LA Times’ ‘Grading the Teachers v. 2.0’: WHEN LAYOFFS COME TO L.A. SCHOOLS, PERFORMANCE DOESN’T COUNT
After the budget ax fell, hundreds of the district's most promising new instructors were laid off. Campuses in poorer areas — such as Liechty Middle School in the Westlake neighborhood — were disproportionately hurt.
BY JASON FELCH, JASON SONG AND DOUG SMITH, LOS ANGELES TIMES | HTTP://LAT.MS/HWPSYX
December 04, 2010 | John H. Liechty Middle School opened in 2007 in Los Angeles' impoverished Westlake neighborhood with a seasoned principal, dozens of energetic young teachers and a mission to "reinvent education" in the nation's second-largest school district.
The students had come from some of the lowest-performing schools in the city. But by the end of the first year, their scores on standardized tests showed the most improvement in English among district middle schools and exceptional growth in math, according to a Times analysis.
“It wasn't just teaching. It was worrying about what was going to happen to me and my kids," said Arlen Vidal, a top-ranked math teacher who now teaches at a private school. - Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times
It was a dream job," said Monique Gascon, who taught English and history at Liechty during its first two years. "We had a lot of autonomy as teachers, we had a lot of