By Stephen Mucher | Los Angeles Times Los Angeles teachers and school district administrators are doing battle once again. Contract talks broke down last month after 18 rounds of negotiations on raises, healthcare costs, class size, employee evaluation and charter schools. Mediation begins next week. Strike language and recriminations grow louder. Given the potential long-term...

LA Unified officials are close to clearing a two-year backlog of assessments aimed at identifying thousands of students who would qualify for the highly-prized Gifted and Talented Education program. Why has it taken so long? For one reason, says the district, parents of many gifted students proved they, too, are gifted — at cheating. For...

The graduation rate for high school students in California grew to 81.4 percent in the 2012-13 school year, according to data released this week by the U.S. Department of Education. The number is slightly up from the previous year’s 80.2 percent, but it still leaves California 31st among states and Washington D.C. in high school graduation...

Andrew Thomas, who finished third in the recent District 5 school board race with 26 percent of the vote, said today he would not endorse either candidate in the May 19 runoff, Ref Rodriguez and Bennett Kayser. “I ran for this seat to bring the voices of parents and kids to the school board,” Thomas...

By Carly Berwick | The Atlantic Last month, New York City’s Department of Education, under Chancellor Carmen Fariña, called for an end to principal-led school suspensions without prior approval—a practice that grew in popularity during the Bloomberg years as part of a focus on “broken windows,” or small crimes that herald disorder. And the Los Angeles Unified...

In her first run for political office, Euna Anderson received almost 20 percent of the vote, finishing third in the three-way District 7 school board race on March 3. Although she missed the May runoff, the voters who supported her may be key to who wins between the remaining candidates, Board President Richard Vladovic and challenger...

By AFT President Randi Weingarten | U.S. News and World Report The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act started out with good intentions to help improve schools and student performance. But it took a wrong turn in both delivering the funding promised, and in creating, because it focused on the sanctions imposed if student test...

The debate over the value of standardized tests in K-12 education is nothing new, but the topic seems to have reached a boiling point lately: Protest movements are forming against standardized tests, a debate is ongoing in Congress about tying test results to federal funding and the struggle in LA Unified continues, aimed at meeting the online capabilities...

Robert Frost Middle School Principal, Francisco Ayala had his choice of iPads, Chromebooks or desktop computers for his students to take the state-mandated computerized Smarter Balanced test. The wireless iPads and Chromebooks represent part of a huge, $500 million technology investment by LA Unified that, just last year, was hailed as a pioneering effort to bridge the...