Chronic absenteeism, multi-day teacher strikes, and mediocre test scores; these were some of the challenges the Los Angeles Unified School district had to overcome in 2023. 

The second-largest school district in the U.S. is still recovering from the pandemic, which created major educational challenges for many students, affecting low-income students the most.

The man in charge of leading the recovery effort is LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who joined “Inside the Issues” host Amrit Singh to reflect on the past year.

Educational experts find third grade reading proficiency to be the strongest predictor of high school graduation, however, less than half of all LAUSD students are reading at grade level.

The district has set a plan with four strategic goals to help make up for the learning loss from the pandemic. The district has set a target to accomplish all four goals by 2026.

The four goals: Increase college preparedness for high school students by 70%, improve literacy scores for third grade students by 30 points on the Smarter Balanced Assessment test, improve the mathematics scores for grade schoolers by 40 points on the same test and increase social and emotional learning by 8%.

“They need to be difficult goals considering the current condition across our community,” Carvalho said. “...There’s a great deal of work ahead, but we have the right systems in place and are making the right progress.”

Last year, Carvalho made a pledge to recover learning loss from the pandemic in two years. According to his year’s Smarter Balanced test results the improvements were stagnant. Although Carvahlo said he is still confident, he achieved his pledge due to the investments made over the past year.

“I do believe based on where we are and based on intra-assessment data that we currently have available to us, that we will meet my declaration of reaching pre-pandemic goals by the second year,” Carvalho said.

Looking beyond performance in the classroom, in 2023 schools became a major political battleground in terms of what can be taught and parents’ rights with their child’s education.

“We need to establish a fair balance, a respectful balance between what’s taught, how it is taught, and parents’ rights,” Carvalho said. “But in a way that does not ostracize or leave anyone behind.”

Carvalho said solving the current divisiveness that is dividing many around the country is solved in the schools.

“Public education, democracy; two sides of the same American coin. Feed one, the other will flourish. Injury one — underfund one — and democracy will pay a price.”

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