The new tests will look a lot like the tests they replace, said Hilda Maldonado, director of the LAUSD Multilingual and Multicultural department. The district had initially sought to purchase the old CST tests independently but found the nearly half-million dollar price tag too expensive for the 40,000 tests needed for ELL students this year.

The new assessment will be administered by schools from March 17 to May 23, according to Maldonado, adding that students in grades 3-9 will have the option of “banking” their CST scores from the previous year if they scored a basic or above. The CST tests have been replaced by the Common Core-aligned Smarter Balanced tests, which are slated to be officially administered next school year.

Maria Ruiz, a mother of two ELL students in Boyle Heights, said she’s concerned that the new Common Core-aligned assessments will be far more challenging for ELL students, resulting in fewer reclassifications.

“The first time students take the [Smarter Balanced tests] will likely result in students’ scoring lower,” Maldonado said. “Whether or not we’ll consider these scores next year or we’ll use a completely different reclassification process as we’ve done this year is still to be decided.”

A recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California recommends a single state standard for reclassification, rather than each school district developing its own, the current policy. The report also noted more rigorous reclassification guidelines often resulted in slightly better academic outcomes for recently reclassified students.

Ruiz said she hopes any changes to the reclassification assessment will be supported by new funds for ELL students. “I’ve asked for tutors and even Saturday classes at my sons’ schools to help them along, but I’ve been told there’s no money for these things,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz also said the district must do a better job informing parents of ELL students how they can help with the process. According to Ruiz, only three parents of ELL students attended the most recent meeting of her local school site council, which represents a school with hundreds of ELL students.

“Many parents don’t even know their children are ELL, even though they’re instrumental in guiding them through the process” Ruiz added.

Previous Posts: CA Getting ‘Smarter’ with New Tests to Probe Critical Thinking; Millions of American students need to learn English;

On Feb. 28, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is staging a coordinated leafleting campaign, directed at parents during drop-off, to fight for more pay and increased hiring.

Dubbed, “Time for Kids” the campaign is set to take place before the first bell on Friday.

“We are taking our fight for an overdue raise, smaller class sizes and fully staffed schools to parents and the community through leafleting efforts,” says the union website. “Employees have the right to pass out materials during non-working/duty-free times.”

It is unclear whether laws that restrict political activity and school property would apply in this situation. We are awaiting a response from LA Unified.

Previous Posts: Governor Brown’s budget pumps billions more into school funding; Teachers union offers reasons for pay hike demand; In forum, UTLA president candidates discuss big ideas — and a strike

24th Street Elementary, a school recently approved for charter co-location

LA Unified has released a preliminary list of charter school co-location proposals, showing that the district is offering more traditional school sites for co-locations for 2014-15 than in either of the previous two school years.

According to Lorena Padilla-Melendez, director of Community Relations for LAUSD’s Facilities Services Division, 80 traditional school sites were recently approved as “legally sufficient” for potential charter co-locations, a slight increase over the two prior years, when the district approved 69 and 75 facility requests, respectively.

The preliminary list of co-location proposals is comprised of applications from new charter schools requesting facilities for the first time, existing charter schools requesting renewals of their current facilities and existing charter schools that might need more space to accommodate a growing student body.

The charter schools filed their requests in November. The approval process hinges on the charter’s projections of their average daily attendance and whether the district agrees with the estimate, according to Padilla-Melendez. A charter has until May 1 to accept the district’s offer of the co-location, and if accepted, the charter can occupy the allotted site within 10 working days of the first day of instruction, according to the Prop 39 regulatory timeline.

California voters approved Proposition 39 in 2000, amending the state education code so that school districts must provide “reasonably equivalent” facilities to charter school students who would otherwise attend district schools.

Previous Posts: Charter renewal denied for two high-performing schools; LAUSD leads Charter Schools Growth in California and Nation; Charter Schools Association Pushing Election for LaMotte Seat

The team and LAUSD’s 11 other state representatives, which include previous state and national champions Granada Hills Charter, El Camino Real Charter, and Taft Charter, and first-time state qualifiers Grant High, have all have all been buoyed by the support their schools’ own communities and the greater LAUSD community, too, which has recently struggled to maintain the decathlon program during periods of budget cuts.

“I join with the extended Marshall High School family in saluting the students, their families and their coaches for this tremendous win in the Academic Decathlon,” LAUSD Board Member Bennett Kayser said in a press release earlier this month. “To think it was just two years ago that the entire Academic Decathlon program was almost eliminated at LAUSD but for the goodwill of our employees who took pay cuts to save this and other valuable programs.”

