LEARN Given $270,000 Grant to Aid Reform

The efforts of a coalition of business and community leaders to reform Los Angeles public schools has received a financial boost with a $270,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for Innovation in Education.

The grant was the largest given by the department, which awarded a total of $2.17 million to 10 reform projects around the country. The Los Angeles Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN) will use its grant to help train teachers and principals at the 34 schools that have begun phasing in its reforms.

LEARN has already raised more than $1 million to fund the training, which is being coordinated by UCLA and the business-based Los Angeles Educational Partnership. LEARN aims to decentralize the Los Angeles Unified School District, on the theory that student performance will improve if teachers, parents and administrators are given the power to tailor classroom instruction to students’ needs.