Whether charter schools in California have been a godsend or a destroyer of worlds depends upon whom you ask and where you are standing when you ask it. But now a group of activists hope to end the debate altogether by getting an initiative on the 2016 ballot to repeal the Charter School Act of...

The California Department of Education has set Sept. 9 as the probable date for releasing the results of the new statewide Common Core-aligned tests that were administered in the spring. The tests, called Smarter Balanced Assessments, were given to 3.2 million students in grades 3 to 8 and 11. The new tests will be used as part...

By Natalie Wexler Standardized tests are commonly blamed for narrowing the school curriculum to reading and math. That’s one reason Congress is considering changes in the law that could lead states to put less emphasis on test scores. But even if we abolished standardized tests tomorrow, a majority of elementary schools would continue to pay...

Most voters haven’t heard of Local Control Funding Formula Two-thirds of those surveyed said they had never heard anything about the Local Control Funding Formula. EdSource Dan Walters: Poor kids’ school aid diverted Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union surveyed the “local control accountability plans” of 40 large districts and found them wanting. Sacramento...

LA Unified added 70 assistant principals to its ranks this year along with officially combining the roles of assistant principal and “instructional specialist” into one. Still with 1,564 APs now on the payroll, leaders of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) say many more are needed. AALA, the union which represents district administrators, posted...

A new poll shows that California voters would support reauthorization of Proposition 30, a 2012 measure that raised taxes to support public education. The survey by PACE/USC Rossier School of Education Poll shows 63 percent of voters favor extending at least one provision of Prop. 30 — the tax increase on high incomes or the...

By Megan McArdle Poor kids don’t do nearly as well in school as the children of the affluent. There’s a vicious cycle when you talk about this, where education reformers blame the teachers, teachers blame the parents and the economic conditions of the children, and everyone sort of gives each other the side eye while glumly...

State removes 15 years of test results before releasing new scores California Department of Education officials have repeatedly cautioned against comparing students’ scores on past state standardized tests. EdSource Millikan students studied math with no air conditioning for days The air conditioning outage in Room 71 was reported on Thursday. Los Angeles Daily News California...

LA Unified said today its inspector general is “looking into” the possibility that nearly 100 district employees used district email addresses to contact ashleymadison.com, a website that promotes extra-marital affairs, calling itself “the most famous name in infidelity and married dating.” The district’s legal office has sent employees a memo yesterday, reminding them that the...

By Hanna Sanchez The Paper and Packaging Board has released a new survey that explored the use of paper by US-based educators, students, and parents, and its role in learning. Results revealed that despite the increasing popularity of digital technology in education, majority of Americans still prefer paper-based learning. The survey, “2015 The Annual Back-to-School Report,”...