Preview: Board Agenda For Tuesday 10/9

Hillel Aron — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 20:55:39 +0000

You may already have heard that LAUSD Board member Nury Martinez will introduce a motion at the Tuesday October 9 monthly school board meeting to make arts a “core subject” (KPCC: LAUSD considers making arts education a ‘core subject’). And we’ve already told you that Board member Steve Zimmer is holding off on offering a revised version of his charter school oversight proposal (see previous post here). But that’s not all that’s going to be discussed and decided. Below are a handful of other items worth watching. While he’s withdrawn his charter school oversight proposal for now, Board member Zimmer will offer a motion to use “a robust and diverse set of student learning instruments, including both state administered exams and authentic teacher developed assessments” to evaluate teachers, rather than just Academic Growth Over Time or any metric that relies on a single test.

In addition, Board member Bennett Kayser will introduce a motion that deals with space “over-allocated” to charter schools via Proposition 39 (I’ve written about how charters get space via Prop 39 here). The proposal would have the district “collect reimbursement amounts owed by each charter school that is over-allocated space during part or all of any school year.”

Kayser will also announce a resolution called “Buy and Use LAUSD First,” which would set up “an online directory of services and products available within the Los Angeles Unified School District, make their use and purchase easily obtainable, and strongly encourage every school and office to use and/or buy District products and services whenever possible.”

You can see the full agenda for the Tuesday meeting here.

Morning Read: Making Arts “Core”

Hillel Aron — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:38:49 +0000

LAUSD Considers Making Arts Education A ‘Core Subject’
The L.A. Unified school board will vote on a measure Tuesday that would make arts education a “core subject,” prohibit further cuts to the arts, and ultimately restore some money to arts programs. KPCC

Fact Check: On Education, Gains Difficult To Demonstrate
Education reporter Howard Blume fact checks last night’s debate between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. LA Times

California Schools On The Brink
If the state’s voters don’t approve a package of emergency tax increases at the ballot box in November, the system – already pushed to the brink by decades of budgets cuts, swelling class sizes, skyrocketing inner-city dropout rates, shrinking libraries and disappearing arts and music programs – will start to shut down altogether. Salon

A Missed Opportunity To Reform Teacher Evaluations
AB 5 was not perfect, but for the community groups and advocates who supported it, its demise represents the loss of a much-needed reform of the state’s teacher evaluation system. In figuring out a way forward, it’s worth examining the loudest arguments opposing AB 5 and whether and how to address them. Ed Source

2011-12 Education Bills Come Due
A review of all the bills that came through the state legislature this year. Ed Source

Inglewood High Grad Takes Over City’s Troubled School District
Kent Taylor, who graduated from Inglewood High in 1982 and was recently an education official in Kern County, steps in to lead the state-controlled district. LA Times

Community Colleges’ Crisis Slows Students’ Progress To A Crawl
Thousands of degree seekers are able to enroll in only one class at a time. Hopes of graduating or transferring wither as years pass. LA Times

Core Subjects – LA School Report

Preview: Board Agenda For Tuesday 10/9

Morning Read: Making Arts “Core”