Education Reform

The statistics at John Muir High School are alarming: five principals in six years and test scores so dismal that the state has been monitoring the Pasadena school for four years. To turn around the troubled school, administrators, teachers and community members are undertaking an ambitious -- and unusual -- effort that includes requiring all teachers and staff to reapply for their jobs.

USC is eliminating the study of German as a major over the next three years and dismantling the department except for some basic language courses, officials said. Faculty and students are protesting the move, saying it will harm the university's national reputation for scholarship. The German department at the Los Angeles campus is relatively small, with three full-time professors, three lecturers, 10 undergraduate majors and 10 minors, said its chairman, Gerhard Clausing.

A survey of 6,008 South Los Angeles high school students shows that many are frightened by violence in school, deeply dissatisfied with their choices of college preparatory classes, and -- perhaps most striking -- exhibit symptoms of clinical depression. "A lot of students are depressed because of the conditions in their school," said Anna Exiga, a junior at Jordan High School who was one of the organizers of the survey.

Like many school systems throughout the state, Los Angeles Unified School District officials spent Thursday reviewing financial projections that will include cutting programs and services because Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised budget does not provide enough funding. Even though the governor included an additional $1.8 billion in state education funding, L.A.

St. Louis is looking for its eighth school superintendent since 2003. Kansas City, Mo., is on its 25th superintendent in 39 years. Despite good salaries and plenty of perks, a recent study found that the average urban superintendent nationwide stays on the job only about three years -- which educators say isn't enough time to enact meaningful, long-lasting reform. "Would you buy Coca-Cola if they changed CEOs every year?" asked Diana Bourisaw, who left as St.

On its face, it's an ambitious plan: Expand one of Southern California's biggest charter groups from 13 to 35 schools in eight years until it becomes, in effect, the second-largest district in South Los Angeles. But that's just the beginning. Mike Piscal, the hard-charging founder of the Inner City Education Foundation, has a far more audacious goal than that. As he sees it, the expansion plan he is announcing today will lead to nothing less than the transformation of South L.A.

A yearlong effort by former Mayor Richard Riordan to lead reforms at storied Dorsey High School was met Tuesday with a clear answer: Thanks but no thanks. The longtime education philanthropist has sought a quasi-management role at a low-performing high school, much like current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other civic leaders. "I'm offering my heart, my soul, my reputation, my pocketbook and everything to the students at Dorsey High School," said Riordan, who also served as Gov.

Attorneys for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Unified School District were back in court Wednesday fighting over whether Villaraigosa should be allowed to proceed with plans to take partial control of the school district despite a legal ruling last month that gutted his effort. Lawyers for the district -- frustrated by what they view as an attempt by Villaraigosa to skirt the legal ruling -- urged Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs to reaffirm her Dec.

Compton fifth-grader Alejandra Guizar has already gone to class at Tufts, Stanford, Emory and Princeton. And it's just by chance that she missed out on Harvard. These are the names of classrooms at Bunche Elementary School in the Compton Unified School District. Naming them after colleges is one small piece of the school's enveloping academic culture that emphasizes achievement and, ultimately, college aspirations.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled a sweeping reform strategy for Los Angeles public schools Wednesday, calling for top-to-bottom changes that would include ending the practice of promoting failing students, requiring school uniforms and bringing in outsiders to help transform schools.