Superintendent Carvalho leaves with a complicated but meaningful record. Under his leadership, LAUSD students reached record-high proficiency rates in 2024-25 — 46.5% in reading and 36.8% in math, both above pre-pandemic levels and outpacing the state’s rate of improvement. Latina/o students, who make up over 70% of this district, were part of that progress. Credit is due for those gains.
The harder truth is that fewer than half of LAUSD students are reading or doing math at grade level. That is not a record to rest on — it’s a call to urgency, especially for a district whose students are navigating pandemic learning loss, the LA County fires, the trauma of ICE raids in their communities, and now the Boyle Heights warehouse fire. Every one of these crises lands hardest on the same kids who are still struggling to reach proficiency. This is something we must hold the entire system accountable for.
Progress among LAUSD’s more than 75,000 multilingual Learners (MLLs) remained largely unchanged. In 2022, at the start of Carvalho’s tenure, 51.4% of multilingual learners were making progress toward English language proficiency. By 2025, that figure stood at 51.5%, according to the California School Dashboard. That said, we do recognize that Carvalho’s impact on this student population extended beyond academics. His “We Are One” campaign provided critical support to MLLs, as many come from immigrant and mixed-status families, during a period marked by immigration enforcement actions and growing fear in our communities, reflecting a commitment to the safety and well-being of the whole child.
On another front, adult education and CTE, while Superintendent Carvalho set out to increase the percentage of students who complete career technical education sequences to 27%, The Division of Adult and Carreer education continues to struggle to work at scale. Fewer students are opting for traditional, four-year bachelor’s degrees, and interest in Career and Technical Education (CTE) and trade schools is surging. This means that the district needs to prioritize investments in programs that are working, but need to work at scale. Programs like the Aviation Mechanics course continue to struggle to meet the demand of interest.
Adult education and career pathways tell a similar story of momentum without scale. Carvalho’s strategic plan set a goal of raising Career and Technical Education (CTE) sequence completion to 27%, up from 15.3% in 2020-21. The district has made real progress toward that goal — pathway completion rose to nearly 25% by 2025, per LAUSD’s Linked Learning office — but progress hasn’t kept pace with demand. As fewer students pursue traditional four-year degrees and interest in CTE and trade pathways keeps surging, high-demand programs — like the district’s Aviation Mechanics course — remain oversubscribed, unable to scale fast enough to meet student interest. The Division of Adult and Career Education has the right programs; what it lacks is the capacity to grow them to meet the moment.
What comes next matters enormously. LA Unified needs a superintendent who understands Los Angeles in its full complexity — who treats collaboration with parents, community organizations, and city and county partners as essential, not optional — and who pairs ambition for student outcomes with real transparency and oversight. Stepping aside so the district isn’t distracted from students is the right decision, but it should not have come to this. Our students and families deserved a tenure that didn’t end in federal scrutiny in the first place. As the Board begins this search, we will advocate for a leader who is committed to closing achievement gaps, particularly for historically underserved student populations; preparing students for success after high school; and recognizing the critical importance of working with partners to support Los Angeles students and families as they continue to recover from and respond to ongoing crises.