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L.A. Unified reports 71 iPads are missing
Los Angeles school district officials are trying to track down 71 missing iPads — including 69 from one campus — but said Thursday that new security measures are designed to frustrate future thefts. Officials also acknowledged that student hacking of an iPad security system last week was more widespread than originally reported by the district. LA Times
Brown vetoes bill to add accountability on new school funding
In a signal to school officials that the Brown administration is unlikely to burden districts with additional compliance requirements tied to the new Local Control Funding Formula, the governor on Thursday vetoed legislation that would have conditioned the funds with new reporting and tracking mandates of English learners. In rejecting AB 344 by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, Gov. Jerry Brown stood firm in his promise to apply the “principle of subsidiarity” – that is, giving local agencies authority to make their own spending decisions. SI&A Cabinet Report
I Say Poverty, You Say “Lunch, Anyone?”
Commentary: How many children in LAUSD are “poor”? What does poverty look like in LAUSD; how is it concentrated? It turns out that no one actually knows the answer to these questions because: (1) it’s hard to count this characteristic for a variety of social and cultural reasons, but moreover and critically, (2) no one has ever really asked. Not directly, that is. CityWatch LA
Tech panel calls for new teacher training in digital instruction
To make sure no California child is left off-line, all teachers must be specially trained to deliver technology instruction and the state also needs a dedicated leader to oversee implementation of big picture strategies, says a panel of experts convened to help transition K-12 classrooms into true 21st century learning environments. While the Education Technology Task Force has yet to deliver its full report, state schools chief Tom Torlakson provided a glimpse late last week into work by the group he convened to help him integrate modern technology into today’s classrooms to improve teaching and learning. SI&A Cabinet Report
Commission considers tests for administrators in training
Five years ago, California became the first state to mandate that all candidates for becoming a teacher demonstrate that they have the skills needed for the classroom. Soon, it will be aspiring administrators’ turn for a performance assessment. EdSource
EdSource feature turns states’ ed data into charts in motion
How has California’s per student spending changed over the past four decades? And how has its level of spending compared with other states? For 20 seconds of your time – as long as it takes to watch a graphic – you’ll get the answers to these and other questions, through a new feature, “States in Motion: Tracking Education Over Time,” that EdSource Today is introducing today. EdSource
K-12 Education Tech Startups Face Challenges, Tough Competition
The U.S. education sector has become the nation’s second-biggest sector after healthcare. The value of education industry is estimated at nearly $1.5 trillion — roughly 10% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, according to GSV Asset Management and Candlestick Research. Education technology startups are eyeing opportunities to attract dollars from the K-12 and higher education sectors, but it’s not an easy road for fledgling companies with new ideas. Education News
What are we doing to support great teachers?
Commentary: In the past 12 years, as a children’s book author, I have seen more than 2,000 teachers at work. I have been in small and large, rural and inner-city, public and private classrooms from tiny Dover, N.H., to sprawling Phoenix. Schools bring me in for classroom workshops and all-school assemblies in which I share my passion and my process for brainstorming, writing, and revising. Through these visits, and because of my own background in education and education reporting, I have learned to recognize a great teacher like Mrs. Obstgarten—and it breaks my heart to think that this year she’ll be sitting in Common Core State Standards training sessions along with thousands of other teachers across the country. EdWeek