Earlier this year, LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced the district’s new food truck program in collaboration with software company and , co-host of Netflix’s Chef Show.

The program features two professional food trucks equipped with a commercial-grade kitchen, to be run by students enrolled in career technical education programs at Maywood Academy High School and John H. Francis Polytechnic High School. It鈥檚 unclear when the program will launch.

In his initial , Carvalho emphasized the importance of post-graduation plans and career paths for high school students. 

鈥淲e don’t want a single student leaving high school without a college or university ticket or an opportunity for career and technical programming,鈥� Carvalho said.

The students will be in charge of food preparation, promoting the food trucks, and handling all aspects of the business.

鈥淚t’s fun, it’s engaging. It’s interesting,鈥� said Maywood culinary program junior Francisco Delatoree about the food truck program. 鈥淚t made me want to cook more. I used to not do much, [but] now I cook for my family.鈥�

Senior Emiliano Ponce said the launch of the food truck program will help him determine his future job path. 鈥淚t opens a lot of doors鈥� I’ve liked cooking (since) a young age,鈥� Ponce said. 鈥淭his program is helping me determine if I’m [going to] pursue culinary or not.鈥�

Roy Choi encouraged students to embrace their culture and food, 鈥淚 just want you to look at this food truck and know that it represents not only an opportunity but also represents yourselves and your culture.鈥�

“The smallest thing, from the smallest idea to the smallest neighborhood to the smallest block, you can make a difference throughout the whole world,鈥� Choi added.

Choi was born in Korea and moved to Los Angeles when he was two years old. After years of working at Michelin-starred restaurants, Choi shifted his focus to the food truck industry in 2008. Today, Choi鈥檚 Kogi food truck is well-known in LA and he is recognized as one of the architects of the modern food truck movement.

Carvalho, who followed a non-traditional route to becoming an educator, working as a dishwasher and in construction before landing an administrative job in education.聽He launched a technical high school, which showed him the power of career-oriented education.

鈥淚t paid off for those students,鈥� Carvalho said. 鈥淪o that told me early on that we need to do more in the career and technical space (is) as an equally important, viable option for students.鈥�

Carvalho wants the district to offer a wide range of career and technical opportunities, connecting students to industries not only in technology and entertainment, but also to prepare for service fields.

鈥淭oday’s announcement is not only important,鈥� Carvalho said. “It’s also a very cool announcement.鈥�

This article is part of a collaboration between 蜜桃影视 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Only 7% of U.S. students can do advanced math, and affluence is no guarantee of student performance.

These disappointing stats will be examined in the next online panel presented by the Progressive Policy Institute and 蜜桃影视 at 1 p.m. ET Thursday. Panelists will put the PISA outcomes into perspective and offer answers to the inevitable, 鈥淣ow what?鈥� moment of reckoning.

The speakers include Dr. Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 National Center for Education Statistics; Andreas Schleicher, Director of the Directorate of Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and Jonathan A. Supovitz, professor at the University of Pennsylvania鈥檚 Graduate School of Education.

Go Deeper: Explore more coverage surrounding America鈥檚 math crisis: 

• PISA Exam Tests Real-World Math Skills. But That鈥檚 Not What U.S. Schools Teach

• American Math Scores Fall on International Test 鈥� But Many Other Countries Suffered More
• As Test Scores Crater, Debate Over Whether There鈥檚 a 鈥楽cience鈥� To Math Recovery
• Advanced High School Math Classes a Game Changer, But Not All High Achievers Have Access

At 32nd Street School near University Park in East Los Angeles, a big, bright trophy goes to the class with the least absences and latenesses 鈥� and Cristales鈥� students are eager to win.

鈥淢y kids are motivated, we want that trophy, and we want to keep it,鈥� said Christales, explaining the winning class gets to display the trophy in their classroom for a month. 鈥淭hey tell each other 鈥楧on鈥檛 be late, don鈥檛 be late.鈥� “

For Cristales, the nationwide problem of chronic absenteeism has hit home, with roughly three of her 22 students not attending class regularly, and the problem seeming to be getting worse. Last school year Cristales鈥� class won the trophy twice – but this year they have not won it at all.   

