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Tensions rise as UTLA candidate take on issues, each other
Tensions deepened last night among the candidates running for the top job at United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) as one of them came close to a physical confrontation with another after the event ended. Hosted by the teacher advocacy group, Educators4Excellence, at City Hall in Boyle Heights, the event played before a crowd of about...
By Brianna Sacks | March 5, 2014
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The ‘California 8’ Waiver: What it Means for Local Schools
The No Child Left Behind waiver won by Los Angeles Unified and seven other California school districts gives them more funding and flexibility to improve schools that serve more than a million students around the state. The waiver is a one-of-a-kind, as it marks the first time a group of districts were exempted from “No...
By Brianna Sacks | August 7, 2013
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No Child Left Behind Waiver for CA Districts Includes ‘Unique’ Oversight Panel*
In granting eight CA school districts a No Child Left Behind waiver, the federal government is creating for the first time an oversight body to measure schools’ progress. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the panel “unique” among the waivers granted to 39 states and the District of Columbia. “We went back and forth about how...
By Brianna Sacks | August 6, 2013
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‘No Child’ Waiver OKd for LA Unified, 7 Other CA School Districts*
The U.S. Department of Education today approved a long-awaited federal waiver that allows LA Unified and seven other California districts to replace No Child Left Behind accountability rules with their own school improvement system. The waiver creates a unique 14-member oversight body to provide an “unbiased external compliance review” of each district’s progress after a...
By Brianna Sacks | August 6, 2013
Schools After COVID: 6 Ways For Districts to Better Engage Parents Amid Concerns About COVID Learning Loss
74 Interview: Why Social Media is Being Blamed for the Youth Suicide Crisis
Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss
Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States
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LA Teachers Proposing Online Voting System for Union Elections
Less than 23 percent of the 40,000 members of United Teachers of Los Angeles cast ballots in the final round of voting for union president in 2011, the union’s last leadership election. Even fewer, 15 percent, voted in the preliminary round. A new, online voting system could change all that, says a group of teachers...
By Brianna Sacks | August 1, 2013
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LA Unified Sees Big Rise in AP Enrollment and Exams
Fifty percent more L.A. Unified students in grades nine through 12 signed up for Advanced Placement courses in the last academic year than the number who did six years before, Superintendent John Deasy said in a press release Wednesday. Nearly 18 percent enrolled in AP courses in biology, calculus, chemistry, English literature, foreign languages, government...
By Brianna Sacks | August 1, 2013
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Brown’s New Funding Formula Sets Student Limit for K-3 Classes
Governor Brown’s Local Control Funding Formula increases funding for grades K-3 by about 10.4 percent, but districts could lose all that additional funding if one school exceeds the required average class size of 24 students. A new report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says that districts have to maintain an average class size to...
By Brianna Sacks | July 31, 2013
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High-Quality Pre-K Top Priority for Americans, New Poll Shows
A national poll released Wednesday found that voters ranked quality early childhood education as a national priority, second only in importance to job growth. They said the U.S. should be doing more to prepare children for kindergarten. The bipartisan research team of Public Opinion Strategies and Hart Research, commissioned by the early education advocacy group...
By Brianna Sacks | July 31, 2013
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Two Weeks from School and No Word on ‘No Child’ Waiver
With another month passing and the first day of school just two weeks away, the No Child Left Behind waiver request from LAUSD and eight other California school districts remains unfinished. A final submission must go to the U.S. Department of Education for approval. Last week, representatives from the California Office to Reform Education, which represents the...
By Brianna Sacks | July 30, 2013
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Apple to Replace LAUSD iPads if Broken, Stolen or Damaged*
Thanks to LAUSD’s deal with Apple, 30,000 retina display iPads — those are the latest — will land in student hands starting next month in a $400 million deal that will dramatically change how kids learn reading and math. By next August, the district says every LA Unified student will have access to a $678...
By Brianna Sacks | July 30, 2013