A new state rule asking school districts to verify students eligible for the Free and Reduced Price Meal program is causing alarm within LA Unified, which must document the status of more than 138,000 students or risk losing $200 million in state funding. The rule affects students at nearly 400 high-poverty campuses, all of whom...

Under pressure from the federal government, California is expanding a field test of computer-based assessments to test students in both math and English language arts, rather than just one subject area. A law recently signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, AB 484, (see story here) requires testing in only one subject. The change, announced yesterday by...

Via The Los Angeles Times | By Howard Blume L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy received a positive job evaluation last month from the Board of Education by a vote of 5-1 with one member abstaining, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced Tuesday. The district had previously refused to disclose the vote, but yielded this...

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy used the resolution of the Mark Berndt molestation case to campaign for a new law that would make it easier to get rid of abusive teachers. Berndt, a Miramonte Elementary School teacher who was accused of abusing 23 students under the age of 14, pleaded no contest in court today and...

The LA Unified school board re-calibrated its push for technology in the classroom last night, voting to continue into a second phase of its iPad plan but also to launch a pilot test of laptops among high school students. Further technology plans will depend on the outcome of a study. The decision — approved by...

LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy is expected to attend the school board tomorrow, following his absence from the special meeting last Tuesday that focused on technology issues. He had a legitimate excuse: His ownership of stock in Apple, Inc., created a conflict of interest, precluding his participation in conversations about the district’s on-going use of...

Despite all the sky-is-falling-rhetoric over the past week, things at LA Unified are much as they were: John Deasy is still the man in charge as superintendent, and teachers union president Warren Fletcher continues as his chief adversary. While Deasy was keeping out of the spotlight today — he was attending an event in Albuquerque...

LA School Report has learned the deal to extend the contract of LA Unified Superintendent John Deasy might not have been possible without the involvement of former LA mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa. According to three people with knowledge of events, none of whom would speak for attribution, Villaraigosa made a flurry of calls to both Deasy and...

John Deasy‘s tenure as superintendent of LA Unified School District is continuing as the school board today gave him a “satisfactory” performance evaluation and extended his contract to June, 30, 2016. The announcement, after nearly five hours of a closed door meeting at the district’s downtown headquarters, ended five frenetic days of uncertainty that began with...