Full coverage: The revamping of L.A.'s Locke High School

June 24, 2009

A YEAR AT LOCKE

Subtle signs of a turnaround on a troubled L.A. campus

Locke High School English teacher Katy Bridger tried to give her fifth-period seniors a test while Byron Gordon sharpened pencils noisily, Deon Crockett wandered the room complaining at full volume and a girl cursed just as loudly at Deon for being rude. Daniel Dominguez dozed in the back.

April 6, 2009

Opinion

From 'camp' to class

The students are rapt as they watch a seven-minute video about Josef Mengele, the so-called Angel of Death reviled for his cruel pseudo-experiments on concentration camp inmates during World War II. Seeing this, they can better understand the atrocities experienced by Elie Wiesel and chronicled in “Night,” his sparely phrased but haunting account of death and life under the Nazi German regime.

March 21, 2009

Editorial

The Advance Path Academy: learning that clicks

Teachers call Kendle Malbrough "The Philosopher." The Locke High School senior embellishes the margins of his math papers with musings on the intersection of religion and science. Ordinary conversations lead him to flights of theory on all manner of topics. Why dinosaurs grew so big. What the planet would look like over time if humans were to disappear.

December 1, 2008

Editorial

Locke High School's progress

The lesson was polling. Math teacher Fernando Avila acted as pollster, the students as respondents and the four corners of the classroom their opinions: strongly agree, slightly agree, slightly disagree, strongly disagree. The topic: How Locke High School in Watts had changed since being taken over by charter operator Green Dot Public Schools.

September 18, 2008

Transformation of L.A. Unified's Locke High into a charter school is Green Dot's biggest test yet

One in a series of occasional articles on the reform effort at Locke High School.