The recent teachers’ strike in the Los Angeles Unified School District made national news and had a significant impact on teachers and schools and the children and parents they serve. The settlement of the strike raises important questions and has significant implications for the future of public education in Los Angeles, as well as for California and the nation.
In the days leading up to the strike, and while teachers were on the picket line, faculty and researchers at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies offered their insights and perspectives about the strike and were featured prominently in news media coverage of the work stoppage in the nation’s second largest school district.
“At the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, we are fortunate to have faculty and staff with deep levels of knowledge and expertise about the issues confronting teachers and schools and their implications for public education,” says John McDonald, director of the UCLA Sudikoff Institute for Education and the Media. “They are conducting important research, but also engaging in public scholarship in ways that are helping to inform and further the public conversation and advance educational practice and policy.”
Pedro Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education and founder of UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools, provided his perspectives on LAUSD’s financial situation; the strike’s potential impact on charter schools; the need for resources for the most underserved students and the importance of the larger community to support and be involved in public education. John Rogers, UCLA professor of education and director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA), shared his insights into the relationship between the union and the school dsitrictm as well as is critical issues such as the call for smaller class sizes; California’s shortage of support staff at schools; and the post-strike future for schools in LA and beyond
In addition, Patricia Gándara, UCLA professor of education and co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, noted that California’s economic success depends on educating underrepresented students. Tyrone Howard, professor of education, founder of the Black Male Institute at UCLA and the Pritzker Family Endowed Chair in Education to Strengthen Families, pointed out that despite the attention given to L.A. schools because of the strike, there is much to be done beyond the bargaining table.
Finally, an op-ed by Karen Hunter Quartz, director of research for UCLA Community Schools, delineated the mission of community schools that focus on serving the educational needs of low-achieving students in high-poverty schools.
Here are some samples of the contributions of UCLA Education faculty to local and national media on the LAUSD strike:
John Rogers: Teachers Strike Divided by Short and Longterm Deficits to LA Education
Quoted by the Daily Breeze, January 2, 2019
Pedro Noguera: L.A. Schools Have Bigger Problems Than a Looming Teachers’ Strike
Commentary in The Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2019
Pedro Noguera/Civil Rights Project: Los Angeles Braces for Major Teachers’ Strike
Quoted and featured in The New York Times, January 7, 2019
Pedro Noguera: L.A. Mayor Should Bring More Support to LAUSD
Quoted by The Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2019
Pedro Noguera: Teachers’ Strike Could Backfire in Light of Financial Shortfall
Quoted by The Washington Post, January 6, 2019
John Rogers: Teachers and Their Unions Have More Public Support
Quoted by the Los Angeles Daily News, January 6, 2019
John Rogers: Both Sides of Teachers’ Strike Want to Assert Their Positions
Quoted by the Associated Press, January 9, 2019
John Rogers: Teachers’ Strike Inevitable
Quoted by FoxLA.com, January 9, 2019
Pedro Noguera: LAUSD Faced With a Structural Deficit
Interviewed by KCRW-FM’s “Press Play”
Pedro Noguera: Teachers’ Union Raising Valid Concerns Over Charters
Quoted by Time.com, January 10, 2019
Pedro Noguera: Teacher Demographics Beginning to Resemble Student Population
Interviewed by KPCC-FM’s “Take Two”
John Rogers: Recognition of Financial Condition Needed to Improve LAUSD Education
Quoted by the Los Angeles Daily News, January 12, 2019
John Rogers: Charter Teachers in Solidarity with District Colleagues
Quoted by the Associated Press, January 16, 2019
Pedro Noguera: LAUSD Must Invest in Schools or Face Insolvency
Featured in HuffPost Opinion, January 14, 2019
Tyrone Howard: Underresourced LA Schools Will Result in Widening of Inequality
Quoted by The Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2019
Pedro Noguera: Debate Over Charter Schools Will Remain After the Strike
Quoted by The Christian Science Monitor, January 16, 2019
Pedro Noguera: A Shift in the Politics Around Charter Schools
Quoted by The Huffington Post, January 16, 2019
John Rogers: Proposition 13 and Education Funding
Quoted by KPCC-FM’s “Take Two,” January 16, 2019
Patricia Gándara: California’s Economy Hinges on Educating Underrepresented Students
Quoted by The New York Times, January 18, 2019
Pedro Noguera: Teachers’ Strike Raises Questions on Education Spending
Quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer, January 17, 2019
John Rogers: Large Class Sizes Decrease Teachers’ Ability to Serve Students
Quoted by the Associated Press, January 20, 2019
Pedro Noguera: Teachers Were Right to Push for Smaller Classes, More Support Staff
Quoted by the Los Angeles Daily News, January 22, 2019
John Rogers: California Had Less Support Staff Than Any Other State
Quoted by KPCC-FM
Pedro Noguera: L.A. Teachers’ Will Inspire Nation’s Educators to Think About Work Conditions
Quoted by NBC News, January 24, 2019
Tyrone Howard: Teachers’ Strike Built Public Awareness, But Didn’t Change the Big Picture
Quoted by The Los Angeles Times, January 25,2019
John Rogers: What’s in Store for Post-Strike LAUSD?
Interviewed by EdSource, January 25, 2019
John Rogers: Teachers’ Strike Helped Pave the Way for Broader Debate on Taxes and Education
Quoted by Reuters, January 24, 2019
John Rogers: Charter Reforms Needed to Serve Special Education, Perceived Discipline Problems
Interviewed on KCRW-FM’s “Press Play,” January 24, 2019
John Rogers: What’s in Store for Post-Strike LAUSD?
Interviewed by EdSource, January 25, 2019
John Rogers: The Future of Charter Schools
Quoted in the Daily Breeze, January 26, 2019
John Rogers: Uniting LAUSD and UTLA Going Forward
Featured in the Pasadena Star News, January 26, 2019
John Rogers: Strike Called Attention to Needed Changes to Educational Structure
Quoted in The Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2019
Karen Hunter Quartz: Community Schools Score Key Victory in L.A. Teachers Strike
Op-ed in The Conversation, January 29, 2019
Above: John Rogers is a UCLA professor of education and the director of the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA). Photo by Jennifer Young