Big choices for LA teachers - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess
Teachers and principals in the state’s largest school district will be able to free themselves from a range of district policies and restrictions of the union contract – if they choose to. In a break from their ongoing battle over teacher evaluations, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy and United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher [...]
Low-income schools shortchanged - by Kathryn Baron
Being proven right is usually a cause for some self-satisfaction, but U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan was troubled Wednesday when he announced results of a new Department of Education study on Title I and other high-poverty schools. “Today, we’re releasing key findings that confirm an unfortunate reality in our nation’s education system,” said Duncan during a [...]
California steps forward & back on school data - by Kathryn Baron
California’s various education databases bring to mind that philosophical puzzle about the tree falling in a forest. The state has the ability to link them and make them robust, but since there’s no political will to do that, how useful are they? Okay, perhaps that’s overstating the existential question, but it does keep California from [...]