LA Unified schools saw a severe decline in students’ attendance post-COVID-19, with 40% of students chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year 鈥� a 19.8% increase compared to before the pandemic, an LAUSD spokesperson said. 

鈥淲here do I start,鈥� said Cristales when asked what challenges chronic absenteeism creates for her. 

鈥淓ach day is vital to the content being delivered to the students,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ach day missed is a loss. As an educator [we do] not have the luxury to waste any time.鈥� 

Cristales compared learning to climbing a mountain, with each day in the classroom a step towards reaching the top. Missing just a day of school can impact a student鈥檚 learning, she said.

鈥淵ou feel the obligation to help that student to catch up,鈥� she said, 鈥� [even] when you have other students to help…it is frustrating to me as a teacher because I know what the loss of the day means for those students.鈥� 

Cristales鈥� school also has a partnership with the University of Southern California, which provides tutors and mentors to students twice a week for 30 minutes.

鈥淏ut if the student is not present, they are missing out on the support that they so much need,鈥� she noted. 

LA Unified identify students as chronically absent if have they missed at least 10% of school days or about three and a half weeks of classes. 

“We’ve seen a lot of difference [in my classroom] after COVID,” said Cristales. 鈥淢any of them are not coming, and when you ask them why, many will tell you they woke up late, the traffic was bad鈥t鈥檚 like their priorities have changed, and that’s what I’ve observed.鈥�

Morgan Polikoff, associate professor of USC Rossier School of Education, said COVID has changed many students鈥� and parents鈥� behaviors toward school. 

“Certainly, COVID has made people more sensitive to illness and more likely to keep kids home if they’re not feeling well,” Polikoff said. “There’s also some evidence to suggest that kids are just less engaged in school than they were before.鈥� 

Online classes also created an unintended consequence, creating the belief among families that it’s not a big deal if kids miss school, Polikoff added.

A conducted by Polikoff and his colleagues found there are clear demographic trends in the increases in absenteeism among Black and Hispanic students. These declines have been especially large for historically underserved student groups, with those students not recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

“What we know about the pandemic and its impact on students is that it just widened every gap,” Polikoff said. “The way that our education systems and our society are set up is that all these disadvantages are sort of stacked on top of one another.”

Polikoff said some factors that can lead Black and Hispanic students to have a higher absence rate are , which can lead to sickness or aversion to getting sick.

“There are a million reasons, but they all point in the same direction: Black and Hispanic students are subject to many different forms of cumulative disadvantage both within school and outside of school,” Polikoff added. To combat higher absent rates, LAUSD has established the aimed to improve student attendance and help prepare students to be “ready for the world” through accumulated data, community outreach, and improvement on staff education.

This article is part of a collaboration between 蜜桃影视 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

The program was introduced after LAUSD鈥檚 chronic absenteeism rate skyrocketed to 40% for the 2021-22 school year after students returned to in-person classes following remote instruction during the pandemic, according to the California Department of Education. In the 2022-23 school year, the district has been able to decrease that number to 30%, Carvalho said.

鈥淲e are here to give resources and make parents aware of all of the benefits of ensuring their [children] are at school everyday,鈥� said Andre Spicer, LAUSD regional superintendent, who oversees 200 schools.

Carvalho visited Daisy Morales, mother of four attending LAUSD schools who have been attending classes sporadically. 

Last year, Morales’s children averaged 64 absences.

After working with district officials, that number has been brought down to only two to three absences. Morales said the biggest challenge to getting her kids to school had been transportation issues.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 like to catch the bus in the morning because of their anxiety,鈥� said Morales, adding she struggled to get her kids to school once they missed the bus. 

But after the district arranged for the bus to pick up her kids as close to their home as possible in what the district calls 鈥渃oncierge transportation,鈥� they began attending school more regularly. 

