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Online Voting a Step Closer for UTLA Membership
An initiative that would move voting by the LA teachers union from paper ballots to online has gathered enough signatures to put the change to a full membership vote, according to the architects of the proposal, Marisa Crabtree and Megan Markevich, both teachers and Teach Plus fellows. “Our goal is to make sure that our union is...
By Hillel Aron | September 5, 2013
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Rhee Joining Town Hall Meeting with Teachers in LA
A panel of education reformers, including StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee, is holding a town hall meeting later today in Los Angeles, where they will take questions from an audience of area educators. As the first of three such events around the country this month, the session is billed as a chance to set aside polarizing...
By Chase Niesner | September 5, 2013
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New USC Poll: Public Approval for Testing and Evaluations
Nearly two-thirds of California voters said students should be tested in every grade to ensure that they are progressing, a new PACE/USC Rossier Poll shows. The strong majority contradicts calls in Sacramento to reduce standardized testing. The poll found that only 22 percent of voters said California should cut back on testing. “Most of the political...
By LA School Report | September 3, 2013
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Davis Guggenheim Turns His Camera Back onto Teachers
Davis Guggenheim, the director of An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman, has a new film coming out — Teach, a two-hour documentary premiering Sept. 6 on CBS (which means Time Warner cable customers may not be able to watch it). The film follows four public school teachers throughout the school year, including Joel Laguna, a 10th grade AP World...
By Hillel Aron | August 30, 2013
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Deasy’s Community Meetings Take $2 Billion Funding Fight Public
The fight over the $2 billion LA Unified is getting under a new state funding program moves onto a public stage at 5:30 tonight when Superintendent John Deasy meets with a community group at Inner City Struggle in Boyle Heights. As the first of three scheduled meetings this month sponsored by CLASS, a coalition of community...
By Chase Niesner | August 29, 2013
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Three-in-One Approach Gives Crenshaw a New Look for Success
On the first day of school last week, students at Crenshaw High School showed up in uniform. It’s the first time the school has ever instituted a dress code, and Principal Remon Corley was relieved when about 90 percent of students walked through the campus’s blue gates dressed in gold, black, blue, and white polo...
By Vanessa Romo | August 23, 2013
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UTLA Files Action Against District Over Teacher Evaluations*
The teachers union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against LA Unified over the new teacher evaluations. The union took the complaint to the Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, a quasi-judicicial state agency that hears public employee disputes. In addition to the legal action, the union has distributed letters for teachers to give to their...
By Hillel Aron | August 21, 2013
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More Schools Rush to Embrace Change in LA Unified*
*Oops. In a previous version of this story the chart mistakenly used “district control” instead of “district autonomy,” reversing the meaning of the graphic. Apologies to our readers. The Los Angeles public school landscape is undergoing an unmistakable shift, with schools adopting new models that ultimately will result in students getting more choices. In a...
By LA School Report | August 20, 2013
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Latest UTLA Survey Takes Aim at Common Core Readiness*
The teachers union is asking members to take yet another online survey — this one focusing on efforts by LA Unified to acclimate teachers to the challenges of the new Common Core curriculum. The introduction to the survey appears to reflect skepticism by union leadership about how the district is going about it, questioning why...
By Hillel Aron | August 16, 2013
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Deasy: ‘One of the Biggest Adjustments Ever’
LA Unified opens its doors for a new school year tomorrow, and despite an especially contentious few months for LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, he’s all optimism. In Part One of a two-part interview, LA School Report contributor Vanessa Romo talks with Deasy about his relationship with teachers, the challenges of pioneering the new Common Core...
By LA School Report | August 12, 2013