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The project, which began late last year, includes a 27-member advisory board of academic researchers, educators, technology investors, union leaders and representatives of philanthropic organizations. “There’s nothing more powerful than an accomplished teacher with access to the best tools,” says Peggy Brookins, CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and an advisory board member. “For too long, though, educators and school leaders have operated without a clear framework to understand how best to choose and implement technology that fits in the classroom and actually elevates great teaching and learning.”

Project leader Bart Epstein, president and CEO of the EdTech Evidence Exchange and a research associate professor at the University of Virginia Curry School of Education and Human Development, says the effort is more important now than ever. “The impact of COVID-19 on schools has made the work of the EdTech Genome Project more critical,” he says. “This fall, even if schools completely reopen and stay open, and all students and teachers return, it will likely be impossible for educators to teach an entire year’s worth of new material while simultaneously catching up huge numbers of students who will have gone six months without a single lesson.”

Epstein says the effective use of education technology represents one of the few possibilities for saving these kids from being permanently left behind. “Until we know what works, where and why, we won’t be able to realize that potential,” he says. “Once the education sector has coalesced around the framework being created by the EdTech Genome Project, we can use it to collect data from tens of thousands of educators around the country and finally begin to learn from each other at scale.”

Valerie Truesdale, assistant executive director for The School Superintendents Association, says the project’s ultimate goal is to create a toolkit for educators. “For some systems, it can come down to, ‘I want to buy this package because I like the salesperson,’” she says. “Educators, instructional material software companies, publishers, hardware manufacturers and resellers would benefit from access to better understanding of what educational technology, systems combinations and implementation plans work, where they work and why they work.”

For this year, project staff hope to make headway on establishing a list of variables — from cost and how long the technology takes to learn to how well it aligns with curricular standards and teachers’ attitudes toward tech in the classroom — that might influence a successful ed tech experience.

“The bottom line is finding what is helping students learn,” Truesdale says. “How do you know this or that instructional material is going to work? There is really no guidebook. Whether a small or large district, there is no guidebook and it is an expensive undertaking to figure it out.”

Tom Kane, Walter H. Gale professor of education and economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an advisory board member, says he believes the project can help identify the classroom-level factors that determine whether or not teachers even use products.

“Once we know there is a tool districts could use to decide if a particular product is a good match for their classroom teachers, procedures and instructional style, that is useful for future research,” he says. “The tangible result I hope to see is a survey tool that software providers and school districts can use for identifying which products will be well matched to which district and schools.”

With support from a mix of philanthropies including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Strada Education Network and Carnegie Corporation of New York, the project’s 30-member steering committee and staff can “tackle the field’s most pressing collective action problem,” says Epstein.

Truesdale says she’s excited to see if they can pull off the “mammoth” project, with its many complexities. “It is not a simple matter of drawing a road map and saying, ‘Follow this,’” she says. “It is really nuanced, so I think it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.”

Says Kane, “Whether it becomes the industry standard or not will be up to how easy they can make this to use and how it is administered,” he says. “I think the goal is to not just generate a measure, but a measure widely used.”

Disclosure: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Carnegie Corporation of New York provide financial support to the EdTech Genome Project and The 74.

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

As the ed tech industry continues to expand, breaking into the game means facing stiffer competition from companies keen on occupying the same space. But as teaching, student learning, and the delivery of educational content continue to evolve, there has never been a greater opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the students.

Few arenas spotlight, critique, or celebrate the newest ed tech efforts quite like the South by Southwest Education Conference & Festival. At the center of it all: the live, rapid-fire Launch Competition, which gives new ed tech innovators a stage, and platform, to make their best pitch.

(More at The 74: The 17 Must-See Panels at 2017 SXSWedu)

Just getting to Austin, Texas, for the sixth annual competition, which runs through Thursday, was a challenging process for the 10 finalists — startups that focus on everything from teaching literacy to autistic students to crafting virtual reality educational content. Now, they have an entirely new challenge ahead of them as they seek much-needed exposure that could win them feedback, investments, and partnerships.

The 10 startups will compete in an initial lightning round, making a pitch in front of a panel of eight judges. The top three finalists will earn a callback to vie for the title of 2017 Launch Competition winner.

Here are the 10 companies set to take the stage at this year’s SXSWedu Launch Competition:

Adjunct Professor Link, Valparaiso, Ind.

Institutions of higher education need qualified experts to fill voids in multiple departments. Adjunct Professor Link aims to connect colleges with the right educators to serve as adjunct faculty. The startup provides a “digital tool for institutions to manage their adjunct faculty recruiting and performance data.” Plus, the company gives adjunct faculty a source for instructional resources.

ALEX, Anyone’s Learning Experience, Washington Township, N.J.

Online sites connect budget-conscious travelers with empty hotel beds every day. ALEX does the same in the higher-education world, providing an online marketplace where individuals can take single in-person courses at universities and vocational programs. The service connects working learners with skills and classes that can help with career advancement without massive financial or time commitments.

