South LA schools follow state-wide graduation trends



Crenshaw HS

Crenshaw High School

Nearly a dozen South L.A. high schools have followed a positive statewide trend of rising graduation rates while simultaneously lowering the percentage of dropouts, according to data from the California Department of Education.

Schools with the highest graduation rates for the 2013-14 school year include Thirty-Second Street USC Performing Arts with a 100 percent graduation rate; Foshay Learning Center and Middle College High, each with 99 percent; King/Drew Medical Magnet with 96 percent and the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies with 95 percent.

Of the South L.A. high schools, even those with the lowest percentage of graduates recorded graduation rates that were only 10 percent below the LAUSD district-wide graduation rate of 70.4 percent, with a majority of them on an upward trend. [Read more…]

Homecoming for Animo Inglewood alum running for state superintendent



 

TuckAnimoCharterMarshall Tuck, candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, checked up on Animo Inglewood Charter High School Thursday as part of his statewide bus tour. The campaign stop was extra special for Tuck, as he helped found the school in the early 2000s.

Take a listen to his visit in an audio piece for Annenberg Radio News:

Tuck and incumbent Tom Torlakson are in a tight race for the nonpartisan superintendent job, with Tuck up by three points in the latest poll. The race has crystalized divisions within the Democratic party over education reform.

Teen tech leaders compete in Demo Day 2014



URBAN TxT Demo Day 2014

URBAN TxT Demo Day 2014 | Willa Seidenberg

“South L.A. is a tech desert, but URBAN TxT is changing that,” proclaimed Oscar Menjivar, founder of Urban TxT (Teens Exploring Technology) at the organization’s Demo Day 2014, held Saturday at the University of Southern California’s Salvatori Hall.

URBAN TxT, which announced it is rebranding itself as TxT, is a non-profit that works with inner-city boys to develop tomorrow’s technology leaders and to bring change to their communities. [Read more…]