For students on the Marshal team, practice sessions start at 2 pm, and last six hours a day, six days a week,” according to the LA Times. At 3:30, the boys slip into blazers and the girls into high heels, and the team warms-up for the speech portion of their practice routine by reading Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” with corks between their teeth. The students then line up to deliver their speeches before hallway lockers.

If the team finds wins in Sacramento next month, it will be off to Hawaii for the National Championship in April. It’ll be new for this group of students, and even their veteran coach Larry Welch, but not for team Marshall. The school took home the national title twice before, in 1987 and 1995.

Since 1987, L.A. Unified has won 19 state contests and 14 national titles.

The competition for the top job of UTLA president, which pays north of $100,000 a year, is tough. There are nine challengers (see our rundown here) hoping to prevent the incumbent president Warren Fletcher from taking a second term.

To help members decide, UTLA has posted brief campaign video statements on a YouTube channel, not only for president, but for all of the union positions in contention.

For those who would rather read about the candidates, the special election edition of the union newspaper, the United Teacher, has printed candidate statements and ballot instructions.

Previous Posts: UTLA candidate forum, issues break out within the mudslinging; In forum, big ideas — and a strike,  In race to run powerful teachers union: ideology up for grabs

Board Member Tamar Galatzan represents the western half of the San Fernando Valley

LAUSD parents looking to volunteer at their child’s school no longer have to brave the LA freeways to get fingerprinted at the district’s downtown headquarters.

Thanks to a recently passed resolution sponsored by board members Tamar Galatzan, Steve Zimmer and Monica Garcia, parents can have their fingerprints processed at local Educational Service Centers, a change to encourage more parent volunteers across the district.

“Allowing volunteers to help on campus gives interested parents a way to support the school, and builds strong ties between school, home and community,” Galatzan said in a press release. “Research also shows that parent involvement is associated with higher student achievement.”

Applicants still must pay the $56 processing fee and show proof of a tuberculosis test, which can cost as much as $40 at a health clinic.

Fingerprinting is done weekdays, 8 am – 4 pm,  at these locations within LAUSD’s Educational Service Centers. The district recommends to call ahead for an appointment.

Previous Posts: Board Members Seeking to Ease Requirements for Volunteers

The Facebook group, “Repairs Not iPads,” whose pictures of deteriorating LAUSD facilities have gone viral, took on a real-world turn yesterday afternoon when the group gathered at Esperanza Elementary for its first press conference.

Matthew Kogan, who anonymously launched the Facebook effort in December, told LA School Report that the event was intended to introduce some of the teachers who have been uploading the photos to the Facebook page. About a dozen parents, teachers and students attended.

“We’re honestly just shocked that the district can use school construction bond money for iPads,” said Kogan, who is also an adult education teacher at the Evans Community Adult School. But Kogan made clear his group isn’t anti-technology. “There’s certainly a lack of skilled workers entering the job force, and there’s a need for technology in the classroom, but it’s not iPads,” he added.

LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Haber said that the district doesn’t see school site repairs and technology as competing interests, adding that the district appreciates the visibility Kogan’s Facebook campaign has given the issue of school site repair.

But Haber said she’s also noticed some dishonesty among the postings of certain photos. Haber said when she and a school principal sought to investigate one particular photo of a broken toilet, there was no sign of disrepair at the purported location.

Haber said the Facebook group can draw attention to the district’s existing channels for reporting maintenance issues, which include a hotline (213-745-1600), an online service request, and even a smartphone app.

“[Facebook] is a great communication tool and we’ve responded immediately to some of the posts,” she said.

The effort to equip every LAUSD student, teacher and school administrator with an iPad is being funded with school-construction bonds, a program repeatedly criticized on “Repairs not iPads.” The district estimates that its schools need $40 billion in repairs, and yet there’s only about $7 billion remaining of the voter-approved bonds, according to the LA Times.

Kogan cited a bill that would prohibit California school districts from using voter approved construction bonds for non-facility related items as a step in the right direction. The bill, AB 1754, came from Assemblyman Curt Hagman, a Chino Hills Republican and a critic of LAUSD’s use of bond money for the iPad roll-out.

A union activist and chair of the UTLA Adult Education Committee, Kogan described the iPad initiative as one of Superintendent John Deasy‘s “headline grabbing” policies.

“It’s time we stop putting the flashy projects over the bread and butter issues,” he said.

Previous Posts: $7 Billion for Repairs, But LA Unified to Start With Much Less; The LA Unified board faces bid decisions on open seat and iPads

via the LAUSD Parent Community Services Branch

A series of meetings are scheduled to help LA Unified parents and other community members learn about the new Local Control Funding Formula, the state’s new funding stream. A coalition of advocacy groups known as CLASS, as well as LAUSD board members are holding community meetings to help the public understand the changes. Below is a guide to meetings scheduled in the coming weeks.

