LA School Report

* UPDATED A group of education experts and organizations supporting the state’s two largest teacher unions’ appeal of the Vergara lawsuit have filed amici curiae, or “friend of the court” briefs with the California Court of Appeals while former California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger weighed in with their own briefs opposing the unions....

By Gary Walker The new Common Core state standardized test results are in, and they don’t look great for LAUSD. Nearly a year after the departure of Supt. John Deasy, the school district still awaits new permanent executive leadership. Traditional public school enrollment is declining as charter schools pick up more students and move into empty...

Long Beach bucks truancy trends, gets absent students back in school  While recent studies show more elementary students playing hookie, Long Beach Unified has managed to cut its chronic truancy rate by more than half. Long Beach Press-Telegram Chronic student absentee rate remains high, but tracking improves Elementary school absenteeism remains “persistently high” in California,...

While LA Unified may still be struggling to integrate its iPads and other digital devices into the classroom, its police department has found a few useful things to do with theirs. Members of the Los Angeles School Police Department, working collaboratively with Haystax Technology, developed a school safety assessment tool that specially trained officers are using...

In what seemed to be a routine agenda item last night, the LA Unified school board found itself debating a fundamental issue: When you have a few extra bucks do you save for a rainy day or do you pay off your debts right away? The question arose when the board was trying to figure...

Among all the subgroups of LA Unified students who took the state’s new Smarter Balanced standardized tests, English language-learners (ELL) produced especially disappointing results, finishing behind the state average for ELLs and near the bottom compared with the state’s 11 other large districts. LA Unified has the most English learners of any district in the...

Even before the superintendent search team passes out the first public survey, members of the LA Unified school board yesterday raised questions over questions that they want the community to consider in finding a successor to Ramon Cortines. The board held most of the discussion in a closed meeting last night with the search team...

By Antonio Villaraigosa  Wednesday at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Republican presidential candidates will gather for their second debate. One issue that should come up is the 2 million “dreamers” — young immigrants who came to America as children but are ineligible for federal support to attend college. They include people like...

Test scores to be only one factor in measuring school progress The state is in the middle of building a new accountability system to replace the Academic Performance Index. EdSource Editorial: This is why I send my son to private school Did you see the test scores last week? This is why I send my...

A federal agency is looking into a complaint that United Teachers of Los Angeles misused money from the union’s $3 million strike fund. An Aug. 12  letter from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General said the complaint and supporting documents went to the Racketeering and Fraud Investigations for review. An official from...