Zimmer backs arts, warns against standardization
LAUSD board president Steve Zimmer discusses the education challenges that Los Angeles faces. (photo by Gregory Cornfield)
Zimmer complimented Mid City West-area schools on their history and diversity, but said they are being challenged like the rest of the district to close education gaps and produce equal outcomes for students.
“How do we simultaneously embrace this incredible diversity and also make sure that our education outcomes are equitable for all students?” he said. “The challenges are real, and the outcomes are not equitable. And so this is the great challenge that the public education system faces.”
Countrywide debates over district structures and education policy reform continue to challenge the district on issues such as standardized testing and charter schools.
Zimmer mostly stressed opposition to initiating academic competition between schools or young students – a common proposal to encourage higher performance. He criticized it as dehumanizing children to “above basic,” “basic” or “below basic,” and said education research shows children learn at different paces and in different ways.
“[In all the schools in the district] I promise you we would not meet a single child named ‘Basic’ or ‘Below Basic,’” he said.
Zimmer said Common Core points California in the right direction because it elevates best teaching values as well as teacher flexibility.
MCWCC’s education committee chair Eddie Campbell said one of their goals this year is to partner and better interact with LAUSD schools.
Campbell reached out to Hancock Park Elementary Principal Ashley Parker to see how MCWCC could get involved. He learned about a wall tile project that has been Zimmer backs arts, warns against standardization | Park Labrea News/ Beverly Press:
