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School Game Plan
We can’t tell you which schools to apply to, but we can help you think about how to choose a school.
In Los Angeles Unified alone, there are more than 400 elementary schools, plus hundreds of specialized programs and dozens of charter schools run by separate nonprofits.
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Hay tantos caminos que la educación de tu hijo puede tomar. LAist está aquí para ayudarlo a navegar por grandes preguntas y conectarse con las familias y los recursos.
Learn about transitional kindergarten and preschool
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In Los Angeles County alone, there are about 9,000 licensed early care and education providers. Here's how to get started with understanding your options. -
California is making transitional kindergarten available to all 4-year-olds. So what is it, and how do you know if it’s right for your child and your family? -
California has made a new grade, transitional kindergarten, available for four-year-olds. LAist reporters spent a day in three schools to find out what students do in class. -
Transitional kindergarten is forcing a change in the way elementary schools operate in California. -
Some teachers are making the switch from private preschools to transitional kindergarten. Others come from upper grades. Many are needed. -
Education researchers say happier teachers are more likely to stay and that stability can be good for long-term learning outcomes. -
Experts say California isn't studying its own transitional kindergarten program, despite research that has shown a public preschool program doesn’t guarantee better outcomes.
Support the LAist School Game Plan
Learn more about school choice
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What started as a strategy to integrate campuses can now feel like an opaque competition to get into a select group of schools. -
Test scores are only one measure of what happens inside a school. Here’s what to look for to find the best fit for your child. -
Depending on who you ask, charter schools represent either an existential threat to public schools or an innovative model for learning. For many families, it’s just one more school option to consider.
How to make the most of your child's education
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There are all kinds of ways to engage with your child's education, whether you have only a little time or a lot. -
It’s the most powerful school board in the country. And it faces enormous challenges, including funding shortfalls, chronic absenteeism, and safety concerns. -
This guide is for parents and families that want to better understand the condition of their child’s school — and how to advocate to get it fixed. -
School buses drive to and from about 90% of Los Angeles Unified schools, but less than 10% of students are onboard. -
Through the spring of 2028, the Los Angeles Unified School District will resume classes in mid-August and maintain a three-week winter break.
Choosing a school in L.A. is overwhelming — that's why LAist created a guide. Here's what we did to get it to families who needed the information.
Cellphones in LAUSD schools
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The district’s expectation is that when students come back from Presidents’ Day weekend in February, the rollout will be finished at every school. -
There are at least 63,000 students with disabilities in the Los Angeles Unified School District, and many may be exempted from the district’s restrictive cellphone policy. -
PodcastsEducators say students are less distracted and more talkative. But that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily following the rules.
More K-12 education stories
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Now a full week, Winter Academy offers students art and science activities, meals and for high schoolers, the opportunity to boost first-semester grades. -
“Norm Day” — the process by which a district re-aligns its teacher workforce to account for changes in enrollment — is a long-standing practice that’s rankled parents and educators for decades. -
Educators say a major challenge they face is a lack of access to paid family leave, which will require a solution that extends beyond the district. -
A high school in the San Fernando Valley is in the midst of a $274 million renovation that demonstrates the longevity of school bonds. -
The Los Angeles Unified school board voted Tuesday on a three-year school calendar that maintains longer breaks.
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Dozens of school districts in L.A. and Orange counties are asking voters to approve $17 billion in funding to maintain and replace school facilities. -
How schools keep kids cool as hot weather broils Southern California, and why they have class at allSome districts reduce their hours as temperatures stay over 100 degrees. -
Floriculture blends science, sustainability, financial literacy, and creativity. At Sylmar Charter High, the school’s gardens also invite a rare moment of calm in a hectic high school day. -
Ideas of where you and your little ones can go to explore California’s Indigenous history and present-day culture. -
Voters approved $1 billion a year in new arts education funding, but there are questions about how districts are spending the money. -
From post-apocalypse classics to “mysterious and magical” graphic novels, here’s what the students at Octavia E. Butler Magnet are reading. -
The policy is intended to ease yearslong tensions from forcing traditional public schools to share space and resources with charter schools.
SUPPORT AND CREDITS
Writing, editing and production
Reporting and production: Mariana Dale and Elly Yu
Editor: Ross Brenneman
Illustrations: Olivia Hughes
Production support: Jon Cohn, Megan Garvey, Mary Plummer and Sabrina Sanchez
Community review committee
Christian Entezari, consultant
Huriya Jabbar, USC associate professor of education policy
Laura Montelongo, current LAUSD parent
Angel Zobel-Rodriguez, parent of LAUSD alum