ASD Reading, Las Vegas

ASD Reading puts a focus on children with autism spectrum disorder. Using what the company calls “innovative content and methods,” ASD Reading says it represents a “game-changer in the field of ASD literacy and language development,” enabling even children who are nonverbal to achieve success in reading and writing with comprehension.

Cell-Ed, Palo Alto

In an on-the-go world, free time can sometimes be found only in snippets before the next task surfaces. Cell-Ed redeems those chunks of time at three minutes a pop. The tech company teaches skills — from language and literacy to job training—in three-minute lessons via audio and two-way texting on any cell phone, tablet, or computer.

LlamaZoo, Victoria, British Columbia

LlamaZOO’s platform merges highly interactive educational 3-D with augmented and virtual reality to create a more digitized and engaging student-educator experience, with such applications as adaptive quizzing and spaced repetition. The company hopes to broaden the reach of educators, in turn empowering the next generation of students.

Quizling — The Knowledge Game!, Canberra, Australia

Learn about your community in the classroom! Quizling seeks to connect curious students with the world by working with world-class galleries, libraries, and organizations to build a platform that teaches kids through content, game play, and a “fun quiz platform.”

Sown to Grow, Oakland

A growth mindset teaches students that they can learn, improve their situation, and ultimately succeed. Sown to Grow believes it can teach this mindset through its goal-setting and reflection platform, which enables students to create goals, enter their performance results to track progress, and then write reflections on their goal — all with the aim of continuous improvement.

TeachersConnect, Boston, Mass.

TeachersConnect wants to help educators stay connected to one another to help prep content, understand new regulatory requirements, or make evidence-based changes to their curricula. Started by a successful writing teacher, TeachersConnect aims to build a set of resource tools accessible by all teachers.

The Graide Network, Chicago, Ill.

Feedback is a key motivator for student success, according to The Graide Network, whose online platform connects K-12 teachers with on-demand assistants to grade and provide feedback on student work. These graduate and undergraduate aspiring educators (i.e., students) provide teachers with the capacity to provide far more feedback for their classes.

The Whether, by Better Weekdays, St. Louis, Mo.

Matching college graduates with their best-fit employer has long been a tricky proposition. But The Whether, powered by Better Weekdays, wants to get students started on their career journey — and let educators facilitate the process — through its app’s job-matching technology and personalized user experience. Keeping relevant internships and jobs on a student’s radar creates the “ideal conditions for students to interact with career services and brands in a whole new way,” according to the company.

Ray Cortines watches as the ITI Task Force discusses issues.

When 50,000 iPads, laptops and Chromebooks went out to LA Unified students last year, about 1,500 were unaccounted for.

So far this year about 1,000 were recovered and district computer techs now say they expect to recover the remaining 500 devices by sometime next week.

“We’ve been like Sherlock Holmes,” said Bill Wherritt, a Facilities Division official on the Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force who is overseeing the device deployment to the schools. “We can see them online and can deactivate them.”

By the end of next week, he explained, the missing computers will generate a message reading: “Go to see the principal if you want to reactivate your device.” Wherritt said he is confident the district will retrieve them all.

He admitted there was not good inventory taking last year and “a few things could be done better” to account for the distribution of the computer devices given out to the students and teachers. “We have learned, and we don’t want to recreate this situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wherritt said the district is “in the heat of distributing devices” to 103 pilot schools on schedule to get a device for every student. He said that at the beginning of the year 24 schools had their plans completed and approved to get their devices, and now that number is nearly double, at 47. He said 18 other schools have plans submitted and waiting for approval, and 23 other schools that have been approvaled are awaiting their devices.

It’s a complicated process to get the expected 70,000 computers out this year, but it’s a good sign that 88 of the schools are very close to getting them, Wherritt said.

Already, 11 schools have started the two-to-three days of training and distribution to the students, while 44 other schools will have computers distributed to each student in the next two weeks, Wherritt said. Some delays arise because principals have to be digitally certified, the entire school has to go through digital citizenship training, contracts with every student and parent have to be signed and all the forms have to be in before the devices get handed out.

Bill Wherritt

The tech services teams are aware of issues that occur when a school’s network gets a high traffic volume, especially when they are all downloading applications at the same time and when the wireless system goes down. Sophia Mendoza, the interim director of the Instructional Technology Initiative at LAUSD, said about 80 schools have requested support, and that shows widespread enthusiasm among the principals.

“We have some big, big changes going on with schools in the district,” Mendoza said. Some schools are collaborating with neighboring schools to get their devices faster. Also, Mendoza said the district is accelerating the process for schools to use the iPads at schools that students are already using for state tests.

Schools have to answer two questions to use their devices in the schools, Mendoza said. One is how the school will use the tech tools, and a second asks about the school’s vision for use of the devices.

Linda Del Cueto, chief of Professional Learning and Leadership Development, told the parents, teachers, principals and community experts on the task force that she has compiled some feedback from teachers and students so far about the math books. The schools are working with five publishers who all have online computer components to their materials.

“Teachers want more PD (professional development), and that is a good thing,” Del Cueto said. “And students and teachers both love not having to drag around their textbooks.”

