A bill moving through the California State Assembly would suspend nearly all of the old standardized tests to free up money and student energy to “field test” the new computer-based Common Core assessments. But testing data from those field tests won’t be used for accountability purposes – they’ll simply be used as practice for students...

Three days after the Obama administration warned that thousands of low-income California children would be shut out of federally funded Head Start preschool programs, the California Department of Education announced today distribution of $25 million in state “restoration” funds. The state money is intended to salvage preschool services as part of the California State Preschool Program, which...

Marshall Tuck, the former president of Green Dot Public Schools and former CEO of Partnership for LA Schools, has announced his candidacy for State Superintendent of Public Education. Tuck, 40, resigned from the Partnership schools in June, shortly before the Partnership’s founder, Mayor Antonio Villaraigiosa, left office. Tuck was said to be considering a run for...

Scores from statewide California tests taken by LA Unified students in the 2012-2013 academic year were only slightly higher than results from the year before. While the gains were more modest than in previous years, they still reflected overall improvement while the state average fell by a fraction of a percentage point. “We’ve outpaced the...

Education Secretary Arne Duncan earlier this week announced that the federal US Department of Education would allow California and other states some additional time and flexibility during the implementation of the rigorous new Common Core standards and assessments, according to today’s EdSource. If California takes advantage of the offered flexibility, teachers and schools will get relief from...