Morning Read: LA Unified Progressing with Special Ed
LA School Report | October 24, 2013
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LAUSD makes progress in meeting mandated special-education targets
Twenty years after a disabled student filed suit seeking access to an equal education, Los Angeles Unified has made “considerable” progress in making court-ordered improvements to its special-education programs, according to a report released Wednesday. LA Daily News
LAUSD trails state on physical fitness tests
A majority of LA Unified students are overweight or at risk of health problems even through they performed well on the state’s physical fitness tests, according to results released Wednesday by the California Department of Education. LA Daily News
Key White House nominee has background in teacher-ed reform
White House officials won’t confirm it, but it appears that the Obama administration is poised to name the head of an educational-venture fund as its next top higher-education official. Ted Mitchell, the head of NewSchools Venture Fund, would replace Martha J. Kanter. Chronicle of Higher Education
Student discharged assault rifle on Chino police motorcycle at school
Three students at a Chino elementary school were injured Wednesday after a student discharged an assault rifle mounted on a police motorcycle that was on display, an official said. The AR-15 assault rifle was mounted on the motorcycle that was on display during a drug prevention event. LA Times
API will soon lose its clout as shorthand for defining school success
For more than a decade, the Academic Performance Index has defined the public’s perception of a school. But now the API’s power – some would call it tyranny – is waning. In the near term, the API will be a husk of its former self and may disappear for a couple of years. EdSource
Bad to the bone – teacher movement adopts rebel yell to confront critics
Mark Naison is one bad ass teacher – and he’s not afraid to admit it. On the contrary, the Brooklyn native and Fordham University professor, inspired earlier this year by a large-scale testing revolt in his home state, created a Facebook group for discourse among educators like himself who are fed up with federal education policy that he believes casts teachers as villains and as largely indifferent to the crisis in schools. SI&A Cabinet Report
Better news in new study that assesses U.S. students
Amid growing alarm over the slipping international competitiveness of American students, a report comparing math and science test scores of eighth graders in individual states to those in other countries has found that a majority outperformed the international average. New York Times