Carvalho also met with families who hadn鈥檛 enrolled their children in the school system, adding many of them didn鈥檛 even know they were legally required to sign them up for classes.

For the current school year, LAUSD increased enrollment with 20,000 new students, most of whom were 4-year-olds, an increase driven largely by the district鈥檚 new pre-K program.

 鈥淎fter a decade of 6% to 7% of declining enrollment, we have stabilized to 1.9%,鈥� said Carvalho. 

Sherree Lewis-DeVaugh, principal of 135 Street Elementary, said the school had begun hosting interventions with families who struggle to get their kids in school; bringing chronic absences down from 36% to just 10%. 

鈥淚f a student is not in school, how can they learn?鈥� said Lewis-DeVaugh. 鈥淲e need to make sure the students are educated, and to make sure that we provide support to our parents as well.鈥�

The school has begun hosting interventions directly with family members who struggle to get their kids in school; bringing chronic absences down from 36% to just 10%.

This article is part of a collaboration between 蜜桃影视 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute this week convened for an online panel discussing career training lessons from Illinois. The speakers included associate superintendent Dr. Lazaro Lopez; Dr. Rita Gura, William Rainey Harper College dean of health careers; clinical nurse manager Susan Volpe; and Michael Piagari, a 12th grade student at Prospect High School.

Recent coverage of college and career pathways from 蜜桃影视: 

• To Combat Nursing Shortage, Rhode Island Charter Turns to High School Students
  
• Build Your Own High School: Phoenix Students Choose from 500 Classes, Internships, College Courses, Career Programs & More
  
• Why Wait To Graduate? Georgia Apprentices Start Training As Sophomores
  
• Opinion: 3 Ways to Help Students Gain the Career Connections They Need to Succeed

蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project recently convened this online panel on Denver and the future of education reform. The speakers include Colorado State Senator James Coleman; Alex Magana, head of Beacon Network Schools; State Rep. Jennifer Bacon; and Nate Easley, former Board Chair of Denver Public Schools.聽

Sign up for 蜜桃影视’s newsletter to be the first to hear about future events.

Recent coverage of education reform and innovation from 蜜桃影视:

• Campus Road Trip Diary: 8 Things We Learned This Year About America鈥檚 Most Innovative High Schools
• Conor Williams: Wait. Did Education Reform Just Become Inescapable?
• 蜜桃影视 Interview: Cara Fitzpatrick on 鈥楾he Death of Public School鈥�
• Opinion: Charters Are the Most Popular Form of School Choice. Democrats Must Get on Board

Featured on our online panel: Dr. Keeanna Warren, associate executive director, PPHS Network; Dr. Gary Bertoline, senior vice president, Purdue University; former Indiana state Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan; 蜜桃影视 Senior Reporter Jo Napolitano; and Purdue Polytechnic junior Raina Maiga. PPI鈥檚 Taylor Maag moderates. 

Sign up for 蜜桃影视鈥檚 newsletter to follow our coverage of America鈥檚 innovative high schools and learn about future events.

Related coverage: 

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure at Purdue Polytechnic High School
• In This School District鈥檚 鈥楾est Kitchen,鈥� Teens Go Beyond the Classroom to Build Drones, Research Cancer & Try Out Careers
• Indiana Looks to Make High School Curriculum More Focused on Career Paths
• Michigan Teens, Schooled in an Old Museum Without Classrooms, Eclipse Status Quo

Featured on our online panel: Dr. Keeanna Warren, associate executive director, PPHS Network; Dr. Gary Bertoline, senior vice president, Purdue University; former Indiana state Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan; 蜜桃影视 Senior Reporter Jo Napolitano; and Purdue Polytechnic junior Raina Maiga. PPI鈥檚 Taylor Maag will moderate. Please join us at 2 p.m. Eastern. 

, or tune in here at 2 p.m. to livestream the event.

