The Brief

From standardized test scores to student demographics and suspension rates, there’s a lot to consider when choosing a school.

LAist talked to parents, educators and researchers to better understand what different sources of information can tell you about your child’s school or one they might attend.

“You can look at all the information and you can analyze all the available data, but you still don't know how it’s going to play out for an individual kid,” said Los Angeles County educator and parent Andrea Schpok. “You gotta make the best choice given the information available.”

Though the simple appeal of a single number or star rating offered by some websites is tempting, the experts we interviewed say there is no one metric that defines a great school.

What is GreatSchools? 

This story was prompted by parents who wanted to know if there was an alternative to the ranking site, GreatSchools.

The website aggregates publicly available data about schools. One prominent feature on each school’s page is a 1-10 rating. These scores also appear on home listings for several real estate websites.

Researchers have criticized GreatSchools and other school rating sites for oversimplifying what actually makes a school good and for steering families away from low-income schools that serve many Black and Latino students.

The basis of the criticism is that GreatSchools and similar sites rely in part on standardized test scores to calculate school ratings.

“The scores tell you something, but usually they are — across the whole country — highly correlated with socioeconomic status,” said Learning Policy Institute President Linda Darling-Hammond. “A lot of what they tell you is how well off economically are students in this school, rather than how much is the school contributing to their gains and growth.”

Part of the problem is that standardized tests in English language arts and math are one of the few widely administered and tracked metrics.

“We've never really invested in collecting data that is just much harder to get at than a simple test,” said Rebecca Jacobsen, who studies education, politics and policy at Michigan State University.

GreatSchools has changed how it calculates ratings over the years and now factors in how much scores increase year-to-year, college readiness, and an “equity” score that measures how students from disadvantaged backgrounds perform academically.

The nonprofit also offers schools the opportunity to provide information and a space for parents, educators, and alum to leave reviews.

“It's a continual process for us to find the right information to share with each parent,” said GreatSchools CEO Jon Deane.

Deane said the information on GreatSchools is meant to help parents start their school choice journey, not be the sole deciding factor.

“We want to make sure we can help people find what their version of great is,” Deane said.

Where else can you go to find information about a school? 

Individual school websites/social media

Many schools maintain their own websites and social media accounts. There is a wide range of quality in individual school websites. At their best, these platforms are a window into the school’s history, curriculum, current programs and events. On the other end of the spectrum, information can be sparse or outdated. 

Look for: 

• Events 
• Tours 
• Extracurricular activities and after- and before-school programs
• How to contact teachers and administrators
• Parent and family resources

Where does the data come from? Typically these websites are maintained by district and school staff.

Keep in mind: Parent groups might maintain their own websites and social media accounts that can give you additional insight into a specific school. 

Los Angeles Unified School District open data 

LAUSD leaders in 2018 voted to create a new website to present a variety of information about students and school sites. 

Highlights:

• Attendance
• School demographics
• Budgets
• Suspensions
• Student and family surveys about safety and school climate
• Students with disabilities
• Progress of English Language Learners
  

Where does the data come from? District records, the California Department of Education, the College Board (which administers tests including AP exams) and The National Student Clearinghouse.

Keep in mind: There are several ways to navigate the website. If you want to search for schools in a specific area or compare multiple schools, use the “explorer” tool. There is also an option to view schools on a map.

California School Dashboard 

A collection of data maintained by the California Department of Education available at the state, district, and individual school level intended to hold schools accountable for meeting standards. 

Highlights:

• Chronic absenteeism 
• English Language Learner progress
• Enrollment 
• Demographics
• Suspension rates
• Graduation rate 
• College/ career readiness as defined by a series of measures including meeting the requirements for state university admission or completing career and technical education classes.

Where does the data come from? The California Department of Education, districts, schools and County Offices of Education. 

Keep in mind: The dashboard doesn’t assign schools a single score or rating. Many measures are assigned a color from red (worst) to blue (best) based on performance from the current year and growth from the prior year. You can also see how a school compares to the state overall. 

