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How did LAUSD stack up against other large districts on latest state tests? Not great
LA Unified Superintendent Michelle King said at a news conference last week that the district’s improvement over last year on the state’s standardized tests was among “the highest gains that were achieved among urban districts in California.” But was it really? LA Unified was fourth among the 10 largest districts in the state in overall improvement,...
By Craig Clough | August 29, 2016
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Commentary: Will California come out of the shadows on standards to protect its students?
By Iris Maria Chávez Ignorance is bliss, as the saying goes, and no state has taken that message more to heart than California. Alone among the 50 states, California stopped reporting accountability ratings for public schools in 2013 and was the first state in the nation to hit pause on accountability. Now, with responsibility for...
By Guest contributor | March 22, 2016
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Charters with Broad support show only a mixed return on investment
In building a case for creating 260 charter schools within in LA Unified eight years at a cost of $490 million, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has cited “significant” gains by three charter organizations that have received $75 million from the foundation. But when all factors are considered, there is little conclusive evidence in the report...
By Craig Clough | September 30, 2015
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16 LAUSD schools (at least) beating odds of poverty, language barriers
While overall scores on the recent Smarter Balanced tests for LA Unified were disappointing, there are quite a few schools proving they can beat the odds of poverty and language barriers. At least 16 qualify as diamonds in the rough — or as Superintendent Ramon Cortines recently described them, “pockets of excellence.” Despite an above-average number of...
By Craig Clough | September 25, 2015
Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools
Podcast: What a Mentorship Mindset Can Do for Student Motivation
Black and Hispanic Voters Say Democrats Aren’t Focused Enough on K-12 Education
Teen Activist Rhea Maniar on the Power of Abortion to Turn Out Young Voters
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Cortines praises ‘stellar’ performance of LAUSD’s magnets on tests
LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines is praising the high performance of the district’s magnet schools on on the recent Smarter Balanced standardized tests, which based on a district analysis shows 65 percent of them scoring higher than the state average in English language arts and 56 percent of them scoring higher than average in math. “The performance...
By Craig Clough | September 24, 2015
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Charter group: LAUSD’s independent charters outperform district schools
Students from LA Unified’s independent charter schools outperformed their counterparts at traditional schools on the recent Smarter Balanced standardized tests in the number meeting and exceeding standards, according to a new analysis by the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). The charter group found that the charter students scored nine percentage points higher in English language...
By Craig Clough | September 18, 2015
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LAUSD’s English learners struggle compared with state, large districts
Among all the subgroups of LA Unified students who took the state’s new Smarter Balanced standardized tests, English language-learners (ELL) produced especially disappointing results, finishing behind the state average for ELLs and near the bottom compared with the state’s 11 other large districts. LA Unified has the most English learners of any district in the...
By Craig Clough | September 16, 2015
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Test scores show wide achievement gap for black and Latino kids
There wasn’t a lot of good news for LA Unified in the Smarter Balanced test results, which show that the district performed well under the statewide average. Among the poor news was the continuation of a drastic achievement gap between the district’s white students and its black and Latino students. However, if there is one piece...
By Craig Clough | September 10, 2015
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LA Unified says Smarter Balanced testing back on schedule
After a year of disastrous technical issues and internet connectivity problems, LA Unified students are on track to complete the new computerized state mandated tests called Smarter Balanced, according to district officials. Cynthia Lim, executive director of the office of Data and Accountability, told LA School Report today that more than 50 percent of students have...
By Vanessa Romo | April 30, 2015
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Report looks at time (a lot) students spend on standardized tests
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...
By LA School Report | March 17, 2015