Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly known as the Nation’s Report Card, were released today, and LA Unified’s overall performance took a slight dip — same as scores in California and the nation. It was the first time scores slipped for the district and California since the state’s students started taking the test...

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) came out swinging, and swinging hard, when it endorsed Hillary Clinton for president over the weekend. It was the first major union to endorse any candidate in either party, and the timing of the news seemed to come “at an opportune moment for Mrs. Clinton” just as she is...

As the teachers union’s negotiations with LA Unified drag on, one of the nation’s leading voices for teachers appeared at an event last night hosted by district board member Steve Zimmer and made a strong case for union activity and solidarity. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, delivered a fire-and- brimstone-type address to...

UTLA, the LA Unified teachers union, is offering tonight an unvarnished public view of its bargaining position in negotiations with LA Unified for a new teachers contract. Board member Steve Zimmer is scheduled to moderate a panel discussion at Occidental College that includes UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and...

In a speech today  in Buena Park, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, cited former LA Unified superintendent John Deasy as a failed example of school district management and argued for collaboration over fiat as the pathway to success in public education. “Collaboration is the vehicle that creates trust. It’s the vehicle that...

In a fiery speech delivered to her core constituents, Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers went on the assault today, taking on the verdict of the Vergara trial, criticizing Common Core testing and singling out political figures for reprimand. Striking a more combative tone than she used earlier this month when she...

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) kicks off its annual convention in downtown Los Angeles tomorrow bringing more 3,500 national union delegates to the home of LA Unified, the second largest school district in the country. On the agenda: fending off what the union sees as its biggest threats, including billionaire money, an assault on...

The stage was set with the two public education luminaries, ready to square off on such lightning rod issues as tenure and teacher dismissal laws in the wake of last month’s Vergara trial: Randi Weingarten, leader of the nation’s second largest teachers organization, AFT, and Superintendent John Deasy, leader of the second largest school district in the...

Superintendent John Deasy and School Board members Steve Zimmer and Monica Ratliff flew to Washington D.C. last week, not for a relaxing getaway but to meet with lawmakers to discuss the impact of federal budget cuts is having on the district. Known as “sequestration,” the cuts are costing the district hundreds of millions of dollars...