Parent activist Scott Folsom (4 LA Kids) suggests that there could be a big change in the makeup of the LAUSD board after the Spring elections — and is throwing his own name into the ring as a candidate (again). “History tells us school boards prefer to appoint their own superintendent when their membership changes,” writes the Deasy...

We got an interesting email in response to our post about LAUSD’s low math scores from a  Cochran Middle School math teacher named Rustum Jacob, who offers two additional reasons why scores are as low as they are:  more 9th grade students being placed into Geometry, and no real alternatives for 9th graders who aren’t...

Want to know who’s filed to run for LAUSD board member next year, and how much cash they’ve gathered for their campaigns?  Click over to the LA City Ethics Commission’s website: 2013 Municipal and LAUSD Election. Below is a snapshot from yesterday evening showing the three LAUSD races for 2013 (towards the bottom). District 2 is the...

When the California standardized test scores were released last week, the Daily News lauded LAUSD for “its best showing ever.” Superintendent John Deasy gave the district (and himself) a pat on the back, saying, “We’ve put a great deal of emphasis in this district on English-language arts, we’ve put a great deal of emphasis on...

The latest news is that Brian Johnson, the former Teach For America (TFA) Los Angeles executive director who ran for and lost a close race for state assembly (right), isn’t going to run for the LAUSD school board. This spring there are three spots coming open on the board — including another TFA alumnus, Steve Zimmer. The...

A number of parents and teachers showed up to today’s jam-packed school board meeting to denounce board member Steve Zimmer’s proposal to reject Academic Growth Over Time (or AGT) as a measurement of pupil progress in teacher evaluations. About six or seven of them wore t-shirts reading, “SHAME ON YOU ZIMMER.” They never got their chance...

As we previewed yesterday (Big Moves From Zimmer), today’s likely big board meeting items relate to Steve Zimmer proposals to change the way schools’ academic growth are measured and to implement a moratorium on charters until better oversight is in place. KPCC has a story this morning about the charter school proposal: Does the quality of charter...

We’re waiting for the district and teachers union to come up with some sort of deal to comply with the Stull Act’s requirement that teacher evaluations include some measure of pupil progress (see our most recent update here). In the meantime, you might want to know that 21 states — not including California — have...

Tomorrow at the LAUSD board meeting (see agenda here), board member Steve Zimmer will make two big moves. The first is his long-awaited proposal to reject the use of Academic Growth Over Time, or AGT, as a measurement of pupil progress when evaluating teachers. AGT measures student improvement on the California Standardized Tests (CSTs), and...

Yesterday, the CTA dropped another $6.9 million into the fight against Proposition 32, which would, among other things, prohibit unions from taking money automatically deducted from their members’ paychecks and spending it on political activity. (See LA Times:  Teachers union gives another $6.9 million to Prop. 32 fight.) “This is a huge priority for us,...