When the Board meeting agenda came out last week, it initially included Board member Zimmer’s resolution regarding use of student achievement data to evaluate teachers (see PDF here).The Zimmer resolution sought to block LAUSD from using a new student achievement measurement called Academic Growth Over Time (AGT) when evaluating teachers – even in combination with other...

LAUSD board member Steve Zimmer’s proposal to overhaul charter school oversight and, more controversially, to place a moratorium on new charter schools, has been postponed until the November 13 board meeting, according to the just-posted agenda for the meeting this Tuesday, October 9. Zimmer’s idea was first presented at last month’s board meeting, and generated heavy...

LAUSD Considers Making Arts Education A ‘Core Subject’ The L.A. Unified school board will vote on a measure Tuesday that would make arts education a “core subject,” prohibit further cuts to the arts, and ultimately restore some money to arts programs. KPCC Fact Check: On Education, Gains Difficult To Demonstrate Education reporter Howard Blume fact checks...

Check out this Huffington Post blog penned by Carl Finer, a teacher who taught at LAUSD for seven years but switched to a Los Angeles charter school last year. A member of a pro-reform teacher voice organization called Teach Plus, Finer explains why he made the move, and what charter and district schools could learn from each...

Thanks to a kind reader for sending along this PBS NewsHour segment in which former LAUSD superintendent Roy Romer debates American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten:  It’s a couple of weeks old but still might be worth the watch, given the ongoing debate over including student achievement in teacher evaluations and whether unions can...

The recent LA Magazine profile of Superintendent John Deasy included a surprising statistic: “When Deasy arrived, about 98 percent of eligible teachers were granted tenure. Now the approval rate is less than 50 percent.” That sounded unbelievable to me– it either had to be a mistake, or the result of some little-publicized but groundbreaking policy....

LAUSD board member Zimmer to revise charter schools proposal after protests Daily Breeze:  Los Angeles Unified board member Steve Zimmer vowed Tuesday to revise his controversial charter schools resolution after nearly a dozen speakers and an overflow crowd voiced strident opposition to his plan to study tougher oversight. Defiance: the all-purpose word that drives kids out of...

L.A. Unified, union OK system of evaluating principals LA Times: Los Angeles schools Supt. John Deasy announced the one-year agreement with the administrators’ union Tuesday, calling it a “remarkable breakthrough.” The one-year time period will give both sides time to work out details of the system, according to AALA President Judith Perez. Other coverage of the agreement is...

As you may recall, Superior Court Judge James Chalfant ordered LAUSD, the teachers union (UTLA) and the administrators union (AALA) to provide a September 4 progress report on a negotiations over new way of evaluating teachers and administrators that includes some measure of pupil progress. So what’s the update? LAUSD has made a proposal, according to the...

• Teacher Evaluation Changes threatened by California Bill: AB 5, which is heading to the State Senate for a full vote after getting the nod from the appropriations committee on Thursday, would mandate that all aspects of teacher evaluation be subject to collective bargaining– which has been what UTLA has been asking for in Doe v. Deasy. LA Times [A number of ed...