Related coverage: 

• Rethinking High School: Upending Traditional Subject Structure at Purdue Polytechnic High School
• Watch: Educators & Experts Talk About How High Schools Are Innovating to Better Prepare Teens for College & Work
• Robotics-Themed NYC High School Fills Roster in Inaugural Year
• Watch: Inside Indianapolis鈥檚 Purdue Polytechnic High, an Innovative School Built Around Design Thinking That Offers a Direct Pathway to College

The conversation included Maryland state Sen. Alonzo Washington; Dr. Julius Davis of Bowie State University; Dr. Daria Valentine, principal of the Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College; Dr. Jean-Paul Cadet of Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools; and Sidney Foster, a sophomore at the academy. 

Panelists talked in depth about the Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College, an innovative high school that partners with colleges and universities to prepare students for career paths in medicine, teaching and other fields. 

鈥淚 need people to understand that career and technical education is not vo-tech, it鈥檚 not vocational education,鈥� said Dr. Jean-Paul Cadet, who leads the Career and Technical Education department in Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools. 

鈥淚f anything, you can consider it the evolution or the reimagining of project-based learning, because what really happens is students are able to find areas of interest and passion and then they鈥檙e able to link up with industry specialists, and [professionals will] say, 鈥榯his is what it looks like to operate on a body, this is what it鈥檚 like to build a building from the basement to the roof, this is what it鈥檚 like to build a computer from parts on a table,鈥� 鈥� he said.

Related coverage 

New Nonprofit Teaches Philly Students CTE Skills 鈥� and Pays Them for Their Work

How Rethinking Industry-Recognized Credentials Can Help Boost Student Success

After School, Students Are 鈥楶laying the Whole Game鈥� in Activities From Drama to Sports to Debate. Backers of Project-Based Learning Ask: Why Can鈥檛 All of Education Look Like This?

That will be the key question on the table Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern, when the Progressive Policy Institute and 蜜桃影视 present a special live streamed panel on the 鈥淔uture of High School,鈥� featuring Maryland state Sen. Alonzo Washington; Dr. Julius Davis of Bowie State University; Dr. Daria Valentine, principal of the Academy of Health Sciences at Prince George鈥檚 Community College; Dr. Jean-Paul Cadet of Prince George’s County Public Schools; and Sidney Foster, a sophomore at the academy. 

Panelists will examine a unique partnership between the Prince George’s County district and Bowie State, focused on developing strong college and career pathways for high-schoolers in the field of medicine. 

or refresh this page at 2 p.m. to watch the presentation right here. 

Background reading: Some recent coverage about how high schools and career preparation are changing:

• Changing Course: Indiana Looks to Make High School Curriculum More Focused on Career Paths
• Innovation in Iowa: Teens Are Spending Less Time in Classrooms, and Succeeding More 鈥� Here鈥檚 How
• Big Investment: $2.5M Gen Z Program Aims to Expand Career Options for High School Students

Panelists include Maryland state Sen. Jim Rosapepe; Don Fraser, Education Design Lab chief program officer; and Lateefah Durant, vice president, Cityworks DC. Taylor Maag, PPI director of workforce development, will moderate. or watch the livestream at The74Million.org beginning at 2 p.m. ET Thursday.

Recent coverage from 蜜桃影视 about schools and careers:

• Indianapolis Students Get 鈥楲eg Up鈥� On Careers With European-Style Apprenticeships
• Irked by Skyrocketing Costs, Fewer Americans See K-12 as Route to Higher Ed
• 鈥楢cademic Career Plans鈥� Have Students Exploring Careers as Early as Kindergarten
• New Data: Female College Enrollment Drops at Twice the Rate of Male Students

These post-election crosscurrents were the topic of a webinar sponsored by 蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools project, featuring Andy Rotherham, a member of the Virginia State School Board and 蜜桃影视’s Board of Directors; journalist and author Anya Kamenetz; Michael Hartney of the Hoover Institute; George Parker, former educator, teachers union president and adviser to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; and 74 Senior Writer Kevin Mahnken. The event was moderated by PPI’s Tressa Pankovits.