Click here to see the schedule.

Communities for Los Angeles Student Success (CLASS) is holding the first of eight “Town Hall” meetings this evening at Community Coalition in south Los Angeles, where officials plan to explain how the recently passed Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) works and how the money is intended to help students with the greatest needs.

“Our message is simple,” said Maria Brenes, Executive Director of InnerCity Struggle, in a CLASS press release. “LCFF is about making sure schools that serve the neediest students get the resources they need to close the achievement and opportunity gaps that exist in neighborhoods.”

In addition to the town hall gatherings, CLASS is circulating a petition, urging the board to support the thrust of the new funding law. CLASS is also planning to hold a rally at the March 4 school board meeting.

The district is also reaching out to the community, with individual school board members holding their own town hall style meetings at school sites. District 4 board member Steve Zimmer recently sent a flyer to principals, highlighting three “conversations” he plans to hold.

LAUSD’s regional Education Service Centers are planning stakeholder meetings throughout the month as well, according to the CLASS town hall calendar.

The district must submit its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to the state in July, outlining its efforts to ensure community input on how to best use the new education dollars.

Previous Posts: The right balance; LA Unified is seeking 47 parents to make spending recommendations; LA Unified asking community for ideas on state spending plan

In 2013, 40.6 percent of California’s public high school graduates took at least one AP exam before graduation, compared with 25.3 percent 10 years before.

Though AP participation among LAUSD students also increased over the same period, a little under 18 percent of district high school students were enrolled in an AP course last academic year, according to district figures.

The number of California graduates from low-income backgrounds taking an AP exam also increased, tripling over the past decade according to the College Board’s California supplement. Among African American and Latino students the increases were .5 percent and 9.7 percent, respectively, while participation among white students decreased by 8.4 percentage points in the 10 years.

The AP report still reflects demographic disparities in the quality of the scores. Among Latino and white students, 35.2 and 31.5 percent of students, respectively, graduated from high school with a passing grade on an AP exam. Among African American students, only 2.4 percent graduated with a passing grade.

In California, 29 school districts were cited by the College Board’s AP Honor Roll, which recognizes districts that increased both AP exam participation and the percentage of students scoring passing grades. LAUSD was not among them.

Previous Posts: LA Unified Sees Big Rise in AP Enrollment and Exams; State To Defray Costs of Test Fees for Low-Income Students

Eight of the 10 candidates faced off in a debate that resulted in at least one consensus: the current state of the union is fractured and plagued with in-fighting. Though fewer than 40 people attended, those in the audience were treated to lengthy discussions of UTLA governing principles and school board negotiating tactics. Candidates also criticized LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, with one calling him a “corporatee” and accusing his push to rid the district of ineffective teachers as causing irreparable damage to the profession.

Both forums are scheduled to take place from 6-8 PM.

Previous Posts: Union candidates gang up on Fletcher and, of course, Deasy; Candidates seeking Warren Fletcher’s job at UTLA vie for attention; 

via the LAUSD Parent Community Student Services Branch

With new education tax dollars coming in, LAUSD is quickly assembling a 47-member Parent Advisory Committee as part of its Local Control Accountability Plan, which represents the district’s spending priorities. For parents there’s a two-step process for participating.

A local School Site Council identifies interested parents as  potential candidates. Then each council nominates one parent of a “low income” student and one parent of an “at large” student, who will then proceed to the next round.

Parents of English Language Learners (ELL) and foster youth will also be represented on the PAC but are chosen through a different process.

All potential candidates must attend the next parent meeting at the regional Education Service Center, where nominations will be made. After each candidate speaks, those in attendance will vote.

The schedule for elections is available here.

Previous Posts: LA Unified wants you: 47 parents and your spending priorities

Aspire Public Schools

The expansion is supported by The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and comes after the organization’s blended learning model — digital content, instruction away from school and classroom instruction — showed early signs of success at its Titan Academy in Huntington Park. According to Aspire, the percentage of K-5 students reading at grade level at Titan Academy rose to 80 percent from 66 percent over the past year.

“Because of blended learning, students are getting more quality time with their teacher in a smaller, focused setting,” Mark Montero, a second grade teacher at Aspire Titan Academy, said in a press release. “This is an incredibly powerful instructional tool that would not be possible without technology in the classroom.”

A spokeswoman for Aspire Public Schools said the organization’s blended learning programs all use laptops, not iPads, for their instruction, but added that the LAUSD locations would be receiving the tablets by the end of the district’s technology rollout.

