Read this new Education Week story (Chicago Years Inform Ed. Secretary’s Views on Gun Violence) and you get the clear impression that the White House is reining in Education Secretary Arne Duncan on gun control right now. Usually unconstrained on policy issues, open to the press, and Obama’s go-to guy, Duncan’s post-Sandy Hook Elementary remarks have...

All around the nation, school districts are trying innovative things to make schools work better for kids. LAUSD has some of these elements – charter schools, for example, and federally funded merit pay. There’s no shortage of talented individuals, dedicated educators, and generous benefactors willing to help speed the process of change. But because of...

Lots of blame was dished out last week after a state audit found weak dismissal and reporting practices at LAUSD regarding teachers accused of sexual misconduct. Especially vocal was UTLA president Warren Fletcher, who has consistently lobbed criticism at LAUSD for how it has managed the scandal. Now I am a Prop-30-supporting-dyed-in-the-wool union Democrat, but...

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom seems like he’s on the verge of having won his race against Assembly member Betsy Butler. (See: KPCC, LA Observed, LA Weekly). If this happens, Bloom will have won despite being outspent by a wide margin, lacking key Democratic endorsements, and even having the state Democratic party circulate flyers against him.  And his victory...

It’s just an announcement, and there are lots of things that could prevent any real action from taking place, but kudos to the California Charter Schools Association for being one of two state charter groups to join the National Association of Charter School Authorizers this morning in Washington to call for a renewed focus on...

Many Washington insiders would disagree pretty vehemently with SI&A Cabinet Report‘s assessment that the Obama administration will try for a comprehensive overhaul of No Child Left Behind, but the news outlet’s latest article (Stakes likely go up on teacher evaluations in Obama’s second term) is still a good reminder that key policy issues like including...

Some have said that the LA Times education coverage is overly teacher- and union-friendly. Indeed,  today’s news roundup alone contains a news story about the rollout of the new teacher observation system and another about the challenges of co-locating charter and district schools on the same campus. But a comparison of the images accompanying the latest editorial on Board member...

One of the most interesting things about Hillel Aron’s new LA Weekly profile about the race for District 4 (Can Kate Anderson Fix LAUSD?) is that Anderson was recruited to run against incumbent Board member Steve Zimmer. Defeating Zimmer may not be particularly difficult if he’s left hanging in the wind by UTLA, who isn’t particularly enamored with him, either....

This coming June, Los Angeles will lose arguably its most education-focused Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. What happens next isn’t very clear. As this recent Huffington Post entry describes (Being Education Mayor Is Different in LA), Villaraigosa never won control of the LA school system but he did start a nonprofit effort to help fix schools, and recruited...

Former Democratic state legislator Gloria Romero isn’t the only education reformer who’s taken a position that’s being described as anti-labor. (See: Proposition 32 Divides California’s Education Reformers Huffington Post.)  Sacramento-based StudentsFirst (headed by Michelle Rhee) has given $500,000 to oppose Proposal 2, a Michigan state constitutional amendment codifying collective bargaining rights that has been backed by labor groups,...