CTC to Survey New Teacher Prep Grads for Data on System Improvements
Concerned that too many of California’s teacher preparation programs don’t measure up to the state’s high standards, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing is set to undertake a data collection program aimed at pin-pointing strengths and weaknesses of specific institutions. SI&A Cabinet Report

California School Districts Send out Far Fewer Pink Slips
Thanks to a boost in money for public education, California school districts have issued just 3,000 pink slips to teachers this year, a dramatic drop from the 20,000 sent out last year, the California Teachers Assn. reported Monday. LA Times

School District Discriminated Against Gay Students, ACLU Alleges
In a letter from the ACLU, the Hesperia Unified School District is accused of discriminating against gay and lesbian students, including refusing to allow girls to wear tuxedos to the prom. LA Times
See also: AP

Lockyer Seeks Legal Opinion on School Construction Bond Campaigns
California Treasurer Bill Lockyer sought a legal opinion Monday to determine if some local education officials and the municipal finance firms they employ are violating state law by campaigning to get school construction bonds passed. LA Times

Highland Park School Wins $110K in National Educational Contest
A Highland Park high school is $110,000 richer after two students beat 1,600 other schools to win a national educational contest. CBS LA

Failure to Protect Kids Costs Millions
Los Angeles Unified School District, the state’s largest district and largest recipient of the Proposition 30 tax increases, figures to be writing a big check soon. Unfortunately, this check won’t be going to support math, reading or arts programs. OC Register Column by Gloria Romero

CDE, Torlakson Lead Effort to Forge Ahead on Common Core Despite Challenges
There’s no shortage of skeptics when it comes to the plan to begin testing students in the new common core curriculum standards beginning in the spring of 2015. SI&A Cabinet Report

Committee Wrestles With Incorporating Graduation Rate Into API
As part of a push to measure how well a school is educating its students based on more than just test scores, California for the first time is planning to factor graduation rates into the state’s main measure of a school’s academic achievement. EdSource

Police Union Backs Nury Martinez for LA City Council
The union that represents officers with the Los Angeles Police Department endorsed a school board member for an open L.A. City Council seat in the San Fernando Valley Monday. KPCC

Most State Board members Back Districts’ NCLB Waiver
A majority of State Board of Education members expressed strong support at their meeting Thursday for a consortium of districts’ unconventional request for a waiver from constraints of the federal No Child Left Behind law. EdSource

Aspire Surrenders Benefit Charter Status Under Settlement Terms
Aspire Charter Schools will surrender its statewide benefit charter status under terms of a settlement agreement reached today between the charter operator, the state board of education and the group of education advocates that brought the lawsuit. SI&A Cabinet Report

Teacher Evaluations: We’ve Got to Come up With a Better System
Two years ago we all jumped up and down against the emergence of Academic Growth Over Time (AGT), which is a prediction of student performance on the California Standards Test (CST).  Compared to raw test scores, AGT looks pretty good. TakePart Op-Ed

L.A. Chief John Deasy: Depoliticize Education Research
John Deasy, the superintendent of Los Angeles public schools, opened the annual meeting of the Association of Education Finance and Policy here today with a call for researchers to help school and district administrators making decisions in hot political environments. EdWeek

Have Charter Schools Grown Too Fast?
After two decades of offering educational choice to families, leaders of the charter-school movement in California are touting accomplishments but also calling for higher standards in light of some underperforming and mismanaged schools. San Diego Union Tribune

Stemming the Tide of English-Learner Dropouts
English-language learners are two times more likely to drop out of school than their peers who are either native English speakers or former ELLs who have become fluent in the language—a trend that, if unabated, will have far-reaching negative consequences, says a new report. EdWeek

Thousands in Los Angeles Marathon Will Test the Luck of the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day 
Ortega has been training for six months with Students Run L.A., an organization that challenges 1,300 youth within the Los Angeles Unified School district to finish the marathon. San Bernadino Sun

In Los Angeles, Focusing on Violence Before It Occurs
In the days after the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Tony Beliz and his staff at the county’s mental health department here made a series of calls. New York Times

