LA School Report

Via NY Times | by Motoko Rich Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced on Thursday that states could delay the use of test results in teacher-performance ratings by another year, an acknowledgment, in effect, of the enormous pressures mounting on the nation’s teachers because of new academic standards and more rigorous standardized testing. Using language...

LAUSD’s $1-billion iPad effort beset by problems, report finds The groundbreaking effort to provide an iPad to every Los Angeles student, teacher and school administrator was beset by inadequate planning, a lack of transparency and a flawed bidding process. LA Times Democrats reject GOP attempts to lift school reserves cap Democrats in the California Senate...

With tensions from Ferguson, Mo. stirring yet another national debate on race relations, LA Unified is distributing an informational packet, “Engaging Students in Peaceful Dialogues about Conflict and Bias,” with a goal of helping solicit questions or concerns from students in “a neutral, safe and respectful space for constructive dialogue.” The packet includes suggested activities for students...

As LA Unified teachers continue their complaints about the district’s new student data management program, MiSiS, Superintendent John Deasy said today he plans to hire an independent liaison to  keep him informed of corrective actions. “This is not my area of expertise so I have to be sure, when I think something is not optimal,...

Via EdSource | by John Fensterwald In the midst of her first swing through California, the incoming president of the National Education Association praised the Common Core State Standards and California’s measured approach in implementing them while warning that the nation’s largest teachers union would fight efforts to use the new tests for the standards...

Eight months after Jaime Aquino’s departure as LA Unified’s Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, the district has a candidate to fill the seat. Superintendent John Deasy announced today he would recommend Ruth Pérez, former superintendent of the Norwalk-La Mirada school district, whose hiring is scheduled to come before the board for approval at its next meeting,...

L.A. Unified teachers decry new student tracking system Los Angeles Unified spent about $112 million on an online student tracking program a decade ago but dumped it two years ago in favor of another one that promised a streamlined way to manage enrollment, attendance and grades for the nation’s second-largest school district. LA Times Moving...

Via KPCC | by Sarah Butrymowicz Devon Sanford’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he was in the eighth grade. After barely finishing at Henry Clay Middle School in South Los Angeles, he never enrolled in high school. He spent what should have been his freshman year caring for his mother and waiting for...

California high school seniors have a better shot at getting through the first year of college than students from most other states, according to ACT’s 2014 Condition of College and Career Readiness report, which was released today. But many of them will still be entering a world of academic pain. While students state-wide performed above...

* UPDATED Barely a week after losing to George McKenna for an LA Unified School District board seat, Alex Johnson is eying another board seat. His former boss, LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, has nominated him to fill a soon-to-be vacant seat on the LA County Board of Education, a body that hears appeals of...