The task force meetings are open to the public, and led by Local District East superintendent Frances Gipson. She outlined a loose agenda for the task force to present district-wide tech proposals to the School Board for approval by May.

The next ITI Task Force meeting is planned for Oct. 8 at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex.

“It’s time for me to retire,” Price remembered saying. “I can’t handle this. I’m not technical at all.”

That was a year ago. Now, the 71-year-old teacher is a champion of computers in the classroom. And, she’s the star of a video that’s becoming an inspiration for LAUSD teachers — or all teachers — who may be skeptical about using technology in teaching. In fact, Superintendent Ramon Cortines used her as an example at a recent Technology Initiative Task Force meeting.

“There’s a teacher at Galt, I don’t want to embarrass her, but she’s a member of AARP and she was ready to retire and fearful of technology,” Cortines said. “Now she is one of the biggest proponents of technology that we have.”

Price is surprised at all the attention. She said, “It makes me feel good to get a pat on the back at this point in my career.”

With 500 students, pre-kindergarten to fifth grades, and 25 teachers, Galt is one of the eight tech model schools that the district hopes to replicate throughout LAUSD.

The students are each assigned an iPad-like device called a Nearpod, a mobile device with more interactive features. Principal Bill Albion heard some grumbling at first about the devices coming to his school, and he was concerned, too.

“I was worried that it was one more thing that may add to the frustration of the kids about something they would have trouble working with,” said the principal, who began teaching in the 1970s and saw right away disparities in school communities. “The iPads got such bad press, so people were against it, but now we are cheerleaders, and we are a model school of technology.”

Price credits her success with the district’s Instructional Technology Facilitator, Kevin Schulte, assigned to the school. Usually a consultant from the tech team is responsible for three to five schools to help with the implementation of technology. He said that Galt scored high as far as the quick acceptance of the devices among the teachers, parents and students. About 30 more schools at LAUSD will get devices for every student this year.

Consultant Kevin Schulte, principal Bill Albion and teacher Jan Price

“Veteran teachers become more proactive when they can visualize what can be done in the classroom,” said Schulte, who previously taught middle school math. Schulte said the district has gotten better in training teachers who are assigned the devices.

Now, when Price can’t figure something out, she texts a question to Schulte, and he helps her.

It’s not uncommon for teachers to retire earlier than planned in fear of technology coming to the classroom. The district is celebrating Price as an example for those who may have the same kind of anxiety.

“I think when people see that I can do it, then anyone can,” she said. “I did not know what I am doing, and now I am discovering new ways to teach.”

She said it took two months of training before she felt confident to handle the devices on her own. But now she can train her students and share their work with classmates during the 40 minutes or so each day they are using the devices. Price began teaching when she was 21, took some time off, and now has been teaching for 23 years.

“Now my students are teaching me a few things,” she said. “And I have become a bit more experimental with my own use of technology. I have found new apps for my phone!”

She still lectures the traditional way but notices that the devices can capture her class’s attention well. Already a few weeks into the school year her kindergartners are reading and taking quizzes.

And as far as retirement?

“Oh, I’ve out that on hold indefintely,” Price said. “I love teaching now, I love it.”

Wrong, wrong, and well, sorta wrong.

That’s the word that LAUSD wants to get out. The computer technology program at LAUSD gets a bad rap. Of course, the botched $1.3 billion iPad implementation and all the bad publicity that came from that could have contributed to the reputation. But, now they’re out to change the image.

First thing’s first. The Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force had to learn the myths from reality before starting to figure how to best add devices into the classroom instruction. More than half of the 50 members raised hands, saying they didn’t know information on a fact sheet handed out by Sophia Mendoza, the interim director of the Instructional Technology Initiative at LAUSD.

“We want to answer all your questions,and get you the answers,” Mendoza said at the group’s first meeting on Sept. 10.

As the district plans to expand computer devices to every school, the task force wants the public to know that it’s not just concentrating on the test schools that have one device per student, the so-called “one-to-one” schools. The district trains teachers, students and on the proper use of the devices being sent home with students

Here are excerpts of the “myths,” according to the district — and reality.

MYTH: There has been widespread student “hacking” of tablets, security breaches and wireless failures.

FACTS: That’s true in the only a literal sense. At the start of the iPad program, as The Los Angeles Times reported, about 300 students at Roosevelt High School figured out how to surf the web by deleting their school profile. The district tech teams were able to figure out a fix.

In its defense, the district pointed out that “less than 1 percent of the 31,000 students involved in Phase 1 (of the device implementation plan).” But no student has hacked into any device; no serious security compromises have occurred, and no wireless systems have failed.

MYTH: This is an Apple iPad program

FACTS: That’s how it started. But one superintendent resignation and FBI investigation later . . .

Now, the program does not center on any particular type of device or brand name. In fact, current phases involve use of Google Chrome Books and Windows laptops in addition to the Apple iPads (of approximately 70,000 devices deployed to one-to-one schools thus far, about one-third are non-Apple devices).