Senate GOP Leader Wants to Reduce Pink Slips for Teachers
State Senate GOP leader Robert Huff of Diamond Bar says he has a way to reduce the annual practice of issuing preliminary pink slips to tens of thousands of California teachers who later are told they will not lose their jobs. LA Times

LAUSD Budget Forecast Is Getting Brighter
LA Unified’s Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee is convening Tuesday morning. The proposed agenda shows financial improvement at the district after five years of devastating cuts — due to a boost from Prop. 30 funds. KPCC

Power Shift on L.A. School Board
Election results for seats on the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District – the largest district in California and second-largest in the nation – will have far-reaching implications for the future of education reform in the Golden State. OC Register Column (Gloria Romero)

Divided Over L.A. Unified
One nasty election later, there is no sign that the divisiveness in the Los Angeles Unified School District will abate. If anything, it looks likely to increase, with activists in United Teachers Los Angeles announcing that teachers will vote on a passel of anti-reform positions. LA Times Editorial

Parent Group Receives Proposals to Remake Failing LAUSD Elementary
A group of Los Angeles parents who successfully invoked a state law to take over their failing school have received four proposals on how to remake the school, including one from the Los Angeles Unified School District. San Bernadino Sun

Academic Decathlon Students Get Ready for State Finals
While students on the region’s top Academic Decathlon teams are cramming, cramming, cramming for this weekend’s state championship, veterans of the brain-draining contest know that what the kids are learning extends far beyond the title match. LA Daily News

Savings From STAR Suspension Would Net About $15 Million
A plan to suspend some statewide testing in advance of transition to new assessments based on the common core standards would save the state about $15 million, according to an estimate released Monday by the California Department of Education. SI&A Cabinet Report

AFT’s Weingarten on Why She Got Arrested, ‘the Gall’ of Reformers
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was arrested last week in Philadelphia while protesting a hearing of the School Reform Commission that voted to close 23 public schools. WaPo

Schools Partnership Aimed at Helping Teachers
In another step toward implementing new education standards, California joined a multi-state partnership Monday with resources to help teachers. Monterey County Herald

The Wrong Fight Over Schools
Over the last century, American public education was built on an assumption that it would be apolitical. School districts would not be dragged into the mire of city elections. As last week’s election showed, that picture of leadership doesn’t apply to the Los Angeles Unified School District, and it hasn’t for at least 40 years. LA Times Op-Ed (Charles Taylor Kerchner)

Bill Returns Looking to Push Back the Teacher “Pink Slip” Date
The March 15 deadline for preliminary teacher layoff notices would be changed to June 1 in future years under a bill pending in the California legislature. SI&A Cabinet Report

Harbor City’s Narbonne High Overcomes Underdog Status to Excel in Academic Decathlon
At Narbonne, more than half of the students are poor enough to receive free or reduced-price lunches. Its test scores are mediocre, even when compared against schools with similar demographics. But its Academic Decathlon team has given the school cause to celebrate. Daily Breeze

Commission Calls for ‘Radically Different’ Tests
Emerging technology and research on learning have the potential to dramatically improve assessments, if educators and policymakers take a more balanced approach to using them. EdWeek

Head Start Cuts Could Mean 2,000 Fewer Seats in L.A. County
As they wait to see whether the cuts are allowed to go forward, educators worry that the ultimate effects could trickle down generations. LA Times

After 63 Years, Palisades High English Teacher Closes the Book
Rose Gilbert, who retired three weeks ago at 94, achieved celebrity status for being the oldest full-time teacher in the L.A. Unified School District. A drama classroom has been named in her honor. LA Times

LAUSD Cuts Ribbon on Linda Esperanza Marquez High School in Huntington Park
The new school is part of LAUSD’s $19.5 billion New School Construction and Modernization Program, which allows students to attend a safe and healthy neighborhood school. CBS LA

Parent-Trigger Bills Progress in States’ Legislatures
At least three states—Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma—advanced parent-trigger laws this week, although none of those efforts have yet become laws. EdWeek

Musicians From Birmingham High, Sutter Middle Join Forces to Inspire
Drum major Julia Jones was oblivious to the raindrops falling Friday on the musicians performing in the courtyard at Sutter Middle School. LA Daily News