L.A. mayoral candidates discuss housing, education, city services
The four candidates competing to replace outgoing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa squared off in South Los Angeles on Friday, debating the respective roles that housing, education, city services and budget cuts play in the lives of area residents. LA Times

LAUSD Collaborates With Parents to Improve New Nutritious Breakfast Program
Euclid is one of 147 Los Angeles Unified School District schools where the new Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) program was implemented earlier this year. By the end of November they will launch the program in 161 more schools. Boyle Heights Beat

State Defunds Program to Fix ‘Slum’ Schools
Eight years after California settled a landmark lawsuit promising hundreds of millions of dollars to repair shoddy school facilities, more than 700 schools still are waiting for their share of funds as students take classes on dilapidated campuses with health and safety hazards. California Watch

NAACP Volunteers to Push for Biggest Education Overhaul Since Brown v. Board of Education
The NAACP is going on the offensive on education, deploying volunteers across the country in its biggest push for a public education overhaul since the nation’s classrooms were ordered desegregated in 1954, the civil rights group said Thursday. Huff Post

State Appointed Administrator of Inglewood School District Steps Down
Kent Taylor, the state administrator in charge of the financially troubled Inglewood School District, resigned from the position Friday after the Department of Education learned of a tentative agreement he made with the local teachers union without approval from the state. LA Times

Credentialing Commission Imposes Tougher Test to Become School Administrator
Alone among states, California has permitted passing a primarily multiple-choice exam as one path to become a school or district administrator. That will change. EdSource

After Generations of Failure, a School and Its Students Head for Success
Jordan High has made big strides in academic performance. There is more to achieve, but its progress is plain to see. LA Times Column (Sandy Banks)

Does Creationism Have a Place at a Public School?
The Christian Club on an L.A. Unified campus has heard presentations from a nationally prominent creationist. A biology teacher believes such events undermine science education. LA Times Column (Steve Lopez)

School Lunches to Be Allowed Unlimited Meats, Grains, USDA Announces
The Agriculture Department is responding to criticism over new school lunch rules by allowing more grains and meat in kids’ meals. Huff Post

2012 National Board Certified Teachers Celebrated
UTLA honored the Class of 2012 National Board Certified Teachers last night in a ceremony at UTLA headquarters. National Board Certification is a voluntary program of teacher assessment that is rigorous and requires 200-400 hours of extra work on top of a teacher’s full teaching load.  UTLA

Supt. John Deasy

A tentative but potentially historic agreement was reached late Friday, November 30 between LAUSD and UTLA that will define how teachers are evaluated in the second largest school district in country. The agreement includes the use of individual student test scores as a part of the review process – a measurement that has been championed by Superintendent John Deasy and consistently opposed by the teachers union.

According to a press release issued by LAUSD, “Measures of student achievement are not the primary or controlling factor, but they are significant, and beginning immediately, will be incorporated.” The court-ordered negotiation, which started in July, recently gained urgency as it faced the December 4 deadline.

To read LAUSD’s full press release, click here.

Update: LAUSD’s big concession to UTLA is one that would please board member Steve Zimmer – the district will not use individual Academic Growth of Time scores in teacher evaluations; it will use only school-wide AGT scores.

“We are pleased to announce the agreement rejects the use of individual AGT (Academic Growth Over Time) scores as part of a teacher’s final evaluation,” said UTLA President Warren Fletcher in a press release. “This is significant because these scores have been found to be an unreliable method of measuring a teacher’s effectiveness.” (Read the full press release here.)

Evaluations will, however, use raw scores from students’ California Standards Tests (CST), arguably as tough a measure. It’s unclear how much weight the CSTs will carry in the mix, although the LA Times is reporting that it will be less than 50%. The evaluations will use a panoply of other metrics, including ‘robust’ classroom observation, A-G course enrollment, graduation rates, dropout rates, Advanced Placement course enrollment, and California High School Exit Exam passage rates.

The Daily News has posted an outline of the agreement.

Previous posts: Teacher Talks: What Happens If They Can’t Agree?, Mediator Named in Deadlock Over Teacher Evaluations, Conflicting Reports On Evaluation Negotiations