MYTH: There is no district-wide policy stating who is responsible if a tablet is lost or stolen.

FACTS: California law holds families responsible for loss or damage to school property; LAUSD will only enforce this in cases of willful negligence.

Accidents will happen, and the district says it has safeguards to ensure that students can continue to learn without disruption when they occur.

Frances Gipson takes over at ITI Task Force

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines delivered a “jump start” to the newly-reformed Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force at its first meeting of the school year yesterday. He addressed such concerns as an already-aging supply of computers, a change in task force leadership and his renewed effort to get a device in the hands of every student in the district.

Made up of 50 committee members, the ITI Task Force is charged with devising a district-wide technology strategy for improving the use of computers in classroom instructions. Almost immediately, it appeared that word wasn’t getting out very well.

When Linda Del Cueto, chief of Professional Learning and Leadership Development, said all teachers now have access to the two carts of computer devices in their schools that were assigned last year for state testing, two principals on the task force said they knew nothing about that possibility. Another principal said she knew about it, but her teachers had not yet taken advantage of the offer.

“We obviously need to get the word out a bit better,” Del Cueto said.

About 75 people attended the meeting at the Miguel Contreras Learning Center. The audience included parents, school administrators, tech company representatives and resource experts from the Cotsen Foundation, Education Elements and others (including a former consultant from the Broad Foundation). There is also a former student member of the task force from last year who is doing a thesis paper on the task force for Indiana University.

“This is a large, large project,” Cortines told the gathering. “I needed to jump-start this important movement. It is an important time for us.”

So important that he explained why he replaced the chairperson he had named in April, Judy Burton, when the task force was created. “She had not made the progress I had hoped,” he said. “We needed to move on.” The district has previously said Burton had stepped down for “personal reasons.”

In her place, Cortines last week appointed new Local District East superintendent Frances Gipson, who said she said she looks forward to developing a technology plan that school board would approve.

Cortines pointed out that the task force should not be worried about developing a funding stream; that, he said, is the board’s problem. “It will be no different than how we fund text books,” he said. “I see this as a five-year program where devices must be accessible to all students, and we have to work out a funding stream as well as a repair and replacement program.”

Cortines added, “We face an ominous situation because of the age of the devices we already have. There is an appalling number of devices in offices that are over five to 10 years-plus old, and that has to be addressed. This is not something the task force addresses, but something that this task force has to ask the board to address.”

Bill Wherritt, a Facilities Division official on the task force who is overseeing the device deployment to the schools, said he is getting computer devices to 30 schools this year alone. He pointed out that there are 70,000 devices in the district approved by the board, but schools have purchased another 160,000 devices on their own.

“There is a passionate group of teachers using them,” he said. “It is amazing what is happening in the schools.”

The task force plans to meet again on Sept. 24 and every other Thursday after that through the Spring at Contreras.

L.A. Unified Fight Focuses on Breakfast Program
Los Angeles Unified will eliminate a classroom breakfast program serving nearly 200,000 children, reject more school police, cut administrators and scale back new construction projects unless the school board votes to approve them, according to Supt. John Deasy. LA Times
See also: LA School Report, Sac Bee, LA Daily News, KPCC

‘Super PACs’ Negate Spending Limits in L.A. Mayor’s Race
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Eric Garcetti for Mayor
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L.A. Schools Finish One-Two in National Academic Decathlon
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See also: Sac Bee

iPads in School: a Toy or a Tool?
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Gov. Brown As Robin Hood
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Want to Build a Better Teacher Evaluation? Ask a Teacher
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School Health Centers Are Not Just for Students
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California Legislature Ignoring Teacher Pension Gap
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Downey Teacher, Arrested for Allegedly Molesting 3 Girls, Out on Bail
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California Gets Mediocre Grade for Preschool Access and Quality
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Decrease in Pink Slips Thanks to Prop 30
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Senate Counters Governor’s Funding Plan for Disadvantaged Students
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See also: LA Times, EdSource, SI&A Cabinet Report

Endorsement: Monica Ratliff in L.A. Unified District 6
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LAUSD Reassigns Valley Superintendent, 3 Other Administrators
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See also: LA Times, CBS LA

Giving Every Kid in L.A. a Computer Tablet? Pros and Cons
My wife and I have tried, with mixed results, to keep our daughter from becoming too obsessed with digital electronics. And yet her school district, L.A. Unified, has a plan to give every child in every school a digital tablet. LA Times Column (Steve Lopez)

A Dangerous Game for UTLA
Superintendent John Deasy’s popularity and direct approach have been seen by United Teachers Los Angeles as immensely threatening. The union plays an outsized role in Los Angeles, in large part because we are one of the last large cities in which the superintendent reports to an elected school board, not the mayor. LA Times Op-Ed (Jamie Alter Lynton)

Alice Waters, School Officials Talk Teaching With Food
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Democrats Are Inviting Trouble Over Education Reform
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Private Groups Balk at Running LAUSD Science Center in San Pedro
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Locke High School Joins List of South LA Schools With On-Campus Health Centers
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Sal Castro Recalled As Inspiring Teacher
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Eric Garcetti Avoids Schoolyard Tussle With Wendy Greuel
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See also: LA School Report, Annenberg News, LA Times

