Morning Read: Spotlight on English Language Learners
LA School Report | October 23, 2013
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Segregating English learners in schools
Editorial: Segregating young children for whom English is a new language according to their fluency levels produces the best academic results, according to most research. So the Los Angeles Unified School District has little choice in the matter. And yet there is reason for concern. LA Times
API rewrite approaches deadline, solutions evasive
A panel advising California on new school performance benchmarks for college- and career-ready students is being asked tomorrow to sign off on a state plan for education staff to conduct literature reviews of the college indicators under consideration. SI&A Cabinet Report
LAUSD iPads more expensive than first budgeted
New questions arose Tuesday about Los Angeles Unified’s iPad project, including concerns about ownership of instructional software and new budget estimates showing the district would have to buy 600,000 tablets in order to get a promised high-volume discount. LA Daily News
California student-teacher ratio highest in the country
The number of public school students for every full-time teacher in California was 23.4 during the 2011-12 academic year, almost 50 percent above the national average of 16 students per teacher. The lowest student-teacher ratio was in Vermont with 10.7 students per teacher. The Hechinger Report
What’s next for standardized testing in California?
Like high school graduates who pause to figure out what to do in life, most standardized tests in California and the Academic Performance Index that measures them are about to take a gap year – or longer – to give the State Board of Education and legislators time to decide what comes next now that the state’s current testing program is ending. EdSource
LA schools get greening grants but officials put projects on ice
More than six years after California voters approved $63 million to fund community gardens, wetlands renewal, and tree planting in dense, urban public spaces, some schools that are getting these Prop. 84 grants are having a hard time breaking ground on the projects. The reason: maintenance costs. KPCC