DataQuest

Another collection of data maintained by the California Department of Education available at the state, county, district, and individual school level. This site includes some information not available through the California School Dashboard and  in some cases, parses the data by grade level. 

Highlights:

• Stability rate, the percentage of students that completed a full year of instruction at the same school. 
• California Healthy Kids Survey results, which includes information on school climate and safety
• School staff demographic data
• Rate of high school graduates attending college

Where does the data come from? The California Department of Education, districts, schools and County Offices of Education. 

Keep in mind: Not all data is available at the individual school level. 

School Accountability Report Card (SARC) 

An annual assessment that public K-12 schools are required to perform and submit to the state each year. 

Highlights:

• Teacher qualifications
• Textbook updates
• School facility conditions
• Average class sizes
• Career and technical education classes available
• Average teacher salaries
• Student support staff on campus (librarian, nurse, psychologist, etc.) 

Where does the data come from? Individual schools. 

Keep in mind: The state’s website isn’t super user-friendly. Search for an individual school here and then click the button that says “view full sarc” to see all of the available information.

What do the experts look for? 

Clear family values

These will vary, but education researcher Jack Schneider said defining what’s important to your family will help you sort through the data.

“ And if [test scores are] what folks value, there's nothing wrong with starting there,” said Schneider, who directs the Center for Education Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “But, people shouldn't stop there.”

For example, when Schneider and his wife, a teacher, started looking for a school for their child, they knew she’d have plenty of academic support at home.

“The top priority for us, when looking for a school, was actually that the school was a diverse one, that it served all different kinds of students coming from all different kinds of families,” Schneider said. “We knew that we could give her all kinds of academic advantages at home, but we couldn't give her that — we couldn't just inside our household teach her how to live in a diverse democracy.”

Schneider, who’s also written a book about measuring school quality beyond test scores, also looked at what resources were available to students and how long teachers had worked at the school.

Teacher quality and retention  

 "Having a stable set of qualified teachers is very important,” Darling-Hammond said. “If teachers want to stay in the school, that's a good sign for whether kids are being well taught and whether parents are going to be able to connect with experienced teachers who know a lot about how to make things work well.”

Where to find it: 

• Check the school accountability report card. It shows the number and percentage of teachers who are credentialed to teach their assigned subject and class. 
• Ask administrators about teacher retention. That data is not listed publicly. Instead you’ll have to ask the principal or other staff about turnover and the experience of educators on staff. 

School climate 

This is a broad, wonky educational term that can refer to a variety of factors that affect whether students feel safe and supported.

School climate data is less universal than other information like demographics or standardized test outcomes. One potential source of information is annual surveys to students and families.

“I think these are very high quality data sources that allow us to learn things that we would never learn from a standardized test score,” Schneider said.

Where to find it: 

• DataQuest: This site links to the California Healthy Kids Survey results, which includes information on school climate and safety at the district and county level. 
• The School Accountability Report Card (see up above) provides a school’s suspension and expulsion rates.
• In LAUSD’s open data profile there are several places to view school climate data. 
  
  • Select “Local Control Accountability Plan” from the dashboard view dropdown menu and “School Safety and Climate” from the metric sub groups to see survey results about whether:
    
    • Students feel safe at and a part of their school 
    • Parents feel their child is safe on school grounds and welcome to participate at school 
    • Staff feel safe and supported at school 
  • The “Parent, Student, and Community Engagement” metric subgroup offers additional survey results from parents. 
  • Schools that are part of the Black Student Achievement Plan also collect additional survey data about: 
    
    • Access to mental and socio-emotional health resources 
    • Participation in extracurricular activities
    • Availability of curriculum that matches students individual experiences
• If you have the opportunity to talk to students or alumni you can ask, “Did you feel … “
  
  • A sense of belonging?
  • Connected to teachers and peers?
  • Safe at school?

An emphasis on social and emotional learning

There are many non-academic skills that live under the social and emotional learning umbrella including understanding and managing feelings and building relationships.