LAUSD Superintendent Fires Lemon Teachers
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Education Coalition Wants to Stay Course in L.A. Unified
A coalition of groups, including the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, has launched an effort to put education at the center of the mayoral race and civic attention. LA Times
See also: LA School Report

Operation Back in School Sweeps up Truant Kids
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Parents Choose Unique School Takeover Model in ‘Trigger’ Vote
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See also: LA Times, LA School Report

Garcetti and Greuel Trade Barbs on Union Support on Eve of Debate
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Gates’ Warning on Test Scores
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Here’s Why Students in Los Angeles Aren’t Going to College
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Qualified Math Teachers Elusive for Struggling Students, Studies Find
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When a Teacher Is 2 Feet Tall
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Alemany Enjoys Unified State at Championship Assembly
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Bullies Shoot 8th Grade Student With BB Gun in Class, Victim Says
LA school district police plan to investigate a shooting incident at a Carson middle school where a BB gun injured a 13-year-old student. NBC LA

Obama Budget Would Allocate $75 Billion Over Next Decade to Preschool
In an ambitious and highly anticipated budget plan, President Barack Obama called Wednesday for allocating $75 billion over the next 10 years to expand public preschool by raising the federal tax on tobacco products. EdSource

Wendy Greuel Re-Starts Campaign With Aggressive Tone
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LAUSD Adds 400 Security Aides at Elementary Schools
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See also: CBS LA

NRA Report Sees Guns as Path to Safety in Schools
A National Rifle Association task force released a 225-page report on Tuesday that called for armed police officers, security guards or staff members in every American school, and urged states to loosen gun restrictions to allow trained teachers and administrators to carry weapons. NY Times
See also: LA Times, KPCC

Southland School District Latest to Buy iPads for Every Student
Coachella Valley Unified got the green light Tuesday from the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to spend bond money to put an iPad in every student’s hand and a Macbook in every teacher’s lap. KPCC

Aspire and State Board Give Up Fight Over Controversial Charters
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Let’s Stop Cheating Our Kids With High-Stakes Testing
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Wrestling Down Stereotypes
The wrestlers on the Panorama High girls’ team have broken into a male-dominated sport that doesn’t fully welcome them. They’re breaking up old notions of femininity — in their school, and in their families. LA Times

Do Charter Schools Serve Special-Needs Students?
Policymakers rightly want to know whether charter schools serve their fair share of students with disabilities. The fairest answer may surprise some people, however. In some cases, charter schools serve the same number of special-needs students as their regular public school peers; in others, as many have charged, charters serve fewer of these students. EdWeek Commentary

Listen: Ability Grouping and Tracking Make a Return to U.S. Schools
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Workshop to Help Undocumented Students Stay in U.S. to Be Held at Cleveland High
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Advocates Launch State Push for Obama’s Early Education Plan
A campaign to support President Barack Obama’s universal preschool initiative was launched in Sacramento on Tuesday by early childhood education advocates, a coalition of superintendents from around the state and Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. EdSource

Senator Proposes Pushing Back Teacher Layoff Deadlines
Huff said that moving the March 15th deadline for preliminary notices and May 15 deadline for final notices would save school districts millions. SacBee

Steve Barr’s Quest to Save a New Orleans High School (and Create Pilots in Los Angeles)
Barr is working in a behind-the-scenes manner in Los Angeles (not his usual modus operandi) to get approval for “pilot schools” that he supports in the district. EdWeek

What Makes a Good L.A. Mayor
Being a good politician is essential for winning a mayoral election. But the qualities that make a good politician are not necessarily those that make a good mayor. LA Times Editorial

Black Students’ Learning Gaps Start Early, Report Says
African-American public school students in Los Angeles County demonstrate significant learning gaps by second grade; those gaps widen with age and lead to the highest school dropout rate among all races, according to a report released Monday. LA Times

A Push Toward More Computer Science Education
The first step in solving a problem is to recognize it needs to be solved. Today only 2% of students study computer programming. If we triple that to 6%, we’d close the gap between students and jobs, driving $500 billion in economic value to our country. This is a giant opportunity, impacting every industry (70% of these jobs are outside the tech sector). USA Today Column

High School Graduation Rate up Sharply, but Red Flags Abound
For the first time in decades, the United States is making steady gains in the number of high school students earning diplomas, putting it on pace to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020, according to a new analysis released Monday.  But the good news comes with a big asterisk. Reuters

Rebranding Public Schools as New Charter Schools
Charter schools are a silver bullet for urban education. But not for any of the reasons you might think. EdWeek Commentary

Pediatricians Oppose School Suspension, Expulsion
A group representing pediatricians says disciplining students with out-of-school suspension or expulsion is counterproductive to school goals and should only be used on case by case basis. LA Daily News

Glendale Schools Increasing Security
After several recent incidents, the school board moves to equip all schools with security cameras and panic buttons, among other measures. LA Times

