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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

LA Unified's plan to implement Common Core standards put on hold | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC

LA Unified's plan to implement Common Core standards put on hold | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC:

LA Unified's plan to implement Common Core standards put on hold

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The Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education on Tuesday delayed approval of the district's proposed $113 million budget to implement standards for Common Core – California’s new English and math standards shared with 46 other states.
The budget proposes to create 122 new teacher-coach positions, several administrative positions and sets aside money for new technology and teaching materials.  On top of that, schools would receive $70 per student to spend on professional development, technology upgrades and other needs related to transitioning to the new standards.
“It looks to me like we’ve created three levels of people supervising people below them,” said board member Bennett Kayser. He's critical of Superintendent John Deasy’s plans to hire nearly two hundred people in all. In many cases, those teacher coaches will be pulled out of classrooms.
“Who will replace them?” Kayser asked.
Board member Monica Ratliff had another problem with the teacher coaches. 
“My two cents is that we should move $24 million for teacher advisors into local