“It means that students are learning how to get along with each other, how to solve their own problems, what to do with tough situations… and how to problem solve in good ways,” Darling-Hammond said.

Where to find it: 

• There’s no dashboard to track social and emotional learning at individual schools. Investigate a school’s website, and talk to educators, administrators and other parents to understand how this type of instruction is prioritized. 

School conditions and cleanliness 

The quality of school facilities is linked to student achievement — it’s easier to learn in clean, climate-controlled, well-lit classrooms. Poorly maintained schools may even pose health risks to students and staff.

Where to find it: 

• In the School Accountability Report Card (SARC): Look for the section that says “School Facility Conditions and Planned Improvements” to see self-reported information about the status of restrooms, heating, cooling and ventilation systems and overall maintenance. One caveat, the categories (poor, fair, and good) are broad and reflect the conditions of the school at a single point in time. For example, an inspection of the HVAC system in the winter may not reflect the potential for a breakdown in the midst of a heatwave. 
• Ask your school or district about a Facilities Master Plan: This can help you better understand medium-to-long term plans for repairing and building school facilities. 

The one thing everyone recommends

Your own observations. Touring schools is time-consuming, but researchers, parents and educators all said there’s no better way to evaluate a campus than by visiting in person, preferably while class is in session. 

“The very best thing that people can do is go to the school and try to watch the way that educators interact with students, the way that students interact with each other, and the way that families are included or not in the life of a school,” Schneider said. “Once you do that, you really get a sense of what kind of place kids are going to school.”

Darling-Hammond looks for “joyful and respectful” interactions between adults and students.

“ I look to see if students work is on the walls,” Darling-Hammond said. “Because if it is, it says that this school values what students are doing and that that is the central idea of what's going on there.”

Set up a school tour: 

• Every school is going to handle tours a bit differently. Start at the school’s website and call the front office for more information. 

Questions to ask teachers/administrators: 

• What opportunities are there for family involvement? 
• What types of homework are students assigned? 
• How are grades calculated? 
• What extracurriculars are offered? How can students access those opportunities?
• Is there before or after school care? 
• Is transportation provided? 
• For younger students: What opportunities are there for play? 

Questions to ask students:

• How do you feel about coming to school? 
• What is interesting for you in school? 
• What’s your favorite part of school? 
• Do the children here get along with each other? 
• Are teachers available when you have a problem? 

Illustration: Olivia Hughes / LAist

The Los Angeles City Council decided Tuesday to put off the full effects of a major new state housing law by allowing low-rise apartment buildings in some neighborhoods where such housing has long been banned.

All council members voted in favor of those plans except for Traci Park, who was absent from the meeting.

California’s Senate Bill 79 is set to take effect July 1. The law overrides local limits on housing development by allowing apartment buildings between five and nine stories tall near train stations and rapid bus stops.

However, cities are allowed to postpone those changes until 2030 by developing their own incremental plans for more housing. L.A. elected leaders have chosen to delay. They’re doing so through the city’s new Low-Rise Ordinance, which aims to allow buildings up to four stories tall in 57 neighborhoods near transit lines.

Why it matters

L.A. lawmakers have tried many approaches to bring down L.A.’s high rents. But they have consistently voted to stop apartment developers from encroaching on the nearly three-quarters of city residential land reserved for single-family homes.

Pushed by state lawmakers, city leaders are now having to accept some changes in single-family neighborhoods located near public transit lines.

The reaction

Some local officials and homeowners have expressed frustration over new state limits on their ability to stop development in low-density zones. But advocates for more development said the council’s decision will help address high rents by allowing more housing in areas that have long been off-limits to new apartments.

“The City Council voted to open up high-resource single-family neighborhoods near transit stations,” said Scott Epstein, policy director with Abundant Housing L.A. “This reform is long overdue and will help build a future where Angelenos of all incomes can find homes in the neighborhoods of their choice.”

Where will the projects be allowed?

