In a year when 46 states will hold legislative elections and 36 will select governors, lawmakers in various states pushed ahead on education priorities, including pre-K education, teacher evaluation, and revisions to school funding formulas. Those issues and others managed to break through despite continued ferment around the Common Core State Standards, including passage of...

Even as the runoff election appears to be tightening to fill the vacant LA Unified school board seat in south LA, the question is not only who will win, but just how low can voter turnout go? Set for August 12, the stand-alone election not only falls in the dog days of summer, but also...

Alex Johnson has no greater supporter in his bid for LA Unified’s District 1 board seat than Mark Ridley-Thomas, the LA County Supervisor he has served as an education aide. But it’s more than Ridley-Thomas’s vocal support that’s helping Johnson in his quest to beat George McKenna in the Aug. 12 runoff after McKenna outpolled him in...

LA Unified is joining President Obama’s initiative to help improve educational outcomes for African American and Latino boys. At Loyola Marymount University on Monday, the district will conduct a day-long conference and series of workshops for teachers aimed at providing instructional training and strategies that focus on meeting the needs of boys of color. The...

Eleven days before the start of the new school year, LA Unified is still hiring teachers. By the district’s accounting, about 700 have been brought aboard for the school year starting Aug. 12, and district officials are looking to add up to 100 more. That would give the district about a third more new instructors...

Via Edweek | by Andrew Ujifusa Opponents of the Common Core State Standards got a boost in recent weeks, as Missouri and North Carolina moved to reassess their involvement, while the governors of Utah and Wisconsin distanced themselves from the standards. Less clear is what exactly those opponents have won. The early pattern suggests that...

For those keeping score, it’s now 3-2. A second member of the LA Unified school board, Tamar Galatzan, is endorsing Alex Johnson for the open District 1 seat. She joins Monica Garcia as the board backers for Johnson. Three others — Monica Ratliff, Steve Zimmer and Bennett Kayser — have endorsed George McKenna. That leaves...

At least the principals won’t be going on strike. The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA) overwhelming ratified new labor contracts with LA Unified for two groups of employees, ensuring that school leaders will remain on campus even as district teachers continue negotiations and threaten to walk off the job. “It’s as decisive as it...