Homeless in LA (Part 2 of a series)

U.S. schools are struggling to serve the growing numbers of homeless children and youth, and lack of money is only one of the reasons. In the last of his two-part series, Matthew Mundy reports that chronic undercounting of the homeless and indifference by legislators undermine what one analyst calls an invisible population.

A CLOSER LOOK: A homeless teenager named Mario receives an assist- and hope- from southern California's nonprofit community.

READ: More about homeless policies and programs protecting and serving young people, from the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.

 

Homeless in LA (Part 1)

READ: Part one of the series. Matthew Mundy reports the challenges faced by homeless children at Ninth Street Elementary School in South Los Angeles, and the hope of their teachers. "I can't give up on the children," says Principal Pamela Hughes.

READ: The provisions made for homeless children and youth under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

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A California test mired in controversy

The California High School Exit Exam is the best gauge to measure student achievement, exam supporters tell Brandon Bridges. But Bridges also hears from exam critics; they say the test undermines students with special needs and limited English abilities. The California controversy is the latest skirmish in a wider national debate over the role of testing in schools.

A CLOSER LOOK: A student wonders why he has to learn U.S. history for the exit exam when most of the history presented in textbooks isn't his.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: Inspired teaching isn't always conducted in school. That's the lesson offered by Sara Garcia, a South Los Angeles high school teacher who takes extraordinary measures to help three special needs students pass the California High School Exit Exam.

READ: More about the California high school exit exam in a Q & A in English or Spanish from EdSource, a Mountain View, California-based nonprofit, nonpartisan research firm. [Free registration required.]

Pushing kids too far, too soon?

Private schools and top-flight public schools have led the way in upgrading lessons for the nation's youngest students, who can read and calculate math problems years beyond the norm. The growing practice of pushing pre-school students to perform at higher academic levels has its critics, but Yoo Mi Chin reports the trend isn't likely to disappear any time soon.

NEWS GRAPHIC: The cost of attending a private school in California and other data about private education.

Still relevant, four decades later

Upward Bound has survived and resisted numerous fads in education, Carla Guerrero reports. For students enrolled in the Great Society program, the iconic academic boot camp still offers a mix of tough love and hope.

MULTIMEDIA: Meet students enrolled in Upward Bound at Harvey Mudd College in Pomona, Calif, and read about their aspirations.

MULTIMEDIA: Read or hear President Johnson's Great Society speech in 1964 at the University of Michigan during which he identified education as a critical key in eliminating poverty and improving the lives of Americans. (Transcript and recording courtesy of the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.)

Newcomers face poverty, hostility

Schools have struggled with educating immigrant children ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 26 years ago that schools must educate the children of newcomers, regardless of their immigration status. Gloria Angelina Castillo takes us to Charles White Elementary School, where a majority of the students are newcomers. She finds that despite an accomplished teaching staff, the school is failing to educate immigrant children in a variety of ways and for a number of reasons -- and that, says a USC public policy professor, has longterm consequences for the U.S.

VIDEO: Visit Charles White Elementary School west of downtown Los Angeles and see what is, and isn't happening, for immigrant children.

[Watch Spanish translation here.]

VIDEO: Gloria Angelina Castillo interviews Dowell Myers, a professor at USC's School of Policy, Planning and Development and the author of Boomers and Immigrants: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America. Myers offers his assessment of immigrants and their impact on U.S. life.

A CLOSER LOOK: For immigrant families whose children attend Charles White Elementary School, education is often overshadowed by economic hardship and deportation worries.

MULTIMEDIA: Read the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision, or listen to the oral arguments, in Plyler v. Doe. In a 5-4 ruling in the Texas case, the court opened the school doors to all newcomers, regardless of their immigration status. (Brief and oral arguments courtesy of the Oyez Project.)

OTHER VOICES: Hate crime against immigrants and native-born Latinos is increasing across the U.S., reports the Southern Poverty Law Center. Media coverage is also flawed, with journalists using inaccurate statistics in poorly-framed stories about newcomers. See a compilation of SPLC's reports.

Education Experts for Journalists

USC Rossier School of Education

Annie E. Casey Foundation (family and children)

American Council on Education (higher education)

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

California Department of Education

Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families

Center for the Prevention of School Violence

Children's Defense Fund

Education Commission of the States

Mexican American Legal Defense & Education Fund

NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund

National Center for Children and Poverty

National Center for Education Statistics

National Center for Fair and Opening Testing

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

Metamorphosis: helps journalists and citizens understand the transformation of urban community under the forces of globalization, new communication technologies and population diversity so that our research can inform practitioner and policy maker decisions. The project studies Los Angeles and its many ethnic communities of both new and settled immigrants.