L.A. Schools Need Technology, but Can We Afford It?
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles School Board will consider a Common Core Technology Project Plan. If approved, the plan would initially fund computing devices for 30,000 students at 47 schools for $50 million, beginning in 2013. LA Daily News Op-Ed by LAUSD Board Member Tamar Galatzan

Districts to Seek NCLB Waiver Whether or Not They’re Invited
Rather than taking a position on the legality of district waivers, Duncan said his biggest concern is capacity. With 15,000 school districts that could potentially apply, it would be unmanageable. EdSource

LAUSD Petitions for Sweeping Relief From Class Size Requirements
The Los Angeles Unified School District is set to bring applications forward next month seeking relief for 78 school sites from class-size restrictions required under a special state funding program. SI&A Cabinet Report

Granada Hills Charter Wins LAUSD’s Academic Decathlon
Granada Hills Charter High clinched the top spot in Los Angeles Unified’s Academic Decathlon for the third straight year, raising hopes for a three-peat by the school at this year’s state and national contests. LA Daily News
See also: LA Times

L.A. Teachers Union Wins Grant for School-Reform Model
The union representing Los Angeles teachers has won a grant to help instructors play a prominent leadership role in their schools. LA Times
See also: LA School Report, LA Daily News

We Can Do More to Protect Children
Too often, the needs of adults and institutions come before those of youngsters they are supposed to safeguard. That could change if we all took it more personally. LA Times Opinion

Valentine’s Day Lesson Plans Aren’t Just for Teachers
The Texas-based teacher social network We Are Teachers has some Valentine’s Day classroom lesson plans that aren’t just for teachers. KPCC

Teachers Press Obama to Keep Promises as Spending Cuts Loom
The largest teachers union in the United States is telling President Barack Obama not to back down from promises he made in his January inauguration speech as the country prepares to begin a decade of billions of dollars in federal spending cuts. Reuters

Brown’s School Finance Reform Has the Right Intent but Major Flaws
Fresh on the heels of having saved – at least for now – California’s public education system through passage of his Proposition 30, Governor Jerry Brown is rededicating himself to the task of tearing down and redesigning the twisted maze that currently serves as the K-12 funding system. EdSource Opinion

Blended learning combines direct (face to face) instruction with computerized and online instructional software.  The approach has many variations and has not yet been proven to be effective but is increasingly popular.  Other schools, including an LA campus of the KIPP charter school network, have also embraced blended learning.  (See EdWeek article here).

However, a much-discussed Northern California charter school network called Rocketship recently announced that it was shifting its blended learning model away from standalone computer labs supervised by non-teachers in favor of bringing online learning into the classroom.  (See This Week In Education: Blended Learning Network Changing Its Model).

As a recent UTLA newletter reveals, concerns about how the money will be spent are one of the reasons that the union is so focused on the outcome of the March 5 election. In the newsletter, UTLA President Warren Fletcher notes that the union’s ability to achieve its budget goals “will be immeasurably helped or hindered depending on the outcome of the March 5 School Board election.”

When it passed in November, Prop. 30 was lauded by just about everyone as a victory for education. For the first time in years, Prop. 30 offered financial relief for LAUSD’s cash-strapped schools, which have weathered a budget crisis, teacher layoffs, and dismally low per-pupil funding. In 2012, LAUSD’s per-pupil funding was $5,221, and California’s per-pupil spending ranked 47th out of 50 states.

And, at least initially, UTLA and the Board were in agreement. Once Prop. 30 passed, the Board immediately moved to restore the full, 180-day academic year and rescinded past teacher furloughs.

But the promise of this much-needed money now has LAUSD and UTLA preparing for a battle over how it will be spent, a process that begins now and happens for real next year.

The teachers union has proclaimed three main spending priorities for Prop. 30 revenue: It wants to protect and restore teacher jobs, to lower class sizes (which will also protect teacher jobs threatened by declining student enrollment in district schools), and to implement pay raises.

In the newsletter, Fletcher highlights the differences between what the union wants and what the district prioritizes. “[In the past,] Board members could always claim that budgetary necessity was driving their decisions,” writes Fletcher. “Now that Prop. 30 is the law, they no longer have that excuse.”

LAUSD teachers have experienced four years of furloughs, and there has been a six-year freeze on pay raises in the district.

However, the district, along with at least a part of the Board, is looking to spend Prop. 30 funds more directly on students, including by bringing more technology into classrooms.

The rift between UTLA and LAUSD on technology is nothing new (see: Union Head Opposes Tablet Initiative), and there have already been tense debates among Board members over Deasy’s push to give each LAUSD student a tablet computer (see: Technology or Salaries?). In a January interview with CBS LA, Deasy said preventing teacher layoffs was a possibility next year, but far from a certainty.

However, few of these decisions will be made before the Board election on March 5th. It will be a new Board — possibly with new members — that sifts through the different claims and priorities and determines how Prop. 30 funds are used.