Previous Posts: DC Think Tank Touts “Blended” LA Charter School; Ratliff is seeking alternatives to using iPads in LA Unified’s future

The six month pilot program, known as the Southern California – Clean, Green and Healthy Schools Partnership, is intended to foster collaboration among local, state and federal regulators — including school districts — on environmental health issues that had been unaddressed because of red tape and jurisdictional conflicts.

John Sterritt, LA Unified’s director of Environmental Health and Safety, told LA School Report that when a health hazard arose in the past, whether at a school or on adjacent property, the district and local officials often didn’t know who was responsible.

“The formation of this functional working group will allow us to solve some of the bureaucratic questions by getting everyone around the same table,” said Sterrit. He added that the idea for the working group stemmed from a 10-year partnership with the Southern California Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Thomas Cota, chief of the department, agreed that the pilot program will expedite the identification process, but added that it should also enhance transparency by engaging the local community in the process.

“We wanted to develop a system for the community to bring us issues they’re concerned about so that we can triage the problem and decide how best to fix it,” Cota told LA School Report. Cota is encouraging anyone with health hazard tips or neighborhood complaints to email the working group at healthyschools@dtsc.ca.gov.

The data also shows LA Unified well ahead of the curve, a trend the state credits to major policy shifts in the district and its adoption of a “restorative justice” program. The district’s expulsions dropped by 15.1 percent, while suspensions dropped by 37.5 percent.

Though it’s unclear what LA Unified policy or restorative justice program the California Department of Education is citing specifically, a department spokeswoman for the CDE said in an email that state superintendent Tom Torlakson led the way by sponsoring various workshops across the state that focused on the merits of discipline models intended to to keep students in school.

Last May, the LA Unified school board passed legislation that ended the district’s zero tolerance policy for willful defiance, legislation known as the School Climate Bill of Rights. But its passage came well after the collection of the data in question. The School Climate Bill of Rights was sponsored by Board Member Monica Garcia and passed, 5-2, after contentious debate, with Tamar Galatzan and the late Marguerite LaMotte dissenting.

Torlakson noted the positive legislative steps that have been taken across the state, but admitted there’s still plenty of work to be done.

“Although fewer students are being removed from the classroom in every demographic across the state, the rates remain troubling and show that educators and school communities have a long road ahead,” he said in a press release.

The data reaffirms the wide-spread claims that racial disparities still exist in school discipline policy, an issue addressed for the first time by the Obama administration just two weeks ago. For example, African-American students make up only 6.3 percent of the state’s total enrollment, but 16.2 percent of the state’s suspensions. Hispanic students make up 52.7 percent of total enrollment, but 54.6 percent of suspensions.

The state began collecting data on suspension and expulsion rates with its CALPADS data system only two years ago, a process it expects will improve as districts become more familiar with the reporting system.

Previous Post: Campaign Aims to Keep Students in, Not ‘Push’ them Out

Candidates in a crowded field to take the top spot at one of the nation’s most powerful teachers union, UTLA, are angling to distinguish themselves online.

An online search finds that four of the 10 running, Gregg Solkovits, Alex Caputo-Pearl, Saul Lankster and Bill Gafney, have established a website presence, announcing their candidacies and platforms.

UTLA allows candidates to publicly display endorsements and collect campaign donations directly from its membership, which includes 33,000 teachers and other school staff.

Absent from the list is current UTLA President Warren Fletcher, who has a Facebook page from the last UTLA election cycle and an empty Blogspot with a banner, “Elect Warren Fletcher for UTLA President,” but no posts. Other candidates have various personal websites and blogs that do not include information about the election.

Thomas Starr King Middle School is hosting a UTLA candidate forum at 4 pm tomorrow. Solkovits, Caputo-Pearl, Gafney, Lankster, Gafney, Kevin Mottus, Marcos Orterga II and Fletcher have committed to participate.

Election ballots are scheduled be mailed to UTLA members on February 25 but won’t be tabulated until late March.

Previous Posts: Fletcher joining challengers at union forum next week*; UTLA Factions Lining Up to Oust Fletcher as President; UTLA calls for a do-over in union elections over unpaid dues

That was seven months ago.

Now, an internal LAUSD memo released to LA School Report, shows that only 38 percent of LA Unified schools are currently capable of administering the new tests, which will be field-tested by 3rd through 8th and 11th graders beginning April 7.

The district sent the Smarter Balanced Readiness Survey to nearly 800 schools last month, posing three simple questions to school administrators that were to be answered in part by administering a practice test to one class at each school site.

