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Morning Read: What’s behind the low math scores in California?

Educators try to come to terms with low math scores on Smarter Balanced tests Only one-third of California students in grades 3-8 and grade 11 met the math standard – compared to 44 percent of students who met the standard in English. EdSource, by Fermin Leal ‘Redskins’ ban angers fans of California schools still using...
By LA School Report | October 14, 2015
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Dates, times, places of LAUSD meetings for superintendent search

If you’re eager to have a say in the selection of LA Unified’s next superintendent, here’s your chance. Starting next week, the district is holding scores of meetings to enable members of the public to express opinions. Whether they will actually influence the decision is another matter, but in the spirit of community involvement, the...
By LA School Report | October 14, 2015
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LAUSD board welcomes public to supe search — but only to a point

For the first time, the public yesterday got a full picture of how LA Unified intends to carry out the search and selection of the district’s next superintendent, with a process that encourages transparency and public participation — but only until the final stages. Hank Gmitro of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, the firm handing...
By Mike Szymanski | October 14, 2015
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What’s in the special sauce at Blue Ribbon winner KIPP Raíces?

There is something special happening at Kipp Raíces Academy School in East LA, an independent charter school which recently became LA Unified’s only National Blue Ribbon School for 2015. While 90 percent of the students at KIPP Raíces are from low-income families and 96 percent are Latino and more than half of all students are English...
By Craig Clough | October 13, 2015
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Ratliff raises concerns about LAUSD rehiring fired attorney

Board member Mónica Ratliff asked why a controversial attorney was rehired by the district before members of the LA Unified board went into closed session today, . The lawyer in question, Keith Wyatt, won a case for the school district, absolving it from damages, but the way he argued it continues to cause a lot of...
By Mike Szymanski | October 13, 2015
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LIVESTREAM coverage of today’s LA Unified school board meeting

The LA Unified school board is scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. although they are running about an hour late. Two o’clock seems more reasonable. Among the items up for discussion is approvals and five-year renewals of 15 charter schools, the creation of two magnet schools in the Valley and final offers to charter school organizations seeking...
By LA School Report | October 13, 2015
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LASR poll results: Readers value experience, an insider is OK, too

Most readers responding to the latest LA School Report poll said they want a new superintendent for LA Unified with experience, above all, and if the choice emerges from within the district, that’s fine, too. The poll asked straight-forward questions about what was most desirable in the successor to Ramon Cortines, who is expected to...
By LA School Report | October 13, 2015
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Multiple rallies gather early for LAUSD school board meeting

Protestors and supporters of a variety of causes started gathering at 8 a.m. today for the 1 p.m. LA Unified school board meeting, facing intense heat outside and an overcrowded meeting room inside. Among the earliest to appear were 50 people with green shirts and buttons showed up for the Green Dot Public Schools, which...
By Mike Szymanski | October 13, 2015
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How LAUSD blamed a teen for her sexual abuse by a teacher

By Conor Friedersdorf When M.S. was 13, her math teacher at Edison middle school in Los Angeles invited her to be friends online. Soon the 8th grader was receiving sexually explicit messages. That winter, she was called into a classroom and told to shut the door. The teacher, Elkis Hermida, kissed and hugged the student....
By LA School Report | October 13, 2015
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Morning Read: Brown vetoes ethnic studies and saves for-profit charters

California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes ethnic studies bill The measure would have directed the California Department of Education to form an advisory panel to develop the curriculum. Los Angeles Times, by Stephen Ceasar A roundup of Gov. Brown’s actions on key education bills Brown vetoed AB 787, which would have banned the operation of charter...
By LA School Report | October 13, 2015