Despite claims by Superintendent Ramon Cortines that LA Unified could lose $171 million in federal funding without an agreement with the teachers union on a teacher evaluation system, state officials say the money may not be at risk, at all. For weeks, Cortines has urged UTLA to accept a proposal with a three-level overall teacher...

This story has been updated for clarification. A group of some of the largest school districts in California is launching an online bank of student assessment tools to help teachers measure learning as the rollout of the new Common Core curriculum gains speed this year. The 60 “performance modules,” covering multiple grades for both English language arts and math instruction, are free...

In granting eight CA school districts a No Child Left Behind waiver, the federal government is creating for the first time an oversight body to measure schools’ progress. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the panel “unique” among the waivers granted to 39 states and the District of Columbia. “We went back and forth about how...

The U.S. Department of Education today approved a long-awaited federal waiver that allows LA Unified and seven other California districts to replace No Child Left Behind accountability rules with their own school improvement system. The waiver creates a unique 14-member oversight body to provide an “unbiased external compliance review” of each district’s progress after a...

It’s still a waiting game for LA Unified and eight other California school districts who have yet to hear if their revised No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waiver application will be given the thumbs up by the US Department of Education in Washington. The nine districts, known as California Office to Reform Education (CORE), are...

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan seems to be trying to turn over a new leaf with California Gov. Jerry Brown after years of tense disagreements, notes EdSource Today after Duncan praised Brown’s new funding formula at an event Friday night in San Francisco. Even more immediately important for LAUSD, Duncan sounded sympathetic to the newly resubmitted...