Officials with the city’s planning department said residents can see whether Low-Rise Ordinance projects will be allowed in their neighborhood by clicking on this interactive map and making two selections from the “layer list” menu: “Opportunity Station Sites Eligible for Low Rise” and “Sites Eligible for Low Rise Outside of Opportunity Station.”

The map shows that some of the areas eligible for new apartment buildings under this plan include Westside neighborhoods within a half-mile of the E Line’s Westwood/Rancho Park station, pockets of the San Fernando Valley near G Line stops, and parts of Eagle Rock along Colorado Boulevard’s planned North Hollywood to Pasadena rapid bus line.

Is this a done deal?

Both plans — the decision to delay full SB 79 implementation, and the new Low-Rise Ordinance — now go to Mayor Karen Bass for final approval. Council members are also considering some tweaks they say would help Low-Rise Ordinance projects get built.

Those changes would include letting developers build denser projects if they reserve more units for low-income renters, as well as rules that would let developers build ground-level parking instead of costlier underground parking. The council’s planning committee voted Tuesday to forward those suggestions to the full City Council for further debate.

There’s a new tool to fight illegal fireworks this Fourth of July: drones.

“A drone’s real-time aerial view can help officers assess situations faster, improve safety, support faster response times and ensure the right resources are sent where they’re needed most,” the Anaheim Police Department stated in an Instagram post.

Anaheim's department is the latest law enforcement agency using the technology to quickly identify illegal fireworks use. The Downey City Council is expected to vote Tuesday night on potential new fines and new rules that would allow local law enforcement to use drones to patrol neighborhoods for illegal fireworks usage.

How it works

Here's how the tech is put to use: Seconds after authorities receive a call reporting illegal fireworks activity, drones can take to the air, hovering above neighborhoods and businesses to find a specific location and an offender. The surveillance devices are equipped with night vision and zoom lenses that allow first responders to record high definition videos right from their Real Time Crime Center at the station.

Then, officers can determine whether to send out a patrol car or issue a citation for the incident.

Why it matters

The city’s drone usage comes as law enforcement agencies across Southern California brace for the annual flood of complaints about illegal firework use at this time of the year. Drones make the most effective use of time and resources, experts say.

“We'll typically see about 2,000 calls and about 300 related to fireworks,” Anaheim’s chief communications officer Mike Lyster explained about the Fourth of July. “It really is a better use of resources on what is always a very, very busy holiday for us.”

Drones allow officials to collect enough evidence to issue these citations. In Anaheim, the punishment starts at $1,000 and climbs to $3,000 by the third offense. But authorities say the goal is to curb illegal fireworks use altogether due to the risk of injury and wildfires.

Lyster hopes that people will think twice about using illegal fireworks this holiday — not just because of the fines — but because of its negative impact on local communities.

“The Palisades fire was ultimately started by illegal fireworks, and sadly, not in our city, but in our neighboring city, a young Anaheim girl died in an illegal fireworks incident last year,” Lyster said.

Where are drones already in use?

More cities are testing this method in order to crack down on illegal firework use. Sacramento, San Bernardino and Riverside are just a few of the other areas that have adopted this technology in recent years.

How do I know what's legal?

If you have any questions about what is legal or not in your community, a quick Google search can help.

Each county goes by different regulations for the types of fireworks you can use — if at all.

For example, parts of Anaheim allow “safe and sane” fireworks to be used only on the Fourth of July between 10 a.m and 10 p.m. This includes non-explosive, non-aerial devices like fountains, sparklers and smoke balls. State-approved fireworks will have a State Fire Marshal seal.

LAist staffer Anjanette Gile also contributed to this report.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

Your neighborhood has a reporter. Have you met them yet?

On Saturday, coffee shops across L.A. are turning into places where you can tell a journalist exactly what’s been bugging you about your block … while drinking amazing coffee.

From Boyle Heights to Silver Lake to Inglewood to Long Beach, local reporters will be set up at neighborhood coffee shops from from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. — to hear what’s on your mind. Got a tip about a pothole that’s been eating tires for years? A landlord the city keeps ignoring? A community hero nobody’s written about? We want to hear it all!

