BLATANT DISRESPECT OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The LA Times reported this morning on the absurd abuse of Black History Month of three teachers at Wadsworth Elementary, who when selecting Black heroes for their elementary school students to celebrate, chose O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman, and RuPaul:

A STARTING POINT

I haven’t had a chance to get through the much discussed upcoming NYT Magazine feature, Building a Better Teacher, but in the meantime I wanted to highlight a relatively simple takeaway from Justin Cohen on the piece:

The quality of teaching matters … a lot. And it’s differential.

“PARENT TRIGGER: MORE THAN JUST A GIMMICK”

I just found a podcast by a group called "Dropout Nation" from two weeks ago responding to the criticism from Jay Mathews and others to the Parent Trigger. You can listen to the whole thing here (probably about 6-8 minutes long, and definitely worth a listen).

“LAUSD BOARD’S SO-CALLED REFORM”

The LA Times joined the Daily News today in blasting the LAUSD school board for last week's Public School Choice vote:

The Los Angeles Unified school board looked transformation in the eye -- and blinked. By overriding several recommendations of its top experts and cutting three of the region's most respected charter organizations out of the picture, the board sadly demonstrated once again that it is devoted more to the politics of running schools than to the education of students. (...)

PRO-KID, PRO-UNION REFORM IN PHILADELPHIA

I came across an AP story from last week detailing some very encouraging collaboration between local Districts and bargaining units on school turnaround efforts in Philadelphia and elsewhere. The whole thing is worth a read, but I’ll try to give you the key excerpts:

Even in a school system known for its academic troubles, the numbers at Vaux High School are jaw-dropping: More than 90 percent of 11th-graders tested last year could not read or do math at grade level.

MORE THOUGHTS ABOUT TUESDAY

I wanted to share a few more articles about Tuesday’s vote and the Public School Choice Resolution process:

Matt Yglesias had a smart post yesterday titled “LA Teachers Union gets its shot,” with essentially the same take-away that Ben had yesterday.

Along those lines, EGP writes about the high expectations for the new Esteban Torres pilot schools in East LA.

La Opinion also weighed in largely agreeing with our take:

“LAUSD CHICKENS OUT IN REFORM EFFORT”

The Daily News today wrote a blistering editorial, hammering the LAUSD school board for their votes on Tuesday. A few excerpts:

EVERY great movement has its ups and downs, experiences good days and bad, and takes steps forward and back. And on Tuesday, the reform effort at the Los Angeles Unified School District took a big backward step.

...

PARENT TRIGGER COMES TO THE U.K.?

What started in California and spread like wildfire to Connecticut has now apparently jumped the pond as well:

“Teachers' leaders attacked plans set out by Gordon Brown today giving parents the power to demand regime change in struggling schools.

A SILVER LINING

Tuesday’s school board meeting was a stark reminder of the lesson we have all learned many times before – parents can’t rely on politicians to advocate for their own children.

PARENT TRIGGER: A “BURDEN” OR A RIGHT?

Washington Post writer Jay Mathews has an interesting piece today about the Parent Trigger. He has a healthy dose of skepticism about the idea, which I very much appreciated, but I think he is missing the point a little bit. You should definitely go give the whole thing a read, but I'll try to summarize his main objections below:

Pages