An event Thursday attended by high-ranking LA Unified School District officials, but lacking any parents or students, highlighted a slight uptick in academic performance for the county’s schoolchildren.
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event → attend → schoolchildren
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Sign → sign → California
That represents a bump of roughly 2 percentage points in English and 3 points in math over last year.
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That → represent → year
While the district technically edged past its pre-pandemic numbers, the reality remains grim: More than 60% of students are falling short of state standards in math, and over half aren’t meeting basic literacy goals.
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half → edge → goals
“Behind every data point is a student whose future we are working to strengthen,” LAUSD Superintendent Andrés E. Chait said.
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Chait → work → future
“These results encourage us to keep raising expectations, learning from what works, and ensuring that every school is equipped to help every child succeed.”
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child → encourage → expectations
Students in the nation’s second-largest school managed to slightly beat California’s statewide average of 38.4% in math proficiency.
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Students → manage → proficiency
But the gains come as the district faces a deepening budget crisis.
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district → come → crisis
On Oct. 6, the state’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, a school finance watchdog, told the school board that the LAUSD is at “high risk” of insolvency.
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LAUSD → tell → insolvency
The district’s latest budget plan calls for about $3.6 billion in cuts over three years, including an estimated 6,000 layoffs — more than 10% of its workforce.
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plan → call → workforce
Furious parents say the district is celebrating a delusion while ignoring systemic failures.
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district → say → failures
Diana Guillen slammed the LAUSD for throwing money at the problem without holding staff accountable.
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staff → slam → problem
“I feel that LAUSD takes no responsibility, because when negotiations with UTLA take place, they only discuss benefits for employees — there is no mention in the contract of the teachers’ commitment to their students!” Guillen told the California Post, referencing the United Teachers Los Angeles union.
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Guillen → feel → union
“Millions are spent on training sessions that require neither results nor active participation.
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that → spend → results
Many of these sessions take place via Zoom; participants simply turn on their screens, but they aren’t actually present — yet they still collect their pay,” she added, noting she had to buy a private online math program just to get her son up to speed.
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she → take → speed
Even as LAUSD loses students year after year, staffing levels have remained high, raising questions about why additional resources per student have not translated into more substantial academic gains.
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resources → lose → gains
When asked by The Post to respond to parents’ criticism, Chait defended the district’s record.
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Chait → ask → record
“Every parent has the right to expect that when their children are with us, they are receiving a high-quality education that includes everything their students need in order to succeed and thrive,” he said.
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he → have → everything
“Until every student is at proficiency or higher, our work continues.”
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work → continue → proficiency
Some parents argue that the district’s upbeat messaging actively harms families by obscuring the scale of the problem.
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messaging → argue → problem
“LAUSD teachers and administrators lull parents into a false sense of complacency when they celebrate tiny test score increases on an average, district-wide basis, and downplay the importance of standardized tests,” said Maria Luisa Palma, executive director of Oleada, Inc. and a former LAUSD parent.
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Palma → lull → Inc.
“Combined with grade inflation on report cards, many parents — especially low-income and non-English-speaking parents — are unaware their children are not performing at grade level,” she told The Post.
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she → combine → Post
Sonia Reiter, who has two high school students in the district, echoed the frustration with the official spin.
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who → have → spin
“People don’t know their kids can’t read, so they take the district’s word for it and think their own kids have historic gains, and that’s a tragedy,” Reiter said.
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Reiter → know → gains
“Eventually parents learn the truth about their kids’ performance and it’s too late.
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it → learn → performance
The slightest generalized gain is celebrated as ‘historic,’” she continued.
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she → celebrate → ?
Other large Southern California districts outperformed LAUSD by significant margins.
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districts → outperform → margins
In Irvine Unified, 74.3% of students met or exceeded the English standard and 70.7% met the math standard, compared with 48.3% and 39.7%, respectively, in LAUSD.
Poway Unified and Capistrano Unified also topped 60% proficiency in both subjects.
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Unified → meet → subjects
San Diego Unified, the state’s second-largest district, posted proficiency rates of 53.9% in English and 45.9% in math.
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Unified → post → math
Closer to home, neighboring Long Beach Unified edged LAUSD in English, with 51.1% of students meeting or exceeding the standard compared with 48.3% in LAUSD.
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% → edge → LAUSD
The districts were nearly tied in math, with Long Beach at 39.9% and LAUSD at 39.7%.
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districts → tie → %
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