It’s part of Local News Day LA, a pop-up series organized by The LA Local that connects you with your local reporter and give you a chance to become the source instead of just the reader.

LAist has been meeting community members in person through LAist Listens tabling events by popping up at local businesses.

See below for the full list of participating media outlets and coffee shops — The LA Local and our media partners hope you’ll join us:

LAist will be joining The LA Local and other local media partners for Local News Day LA on June 27.

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The LA Local

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Where to find a journalist

1. The LA Local – Koreatown, Pico Union, Westlake will be hosted by Open Market
2. The LA Local – Inglewood and South LA will be hosted by Asteroid Vinyl Cafe
3. Boyle Heights Beat will be hosted by Picaresca Cafe
4. CalMatters will be hosted by Yia Caffe 
5. Calo News will be hosted by Cruzita’s Deli and Cafe
6. The Eastsider will be hosted by Rosebud Coffee (Highland Park location)
7. LAist will be hosted by Cafe Calle
8. Los Angeles Radio Collective will be hosted by Spoke Bicycle Cafe
9. LA Sentinel will be hosted by Patria Coffee
10. LA Taco will be hosted by Cafecito Organico (Silverlake location)
11. LA Public Press will be hosted by Holy Grounds Coffee & Tea
12. Long Beach Post will be hosted by Wrigley Coffee
13. Q Voice News will be hosted by Hot Java
14. USC Annenberg Media will be hosted by South LA Cafe (Western location)

Come enjoy a cup of coffee (or tea) with us while supplies last. 

A coalition of 17 states and a trade association representing U.S. wholesalers and distributors have sued California to block the enforcement of a stringent recycling law that aims to reduce plastic packaging waste.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, argues that California’s recently finalized regulations that will gradually require companies to scale back single-use plastics and ensure all packaging is recycling or compostable should be struck down. The plaintiffs called the regulations “onerous mandates” that will cause steep price increases in everyday necessities that will be passed on, at least in part, to consumers.

“Once again, California is trying to enact a policy that negatively impacts the rest of the country. If California goes unchecked, consumers will be forced to pay more for basic necessities,” Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who led the coalition, said in a news release.

The law, called the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, was enacted in 2022.

“Virtually every product packaged or shipped in plastic containers, as well as a significant number of other types of packaging materials that merely incorporate plastics, fall into the Act’s remarkable sweep,” the lawsuit said.

The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, which represents companies that import and distribute goods in California, also joined the lawsuit.

“California is not entitled to pronounce nationwide policies,” Eric Hoplin, the trade association’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Because the Act extends California’s regulatory reach far beyond its borders and brings within its sweep conduct wholly unconnected to California, the Act violates principles of federalism, the horizontal separation of powers, and due process.”

The lawsuit argues the law violates both the U.S. and California constitutions. It asks the court to declare California’s law invalid and unenforceable, and halt its implementation.

The lawsuit names as defendants Zoe Heller, director of California’s recycling agency known as CalRecycle, and the Circular Action Alliance, a nonprofit involved with implementing the law.

Melanie Turner, a spokesperson for CalRecycle, said in an emailed statement that the agency does not comment on pending litigation and that it remained focused on implementing the law.

The alliance said in a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit and closely monitoring developments while at the same time working to implement the law’s “ambitious goals.”

In a May news release announcing regulations under the law, state officials said the changes would fight plastics pollution while protecting the interests of taxpayers and local governments.

“California is shifting the responsibility of managing single-use plastic and packaging onto the producers. New packaging reforms lower waste costs for communities and decrease garbage and pollution across the state,” Environmental Protection Secretary Yana Garcia said in a statement. “This approach pushes producers to innovate and design packaging that truly supports a circular economy.”

Joining Nebraska in the lawsuit were 16 other states with Republican attorneys general: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.Environmental groups also have sued over the law. A coalition that included the Natural Resources Defense Council recently filed a complaint over what it said in a news release were “weakened” final regulations for the “landmark” law.