LAUSD to Compete With Charters to Run ‘Parent Trigger’ School
The parents at 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles Unified will have plenty of choices for an operator to take over their school under the “parent trigger” process they initiated this month. One of the contenders will be the district itself. EdSource
See also: LA Weekly, KPCC

Former State Senator Martha Escutia Calls for LAUSD Probe
In the wake of yet another sex abuse arrest in the Los Angeles Unified School District, former state Sen. Martha Escutia came to a Wilmington elementary school Monday to call for an LAUSD investigation into what she believes is a pattern of such abuse against Latino youth by teachers in low-income areas. LA Daily News
See also: LA Times

Second Parent Says Principal Ignored Concerns About Accused Teacher
Maria Zacapa, whose child is now in the eighth grade, said her son told her four years ago that Robert Pimental had touched a girl in his fourth-grade class in a way that made Zacapa’s son feel uncomfortable. LA Times

Crenshaw High Group Opposes Reform Plan and School Closings
Parents, students and teachers rallied Monday in front of Crenshaw High School to protest a plan to restructure the low-performing campus and require teachers to reapply for their jobs. LA Times

Linked Learning Comes of Age in California With New Pilot Programs
The California Department of Education has selected 63 districts and county offices of education – many of them working together in consortia – to pilot “linked learning” programs in their high schools beginning next fall. EdSource

Remembering the “One Laptop” Debacle
Need any reminders of what an edtech bubble looks like — the hype, exaggerated promises, enormous influxes of cash and media attention and wastes of time — then refresh your recollection of the 2005 One Laptop Per Child phenomenon in which Nicholas Negroponte said he was going to transform the world by giving poor kids low-income laptops. This Week in Education

Legislation Would Put Enforcement Teeth Into School Safety Plan Requirement
As a national debate continues to simmer over the best methods for protecting students from gun violence, a state senator from Southern California points out that a large number of school districts are failing to develop or update school safety plans – as required by law. SI&A Cabinet Report

Ed. Dept. Raises Evidence, Research Ante in Grant Awards
The U.S. Department of Education is taking the next formal step to make research and evidence far more important factors as it awards competitive grants. EdWeek

Plan to Supply LAUSD Students With Tablet Computers Wins Key Vote
Los Angeles Unified students may be closer to stepping into classrooms of the future where much of the world’s knowledge is right at their fingertips. LA Daily News

Listen: Is the ‘Parent Trigger’ Finally Being Given a Chance?
For the first time since the era of school reform began, the Los Angeles Unified School District has accepted a petition from angry parents demanding “immediate and significant” change in a public school. KCRW

LAUSD Board Candidate Iris Zuniga Drops out of Race for Nury Martinez Seat
Iris Zuniga, one of five candidates to succeed LAUSD board member Nury Martinez in the East San Fernando Valley, announced Wednesday she has dropped out of the Distrct 6 race. LA Daily News
See also: LA Times, LA School Report

ACLU: State, School Districts Failing English Learners
More than 20,000 students whose first language isn’t English are not getting proper instruction according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which threatened California education officials with a lawsuit Wednesday. KPCC

The Feds’ Education Power Grab
It’s time to have a conversation about the issue before we find that the executive branch, or even the entire federal government, has become our national school board. LA Times Op-Ed

State Department of Ed Names Model Schools for At-Risk Students
The model schools program is designed to identify the top quality schools and encourage teachers and administrators at other continuation high schools to contact and visit them and apply those practices on their own campuses. EdSource

LAUSD OK’s English-Hebrew Charter School
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has given a green light to a proposal for a dual-language charter elementary school to be located in Van Nuys offering classes in English and Hebrew. Jewish Journal

State’s D in Teacher Prep Nearly Average
California received an overall grade of D on the 2012 State Teacher Policy Yearbook released by the National Council on Teacher Quality.  No, that’s not great, but it may be easier to bear knowing that the national average was a whopping D+. EdSource

LA School PD Has ‘No Plans’ to Keep High-Powered Weapons on LAUSD Campuses
The Los Angeles School Police Department has no plans to keep high-powered weapons on campuses despite the Fontana Unified School District’s decision to purchase 14 AR-15 assault rifles to protect its students. CBS LA

Charter Schools See Largest Boom Since Their Inception 20 Years Ago
Charter schools across the United States are proliferating and expanding at a record pace, with the trend particularly pronounced in California and Los Angeles County. LA Daily News

California Schools Asked to Put Moratorium on Controversial Bonds
State’s treasurer and schools chief ask districts to avoid capital appreciation bonds until governor and lawmakers can weigh proposals to restrict their use. LA Times

L.A. County’s Teen Court Aims to Put Kids Back on Right Path
Van Nuys High hosts one of 18 Teen Court programs operating in Los Angeles County, where students hear the cases of first-time juvenile offenders accused of nonviolent misdemeanors like petty theft, tagging and drug possession. LA Daily News

Green Dot Charter Group to Reorganize Locke High
In a move to address the slumping academic performance of incoming ninth-grade students, charter school operator Green Dot Public School is proposing to reorganize Locke High School in Watts. LA Times
See also: LA School Report

