school board meeting to plead their case. Aimee Nimtz, president of the school’s parent-teacher committee, led...
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The Learning Curve: Vaccine Law Is Settled, Passions Not So Much
Gov. Jerry Brown wants to kill my daughter. I know this to be true, because my mom posted a story about it late last week on one of her Facebook pages (for unknown reasons, she has multiple pages):...
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The Learning Curve: Where Real Estate Sites’ School Scores Come From
Since I started this column back in March, one of the most common questions I’ve gotten comes from parents who want to know how to choose schools for their kids. I’ve looked at that question in a...
View ArticleDistrict’s Plan for English-Learners Still Getting Lost in Translation
A year after San Diego Unified promised it would compensate for cutting a crucial lifeline for English-learning students, the parents of those students say they’re still no better off. At the end of...
View ArticleHere’s How San Diego Unified Plans to Deal With Concussions
San Diego Unified has finalized new protocols for how to handle head injuries. Coaches and school staff will take additional safety measures at all schools, whether students are injured on the...
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The Learning Curve: Dropping Knowledge on Dropout Rates
There’s no more visible marker of a city’s educational vitality than its high school graduation rate. And cities in America seemingly have a lot to brag about. This year, the U.S. graduation rate rose...
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The Learning Curve: School’s in for Summer (Just Not in Enough Places)
The so-called summer slide is a pretty straightforward concept. During the long summer months, kids backslide on the academic gains they’ve made during the school year. Researchers generally agree...
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Alvarez Wants to Tear Down and Rebuild Memorial Prep
After being restructured and rebranded three times in the past 20 years, Memorial Prep for Scholars and Athletes, a middle school in Logan Heights, is the San Diego Unified school that parents avoid...
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School Board President Solicits Funds for Kids — Her Own
San Diego Unified school board President Marne Foster held a fundraiser last weekend – not for her campaign or for a charitable cause, but for her family. On Saturday, she held a benefit concert for...
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The Learning Curve: Getting Ahead by Starting Late
A few months back, Kelly Abbott, a friend of VOSD, stopped by the office. He’d just heard Sunset View, the Point Loma elementary school his son attends, was thinking of starting the school day earlier...
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What’s Keeping Preschool Out of Reach
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. ♦♦♦ As...
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What to Look for in a Preschool
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 ArticleSan Diego Unified Uses Facial Recognition Software, Too
The New York Times paints a creepy picture this week of facial recognition software, a tool developed by military intelligence to help identify terrorists that’s now being used by police, including the...
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The Learning Curve: A Back-to-School Cram Session
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. ♦♦♦ As...
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Marne Foster’s ‘a Mother First’– for Better or Worse
San Diego Unified plainly lays out the expectations for the school board and its president. The president, elected by other trustees, will lead the board and serve as its spokesperson. A district...
View ArticleEverything We Know About What Went Down at the School of Creative and...
It’s been about a year since Mitzi Lizarraga, the well-regarded principal of the School of Creative and Performing Arts, left San Diego Unified. In that time, the story of exactly what happened has...
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