LA School Report

Today is expected be another long day for LA Unified School Board members. Last week’s eight-hour session — only the second board meeting of the school year –was not long enough to hash out the details of the district’s Common Core implementation plan, so they’ve sandwiched in a Special Board Meeting between two others that...

Mayor Garcetti backs John Deasy, seeks to end feud between LAUSD leaders Amid mounting tension between Los Angeles Unified’s top administrators and the school board, Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed support Monday for Superintendent John Deasy and said he plans to meet with both sides in order to ensure the district’s academic progress doesn’t falter. Garcetti...

In a sign of its growing presence in California, StudentsFirst, the nationwide education reform organization headed by Michelle Rhee, announced today the hiring of Jovan Agee as the organization’s California State Director. Agee, who served eight years as the director of political and legislative affairs of UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, a homecare providers union, will be...

A story in yesterday’s New York Times magazine, “No Child Left Untableted,” explored the use and impact of digital devices in the classroom. It quotes Joel Klein, the former New York City school superintendent and now chief executive of Amplify, a New York-based division of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation that makes tablets for classroom use,...

In the note Jaime Aquino circulated last week, he blames his decision to resign on a “political climate” that blocks his ability to lead in a way he views as effective. He names no names, but he was clearly not happy with a decision to postpone implementation of Common Core, one of his prime directives. Here’s...

L.A. Unified seeks to end confusion and fights over parent trigger law It was billed as a bold attempt to give parents the power to transform their failing schools. But more than two years after California legislators passed the parent-trigger law, it has sparked so much controversy that even the measure’s author supports revisions. LA...

While a bill awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature would end statewide testing for a year – he’s expected to sign it – state officials plan to use older test results to assure that California receives its annual Title I allocations. To comply with federal regulations that states must provide annual test results to qualify for...

Los Angeles Unified iPad comes to San Fernando Valley school Having been part of a two-month trial run last year, the students at the arts-based high school could justifiably have been blasé about Thursday’s rollout of the Los Angeles Unified iPad project at their San Fernando campus. Instead, the seniors in teacher Faraaz Qureshi’s homeroom excitedly...