Does the school have wired computers available for testing in a lab setting?

Were you able to install the secure browser on all the computers that will be used for testing?

Did the students get to the first question?

According to the results, 31 percent of schools replied that they did not have any wired computers available for testing, but even schools answering yes on all three questions expressed major concerns about their testing infrastructure. Many said they simply didn’t have enough hardware to administer the tests to all their students in the given testing window, and many others reported software that was outdated and incompatible with the Smarter Balance browser.

One school administrator worried that the testing would prove disruptive to the school’s regular computer program: “We have one lab (40 computers). The lab is used for computer classes all day. In order to test our 500 11th graders for [the] 3.5 hours that SBAC estimates the field tests take, we would have to remove the [computer] teacher and her classes for at least 12 days, not including make-up testing. That’s a lot of lost instructional time.”

Another voiced concern about the software: “Some computers would not load the assessment (it kept spooling.)”

And still another worried about the possibility of cheating: “The computers are in close proximity to each other so the students could see each other’s answers.”

In the memo, Executive Director of LAUSD Data and Accountability, Cynthia Lim, assures Superintendent John Deasy that her office is following up with schools to help address the technology challenges clearly indicated in the survey, and says she’ll work with schools deemed ready by the survey to “ensure full readiness.”

The Smarter Balanced tests aren’t set to officially begin until the 2014-15 school year.

Previous Posts: Commentary: The Idiot’s Guide to the Common Core Standards; California expands news statewide tests; The LA Unified board voted to re-calibrate its push for technology.

This is the only workshop to be held by the City Clerk’s election division, and it’s intended to brief candidates on the procedures related to filing the “Declaration of Intention to Become a Candidate” and the “Nominating Petition,” forms that allow potential candidates to qualify for the Special Election ballot.

The workshop is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Piper Technical Center, according to a press release.

Previous Posts: LAUSD Board calls for special election; Want to run for the LAUSD board? Deadlines approaching

In the United Way’s first Inspirational Teacher Awards, 25 LA Unified “teachers to watch,” will be honored this evening at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, with Mayor Eric Garcetti and Superintendent John Deasy expected to attend.

The United Way staff and a panel of district teachers chose the recipients from a pool of nearly 200 nominees. Bianca Sanchez, a first grade teacher at RFK Community schools and chair of the selection board, said that teachers aren’t often recognized within their profession.

“This event is intended to not only honor those who are already doing amazing work, but also to promote the profession so that it continues to attract great talent,” Sanchez said in press release from United Way.

The full list of the United Way’s honorees is here.

State Superintendent Tom Torlakson

The California Department of Education is setting aside $250 million for school districts to link high school curricula to careers beyond the classroom, an initiative designed to keep students engaged in classes often consider dull and dry, while preparing them for a high-skilled job market.

The 40 one-time grants bundled in the Career Pathways Trust – and offered in three tiers, ranging up to $15 million, are open to school districts, county education offices, charter schools and community college districts. They will be awarded through a competitive application process that includes clearly defined goals and a five-year budget plan. State officials said they expect the local programs to be self-sustaining in the near future, with funding commitments from school districts and their private-sector partners.

In a conference call with reporters, state schools chief Tom Torlakson said that when students see clear pathways from the classroom to specific, high-wage careers, they are less likely to drop-out of school.

“Students always ask: how will I ever use this outside the classroom in my own life?” Torlakson said. “Well, infusing careers into education is the answer.”

California Workforce Investment Board Executive Director, Tim Rainey, said the state is experiencing job growth in certain sectors, depending on the region: healthcare in LA County, biotech in San Diego and the Bay Area, and Agricultural Engineering in the Central Valley, for instance. He said the localized nature of the grants is designed to create partnerships among schools, businesses and community colleges that are tailored to local economies across the state.

“As many baby boomers begin to retire, there becomes a huge skills gap that we have to learn to fill quickly,” Rainey said.

Jerry Nickelsburg, an economics  professor at UCLA and author of the Anderson Forecast, agrees: “If you draw the line of the baby boomers at 1945, a bow-wave of retirement is certainly just around the corner,” he told LA School Report. Nickelsburg noted that his research shows the current employment expansion is being driven mostly by tech intensive jobs, regardless of the particular economic sector.

LA Unified’s Chief of Staff for External Affairs, Edgar Zazueta, said he wasn’t sure if the District had plans to play for the grants, but added that the District “always tries to be aggressive when it comes to new funding streams.” Zazueta said he believes the district’s career oriented programs already in place would be competitive in the application process.

Previous Posts: Career-Based HS Program Getting $7.8 million to Expand