Read 蜜桃影视鈥檚 election coverage:

• Second-Highest Youth Midterm Voter Turnout in 3 Decades, Early Estimates Show
  
• DeSantis Solidifies Control of Florida Ed Policy With Pickup of 6 School Board Seats
  
• Wisconsin Re-Elects Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, Derails Push for School Vouchers
  
• Easily Winning 2nd Term, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt Plans to Move Forward on School Vouchers
  
• Read all of 蜜桃影视鈥檚 2022 election coverage here.

Today we partnered with the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools Project to organize a webinar in search of answers 鈥� a one-hour school board conversation about the politics driving the movement for educational equity.

The livestreamed conversation featured 74 Senior Writer Kevin Mahnken and elected school board members from some key battleground states: Ray A. Freeman of the Warrensville Heights (Ohio) City School District; Beatriz Lebron of the Rochester (New York) Public Schools Board of Education; Ty G. Jones of the Lancaster (Texas) Public Schools Board of Education; and Erika Mitchell of the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education. PPI’s Curtis Valentine will moderate.聽

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EDlection 2022

Read some of 蜜桃影视鈥檚 recent coverage of the 2022 issues, candidates and races that could shape education for years to come

• Turnout: More Parents Motivated to Vote in Midterms, Poll Finds
• Campaign Strategy: Heading into Midterms, GOP Finds All School Politics is Local
• Georgia: School Choice Blurring Party Lines in State Superintendent Race as Teachers鈥� Union Aims to Take Down Democrat
• Florida: In Reelection Bid, DeSantis Keeps Eye on Schools 鈥� and 2024

蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute recently convened an expert panel discussion about the upcoming election, particularly as it applies to the question of education priorities and parent voice. 

Curtis Valentine of PPI鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools project tossed questions to T. Willard Fair of the National Urban League of Miami; Alisha Thomas Searcy, Democratic nominee for Georgia state superintendent; Christy Moreno of the National Parents Union; and PPI President Will Marshall.

Explore recent coverage of the intersection of education and politics from 蜜桃影视: 

• 鈥楲ike a Gut Punch鈥�: Advocates Reel as Manchin Compromise Abandons Pre-K

• Rash of New Polls Raises Red Flags for Democrats on Education

• Ed Dept. Launches 鈥楿nprecedented鈥� Parent Council

• Young Republicans, Old Democrats: Poll Points to Stark Generation Gaps on School Choice, Teachers鈥� Unions

If the Biden Administration has its way, big changes could be in store for the nation鈥檚 charter schools.

Charter advocates say the proposed rules would make it harder to get new charters off the ground. What this means for school choice was front and center as 蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute presented an April 28 panel discussion: 鈥淭ell Them We Are Rising: Parental Choice in America.鈥�

Here’s a full replay of the conversation:聽

The panel featured insights from Atasha James, CEO of Legends Public Charter School; Ebony Lee, of Charter School Growth Fund; Dr. Howard Fuller, Professor Emeritus at Marquette University; and Earl Martin Phalen, CEO of Phalen Leadership Academies. Curtis Valentine, co-director of PPI鈥檚 Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools Project, moderated the conversation.

See more of our recent school choice and policy coverage below:

• Charter Schools: Charter Backers Blast Ed Dept. Proposal That Could Curb Sector鈥檚 Growth
  
• 74 Interview: Co-Founders of Nashville鈥檚 First New Charter School in 5 Years on Offering Dual Language to All Families
  
• Michigan: In Her Home State, Betsy DeVos is Closer than Ever to Realizing Her Dream of Private School Choice
  
• Public Opinion: Young Republicans, Old Democrats: Exclusive Poll Points to Stark Generation Gaps on School Choice, Teachers鈥� Unions
  
• Politics: Pushing for 鈥楽chool Choice,鈥� U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz Splits With Gov. Greg Abbott in His Endorsements for Texas House Runoffs