The data from the College Board’s 10th Annual Advanced Placement Report to the Nation shows a steady increase in AP exam participation among California public high school students, with the state ranking sixth nationally in the quality of its scores. In 2013, 40.6 percent of California’s public high school graduates took at least one AP exam before graduation,...

Michelle Rhee Group Donates $250,000 to Candidates in LAUSD Races A group led by former District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee donated $250,000 Wednesday to contests for seats on the Los Angeles Board of Education, adding further political fuel to a battle over the direction of reform efforts in the nation’s second-largest school system....

Calif. Grad Rate in Bottom Half of All US; LAUSD’s Even Lower The high school graduation rate in California ranks in the bottom half of all U.S. states, with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s own graduation rate well below the state’s, according to data released Tuesday. CBS An L.A. Unified Road Map A six-year...

Lawsuit Against Teacher Tenure Poised to Move Forward A lawsuit to overturn teacher tenure laws and seniority rights remained on track Thursday when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling allowing the litigation to move forward. LA Times [read full text here] Local Votes of Confidence: Most Bonds, Parcel Taxes Pass Proposition 30,...

Parents Criticize Officials After Cheating Allegations Roil School Leaders of a parent organization at Short Avenue Elementary on Tuesday criticized the school’s former principal and the Los Angeles Unified School District in the wake of alleged cheating and mistakes in administering state standardized tests by teachers. LA Times Dan Walters: What to Do if Proposition...

Mediator Don Raska has been appointed to try to help resolve the teacher evaluation negotiations between LAUSD and the teachers union (UTLA), according to a UTLA newsletter. The October 19th issue of the United Teacher states that, “the union continues to push back against LAUSD’s proposal to link a percentage of a teacher’s evaluation to...

Gloria Romero to Antonio Villaraigosa: We’re not removing you from Prop 32 ad SFGate: LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was ticked that the pro-Prop 32 folks were using his name and comments “out of context” in an ad. He asked them to remove his name/comments from the ad promoting the measure on the November ballot that would ban...

Federal Money For Low-Income Students’ AP Tests:  California will receive $7.6 million from the federal government to pay for Advanced Placement tests for low income students. LA Times PTA Endorses Munger, Not Brown: The California Parent Teacher Association has endorsed Proposition 38, Molly Munger’s ballot measure to raise taxes to pay for education, which it helped write....