Emerging from one of public education’s most challenging eras, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second-largest, is celebrating its highest-ever scores on California’s statewide tests. This impressive progress spans all grade levels and subjects, with particularly heartwarming gains seen in the district’s most disadvantaged and historically underperforming schools.
A Beacon of Progress: The Story of 135th Elementary
The transformation at 135th Elementary, a school within LAUSD, is both remarkable and quantifiable. Over just two years, chronic absenteeism has dropped significantly from 17% in 2024 to 13% in 2025. During the same period, the percentage of students meeting state standards in English language arts soared from 25% to 37%, while math proficiency increased from 26% to 34%. These consistent improvements in foundational learning are supported by vital investments in the school’s environment, including new STEM labs, inviting outdoor reading areas, and engaging afterschool programs designed to boost student participation and attendance. These successful school-level initiatives reflect broader, district-wide strategies implemented since Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s appointment in 2021.
Strategic Leadership and Unified Curriculum Drive Success
Superintendent Carvalho’s administration has championed a unified, data-driven strategy to elevate academic standards across the district. This includes introducing a research-backed literacy curriculum, providing extensive “science of reading” training to over 10,000 teachers, and extending these innovative methods to mathematics instruction. Key reforms involve the i-Ready platform for tracking individual student progress and “Illustrative Math,” a structured curriculum focused on deep conceptual understanding over memorization. Pilot programs using Illustrative Math have shown dramatic results, such as an increase in 11th graders meeting math expectations from under 4% to an impressive 25% within two years. Carvalho’s leadership and the district’s positive trajectory were further solidified by the unanimous renewal of his contract in 2025, reflecting the school board’s strong confidence.
Targeted Equity Investments and Programs Yield Results
The LAUSD’s substantial 2025-26 budget of $18.8 billion strategically allocates additional resources to schools with majority-Black student populations, arts education, and LGBTQ student support. A cornerstone of this commitment is the $175 million Black Student Achievement Plan, which funds extra counselors, enriching field trips, and cultural programs. District data confirms that schools involved in this plan are indeed experiencing growth in reading and math at rates slightly exceeding the overall district average. Further equity initiatives include the Primary Promise program, originally launched during the pandemic to assist struggling readers, now refined as the Literacy and Numeracy Intervention program. Even with budget adjustments for long-term viability, schools like Panorama City Elementary, which prioritized small-group instruction and consistent progress monitoring, have achieved double-digit improvements in both reading and math.
Changing Enrollment and Smaller Class Sizes Create Opportunities
In line with wider demographic trends across California, LAUSD has seen its student population decrease by about 80,000 over the last five years. Interestingly, this enrollment dip has inadvertently provided a short-term boost to classroom learning. By delaying significant staff reductions, many schools now benefit from smaller class sizes, often averaging fewer than 20 students. This environment fosters more personalized instruction and cultivates stronger, more impactful teacher-student relationships. Studies indicate that such periods of declining enrollment, when managed strategically to enhance individualized support, can significantly improve student performance in the short term.
Addressing Persistent Achievement Gaps Amidst Overall Gains
Despite impressive overall score improvements across all racial demographics, significant achievement gaps persist. For instance, approximately 74% of Asian and two-thirds of white third-graders meet or surpass reading expectations, a stark contrast to 37% of Latino and 31% of Black students. District leaders are committed to intensifying targeted interventions to bridge these disparities. Furthermore, a substantial 30-percentage-point difference in performance continues between students from low-income households and their more affluent counterparts, underscoring both enduring systemic inequities and the lasting impact of pandemic-related disruptions.
Charting a Path from Recovery to Renewal
LAUSD’s recent academic achievements have not only exceeded statewide averages but also outperformed other major California districts. This resurgence comes after years of pandemic-induced learning loss and a gradual reopening process that disproportionately impacted urban school systems. The district is now making crucial investments in high-dosage tutoring for 100,000 students most affected by learning setbacks, alongside expanding summer learning programs for up to 250,000 students. These strategic interventions are also part of a legal agreement stemming from pandemic-era disagreements regarding remote instruction.
A Promising Outlook for Los Angeles Schools
The dramatic turnaround witnessed in LAUSD powerfully illustrates that a combination of system-wide consistency, data-informed teaching, reduced class sizes, and dedicated equity-focused investment can produce significant, measurable results, even within sprawling, diverse urban school districts. While ongoing hurdles like declining enrollment, union discussions, and stubborn achievement gaps persist, the district’s current path strongly indicates that continuous, committed reform can translate into genuine progress for students from all socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. For institutions like 135th Elementary, the positive shifts are already evident in improved attendance, increased engagement, and enhanced academic performance – clear signals that Los Angeles’ long-challenged public education system is decisively moving from merely recovering to truly renewing itself.