Older School Systems Will Support New Computer-Adaptive Testing
There has been growing concern among officials in California – as well as other cash-strapped states – that the existing array of computers being used in districts may not have the hardware or operating systems to properly administer sophisticated tests. SI&A Cabinet Report

Legislative Leaders Assert Role in Shaping School Finance Plan
Gov. Jerry Brown hasn’t yet presented the substance of his plan to reform K-12 school finance, but already he’s in a disagreement with the Legislature over its form. EdSource

Crush of Education Laws Await Renewal in Congress
The new, still-divided Congress that took office this month faces a lengthy list of education policy legislation that is either overdue for renewal or will be soon, in a political landscape that remains consumed with fiscal issues. EdWeek

Districts Face Questions in Spending Long-Term Bonds for Short-Lived Technology
Last month, the Bond Oversight Committee for  Los Angeles Unified balked at endorsing Superintendent John Deasy’s plan to buy tablet computers with bonds intended primarily for building and renovating schools. In doing so, the Committee raised questions that other school districts also should be asking. EdSource

South Bay Lawmaker Proposes Penalties for Schools Without Emergency Plans
Prompted by last week’s horrific school shooting in Connecticut, a South Bay lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would impose penalties on California schools that fail to create or keep current an emergency response plan. Daily Breeze

Foshay Learning Center Basketball Team Gets New Uniforms, Shoes
Team sports usually require team uniforms. But for years, that hasn’t been the case for the basketball team at James A. Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles. Generous donations are outfitting the players to look more like a team. ABC LA

No Charges to Be Filed in Alleged Facebook School Threats
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined Monday to file charges against a 24-year-old Pomona man who was arrested after allegedly posting threats on Facebook about killing elementary school students. LA Times

LAUSD Board Confirms Its Union-Occupied Status
When I heard that the Los Angeles Unified school board had passed a resolution barring its superintendent from seeking grants without board approval, I was 10,000 percent certain it was because John Deasy had sought funding that had strings attached related to teacher performance. Cal Watchdog (Opinion)

Southland Schools Come up Empty in Contest for Federal Grants
No district or organization in the region qualified for Race to the Top money. Green Dot Public Schools could have received $30 million but fell short. LA Times

LAUSD Board Narrowly OKs New Parent Policy at Low-Income Schools
A long-simmering controversy about which parents can have a voice at Los Angeles Unified’s low-income schools erupted Tuesday, with boisterous critics accusing a district administrator of bullying and discriminatory tactics. LA Daily News

L.A. School Menus to Keep Aiming High in Childhood Obesity Fight
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education approved a resolution to continue monitoring and improving its nationally recognized food and nutrition policy. Marina del Rey Patch

Parents to Hear About Future of Crenshaw High School
Crenshaw High School may soon go the way of Dorsey, Manual Arts and Westchester high schools; it could face a district takeover as early as next year. KPCC

November Success Prompts Bill for 2014 State Bond for School Facilities
Buoyed by voter support last month for two measures benefitting public education, a key lawmaker introduced legislation late last week that would place a statewide school facilities bond measure on the ballot in 2014. S&A Cabinet Report

Three California Districts Win in Federal Race to the Top Competition
Three California school districts are among 16 winners in the latest round of the federal Race to the Top funding competition. The relatively small districts beat out several of the state’s largest districts, which didn’t even make it into the final round. EdSource

Portrait In Numbers Of LAUSD’s Decline In Arts Education
In the last three years, Los Angeles Unified has had to cut nearly $1.5 billion from its annual operating budget, which is now roughly $6 billion. “Arts education is one of the most impacted components of LAUSD instruction as a result,” according to the district. KPCC

Teacher evaluation resolution pulled from LAUSD agenda
School board member Steve Zimmer has pulled his controversial resolution on teacher evaluations from Tuesday’s board agenda because of concerns it could interfere with sensitive negotiations between the district and its teachers’ union. Daily News

Schools Urged To Use Up Technology Vouchers
About $66 million, including $10 million for LAUSD, remains from a state antitrust settlement with Microsoft, and officials want districts to use the vouchers before they expire during 2013. LA Times

LAUSD Moves Up Deadline For Magnet Schools
Applications for Los Angeles Unified’s 172 magnet programs are due on Nov. 16 because of the academic year’s early start. LA Times

Porter Ranch Community School To Get Short-Term Street Parking Under City Compromise
Plans are being finalized to allow short-term street parking near the new Porter Ranch Community School, and new signs should be going up by mid-October along Mason Avenue, officials said. Daily News 

How Gloria Romero Became the Face of Proposition 32
With Election Day still one month away, the battle to pass Prop. 32 has seen its share of political shockers, including the sudden injection of $4 million of Koch brother money to the Yes on 32 campaign, along with millions more from Charles Munger Jr. But nothing has been more surprising than the decision of Romero, a former California State Senate Democratic majority leader, to serve as the measure’s frontwoman. Frying Pan News (blog)

You can read the Zimmer press release announcing the withdrawal here.