Guess what: The two candidates for State Superintendent for Instruction — incumbent Tom Torlakson and challenger Marshall Tuck — debated Wednesday night, and almost no news outlets covered it, including LA School Report. No matter, here’s the video. It starts at the 11 minute, 43 second mark and runs an hour, 38 minutes.  

Via NY Times | by Motoko Rich Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on Thursday that states could delay the use of test results in teacher-performance ratings by another year, an acknowledgment, in effect, of the enormous pressures mounting on the nation’s teachers because of new academic standards and more rigorous standardized testing. Using language...

Via Edweek | by Catherine Gewertz The U.S. Department of Education is on the verge of releasing the first draft of new guidance on the peer-review process for standards and tests, a document that could exert a powerful influence on how states set academic expectations. Little known outside the assessment world, the process is wonky...

Starting today, residents of LA Unfied’s District 1, which covers much of south LA, stretching north to Hollywood, can apply for a Vote by Mail ballot for the Aug. 12 special election runoff for LA Unified’s open school board seat. (For an application, click here). The election, between George McKenna, a retired school administrator and Alex Johnson, education...

A group of 250 high school students from LA Unified and the surrounding area are putting finishing touches on their art projects this week under the guidance of college faculty and graduate students from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), a university focused on visual and performing arts. Administered through Community Arts Partnership (CAP), an off-shoot...

The Curriculum Instruction and Assessment Committee of the LA Unified School board will meet today starting at 10 a.m., followed by a special board meeting at 4 p.m., where the board will adopt the District’s Final Budget and the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). For Curriculum and Assessment meeting agenda, click here, and materials, here. For Special Board...

LAUSD just might create the largest saxophone ensemble ever tomorrow at the Make Music Los Angeles celebration to commemorate the 200th birthday of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone. Make Music LA, a city-based nonprofit, along with the district’s Beyond the Bell (BTB) program and other organizations are calling saxophone players of all ages and skill level to...

Eligibility for transitional kindergarten threatened under revised bill Nearly half of California’s currently eligible 4-year-olds would lose their eligibility to enroll in transitional kindergarten in 2015 if a bill that passed the Senate last week gets the governor’s approval. The bill would expand transitional kindergarten, a program for children who turn 5 in the first...

A new partnership between a non-profit and the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF) is ensuring that more LAUSD students can look forward to eating healthier breakfasts at school during the 2014-2015 academic year. The partnership comes as an efforts to bolster School Fuel, an initiative launched by the Los Angeles Fund for Public Education (The LA Fund),...