LAUSD shakes up a highly praised academic initiative, angering parents and teachers

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles public school program that officials portrayed as a major success for helping struggling young students improve academically is being substantially dismantled by Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who says it's too costly and not particularly effective.

The abrupt and unannounced change of direction to Primary Promise, which was launched in 2020, has angered many parents and teachers who viewed the effort as transformative in raising achievement in reading and math for students in kindergarten through third grade. Supporters are campaigning to save the program, which provided individually tailored reading and math instruction in small groups.

Using his authority as Los Angeles Unified superintendent, without a public discussion or action by the Board of Education, Carvalho has sharply reduced the budget for services provided by Primary Promise. The program served students at 305 of the district's 450 elementary schools this year. Next year, the budget will cover 168 schools, according to preliminary numbers. Those remaining schools are considered to have the greatest need

Carvalho — who did not make himself available for an interview — is moving forward with plans to instead add