It’s not a live public forum or debate where we can see the candidates answer questions or exchange views in real time, but it’s better than nothing: Educators 4 Excellence, an organization that advocates for teachers to take a more active role in shaping education policies, plans to host a podcast interview with District 6...

Several LA-area education journalists and academics presented and moderated at the 2013 Education Writers Association national conference held last week at Stanford University, where hot topics included early childhood, teacher evaluation, and school turnarounds. The journalists in attendance included the LA Times‘ education editor, Beth Shuster, and its editorial page writer, Karin Klein, and  Larry...

Mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel will meet with parents on Monday, May 6 at 24th Street Elementary, the first school in LAUSD to be taken over by parents using the parent trigger law. Parent Revolution, an education advocacy group that has led the parent trigger effort in California, will host the meet and greet....

School Board candidate Monica Ratliff met with 15 or so teachers and LAUSD employees Thursday night at an event sponsored by Teach Plus. During the hour-long discussion, the candidate for District 6 (East San Fernando Valley) did as much listening as she did talking, asking teachers about their concerns on issues such as local autonomy...

The education nonprofit EdSource has scheduled a May 4 San Jose symposium on statewide education issues that’s intended to “help the public and policymakers make sense of the complex issues facing educators.” Topics of discussion will be the Common Core standards (rigorous standards matched to international levels) and the proposed school funding formula rewrite that...

The runoff election that will decide Los Angeles’ new mayor, the LAUSD Board member for District 6 (East San Fernando Valley), and several other city offices is now less than a month away. Monday, May 6 is the last day you can register to vote for the May 21 runoff. If you still haven’t registered,...

Earlier this week, a number of civil rights and school reform groups including Democrats for Education Reform (or DFER) sent a letter to United States Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan opposing the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver that LAUSD and eight other California school districts had applied for. But the next day, Gloria Romero, head...

To the surprise of almost no one, a bill that sought to make changes to California rules on how to evaluate teachers failed to pass the Senate Committee on Education during its second-chance hearing Wednesday. What was particularly notable about the bill’s failure was the absence of the majority of the Committee’s members during the...

This afternoon’s Teach Plus candidates’ event may turn out to be the only live forum for District 6 contenders Monica Ratliff and Antonio Sanchez between now and the May 21 election day. However, we’re told that Sanchez can’t make it, despite efforts to contact him and to reschedule the event to suit his schedule. The...

There hasn’t been much mention at all in the mainstream media of District 6 candidate Monica Ratliff‘s role as both the union representative for her school and (more recently) a member of the United Teachers of Los Angeles House of Representatives. For example, the LA TImes‘ recent re-endorsement of Ratliff doesn’t make mention of it....