-
As LA’s teachers union prepares to strike, here’s something that could be a bigger hang-up than raises: how to identify great teachers
As LA Unified and its teachers union enter into mediation this week and the union prepares for a strike, their differences over how teachers are evaluated could be harder to resolve than how much pay raises will be. The district wants to add a new category of teacher ratings, called highly effective, as part of...
By Laura Greanias | September 24, 2018
-
What’s the value of being able to identify highly effective teachers? Q&A with Daniel Weisberg, education advocate and chief executive of TNTP
LA Unified currently has three tiers in rating teachers: below standard, meets standard, and exceeds standard. Last year, 96 percent of teachers met or exceeded standards, with about 22 percent in the top category. Just under 4 percent, or 295 of the district’s 7,623 teachers, were rated below standard — a percentage that has risen...
By Laura Greanias | September 24, 2018
-
JUST IN: Parents can now compare LAUSD schools with new Open Data site
*Updated Sept. 24 Knowing how well your neighborhood public schools are doing so you can choose the right one for your child has not been simple in Los Angeles. But on Friday, LA Unified, one of the most complex school districts in the country, took a big step toward becoming more parent-friendly and transparent by...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 21, 2018
-
LA parent voice: The search for a good school ‘couldn’t wait. The foundation for a successful education begins at home and then in kindergarten’
Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.) Mónica Otlika is thrilled that her two children have started kindergarten and first grade at the ideal school for her family, after a years-long search that...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 19, 2018
-
How LAUSD’s superintendent intends to make every school ‘a place of great teaching’
As the Los Angeles teachers union is poised to strike amid stalled contract negotiations, LA Unified’s new superintendent, Austin Beutner, held his first big policy speech Thursday before about 100 parents in the library of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. Beutner outlined what needs to change in the nearly 570,000-student district, as well as...
By Laura Greanias | September 18, 2018
-
New nationwide poll: Most people support teachers’ right to strike, but less than half believe their unions improve the quality of education
Thousands of teachers across the country have walked out of classrooms this year to demand better wages and more school resources. And Los Angeles could very well be next. But a new nationwide poll shows that support for teachers doesn’t necessarily translate to their unions. The poll, conducted by USA Today and Ipsos Public Affairs,...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 18, 2018
-
Antonucci: When is a teacher strike legal, and what happens if UTLA walks out early?
Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles remain far from a settlement of a new collective bargaining agreement. Mediation is set for Sept. 27, but no one seems optimistic that it will have a positive outcome. UTLA members have authorized their leaders to...
By Mike Antonucci | September 17, 2018
-
Commentary: School districts need local control over high school testing — let us use the SAT
Christopher Lund, assistant superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District, says all school districts have the same questions: How do we close achievement gaps? How do we improve graduation rates? How do we get more students into college and prepare them to graduate from college? The answers are hard work and education policy that...
By Rick Miller | September 17, 2018
-
Los Angeles schools accelerate support for LGBTQ students as data show more than half have been bullied in high school
Los Angeles Unified is increasing supports for students and their families as new data reveal more about LGBTQ students’ emotional harm in school. According to data presented at last week’s school board meeting, 56 percent of LGBTQ high schoolers in the district have been bullied at school, and 60 percent have seriously considered suicide. The...
By Esmeralda Fabián Romero | September 16, 2018
-
New textbooks and guidance help California K-12 teachers cover LGBT issues and historical figures in the classroom
As the new academic year gets rolling for California public schools, instructional materials are available for the first time that ensure every K-12 classroom has access to accurate and unbiased depictions of the sexual orientation and gender identity of historical figures. The state’s FAIR Education Act — FAIR stands for Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful —...
By Beth Hawkins | September 16, 2018