LA School Report

Calif. Grad Rate in Bottom Half of All US; LAUSD’s Even Lower The high school graduation rate in California ranks in the bottom half of all U.S. states, with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s own graduation rate well below the state’s, according to data released Tuesday. CBS An L.A. Unified Road Map A six-year...

Wasting no time, the local branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has been a big spender in recent LAUSD elections, will hold a town hall meeting on Tuesday, December 4 to select and endorse LAUSD Board candidates running for three seats in the March 2013 board election. The town hall will take...

Many Washington insiders would disagree pretty vehemently with SI&A Cabinet Report‘s assessment that the Obama administration will try for a comprehensive overhaul of No Child Left Behind, but the news outlet’s latest article (Stakes likely go up on teacher evaluations in Obama’s second term) is still a good reminder that key policy issues like including...

So far, just three school board candidates have turned in their signatures for review and approval: sitting school board President Monica Garcia in District 2, Kate Anderson in District 4, and Maria Cano in District 6. (See: City Clerk filing status list) Pictured above on the left, the 42 year-old Cano is running for District...

LAUSD Not a Race to the Top 2012 Finalist Finalists for the White House’s 2012 Race to the Top grant competition were released Monday. To no one’s surprise, the Los Angeles Unified School District is not a contender. Huff Po Four CA Districts Make Race to the Top Finals Out of 17 districts that applied...

Remember a few weeks ago when UTLA refused to sign onto LAUSD’s Race to the Top application, and Superintendent John Deasy sent it in anyway (along with a press release)? Well it took the US Department of Education about five minutes to reject LAUSD’s application, and — thanks to 300 peer reviewers — it took...

The teachers union has a new communications director – its third since June, and LAUSD’s much-hyped “social media director” is moving on to greener pastures. Suzanne Spurgeon, former CNN Vice President, replaces Kim Turner, who replaced Marla Eby in the summer. LAUSD, meanwhile, no longer employs Stephanie Abrams, who served briefly as their social media...

Some have said that the LA Times education coverage is overly teacher- and union-friendly. Indeed,  today’s news roundup alone contains a news story about the rollout of the new teacher observation system and another about the challenges of co-locating charter and district schools on the same campus. But a comparison of the images accompanying the latest editorial on Board member...

L.A.’s Revamped Teacher Evaluation System Getting Mixed Grades Teachers are finding value in the new evaluation system as it rolls out, but administrators doing the reviews complain about how time-consuming they are. LA Times LAUSD Moves to Speed English Learners Into Mainstream Triggered by a federal civil rights investigation, Los Angeles Unified has launched a...

Kate Anderson is getting the nod from Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a coveted endorsement for the contested 4th district school board seat which stretches from the Pacific Palisades to Hollywood. “Kate Anderson’s dedication is clear,” Rosendahl states in an email announcement from the Anderson campaign. “As a parent of two young daughters, Kate wants to change LAUSD so that parents...