Parents to receive easier-to-read reports on Smarter Balanced test scores Parents across California will soon find out how their children performed on Smarter Balanced tests aligned with Common Core standards in math and English language arts. By Theresa Harrington, EdSource Teacher tenure reforms still in play, Orange County Register How to change white teachers’ lenses,...

Remember when teacher evaluations were the subject of controversy in LA Unified? Not anymore Only a few years ago, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s system for evaluating teachers’ job performance was the subject of legal disputes, full-blown lawsuits and bitter fractious debate between district leaders and the teachers union. Not anymore. By Kyle Stokes,...

El Camino High principal moonlighted as NBA scout, billed travel to school David Fehte, principal and executive director of El Camino Real Charter High School, charged his school-issued American Express card for flights, food and hotel stays that align with college basketball games associated with a second job he had as an NBA scout. By...

Cost of suspensions is high for students who drop out after discipline, report finds Putting a cold financial price tag on the impact of school discipline practices, researchers have calculated that a 10th-grade California student who drops out because of suspension could end up costing the public $755,000 in lost tax revenue and increased health...

State officials find LA Unified shortchanged students In a ruling with statewide implications and financial repercussions for the state’s largest school district, the California Department of Education has determined that Los Angeles Unified has shortchanged low-income students, English learners and foster children by hundreds of millions of dollars they should have received through the state’s...

As charters grow, public schools see sharp enrollment drop In financially struggling urban districts from LA to Philadelphia — and most notoriously, Detroit — the increasing popularity of charter schools, combined with family flight to the suburbs and declining birth rates, have caused enrollment to plummet. By Christine Armario, Associated Press Special ed tutor accused...

Charter school groups spending big in California legislative races Groups that support the expansion of charter schools in California are spending big this year to support the campaigns of sympathetic Democrats vying for open seats in the state Legislature. By Aaron Mendelson, KPCC Building California’s initial college, career readiness metric could prove challenging, EdSource Holocaust...

California charter schools involved in multiple political battles A major front in the perpetual war between California’s educational establishment and school reform groups is the role of charter schools, which function outside the traditional structure and are semi-free to experiment with new methods of teaching. A fierce clash in the state’s largest school district, Los...

Turning around Artesia, Part 2: This school figured out how to make it ‘cool’ to succeed Almost 12 years ago, Sergio Garcia became principal of Artesia High School, a school smack in the middle of a neighborhood in Southern California that has seen its share of gang violence. At Garcia’s first meeting with the staff,...