Bill Gates Alum Seeks to Thwart L.A.’s ‘End of Days’ School Cuts
Every Thursday at 7:30 a.m., John Deasy huddles with his top aides in the Los Angeles Unified School District (34902MF) to pore over data tracking everything from English language proficiency to attendance.
“We know the exact number of kids in algebra who are passing -- and what we are doing about those who are not -- in Van Nuys Middle School in Mrs. Jones’s classroom,” said Deasy, who’s responsible for 664,000 children in the nation’s largest school system outside New York City.
Deasy, 51, preached the importance of measuring performance when he was handing out educational grants for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s biggest charity. Now he uses data as a tool to boost student achievement in a district where just 56 percent finish high school. He also hopes that statistics will show enough signs of improvement to persuade voters