Aug
23
2011
The California Department of Education released a report last week on student achievement in the state. An LA Times analysis of the data surprised many in finding that LAUSD schools outperformed high profile charter schools. In fact, throughout the Los Angeles school district, proficiency rates in English and Math increased for students in grades two through eleven. In English language arts proficiency rates jumped 3 points, and 4 points in mathematics. With these gains, LAUSD students rank closer to, but still lower than, California students as a whole. Of the results, LAUSD superintendent John Deasy said, “[w]e are not where we want to be. But we are nowhere near where we used to be.” When the LA Times compared the progress of the lowest performing LAUSD schools from 2008 to the present with 4 charter schools, the district looked even better. Watts Locke High School, operated under the charter, Green Dot Public Schools, and Crenshaw High School run by the Los Angeles Urban League, the Bradley Foundation, and USC were two of the four charters that saw slower student improvement. These are also schools backed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, an enthusiastic advocate for education reform through charter schools. Some have said the scores are astonishing in the face of continuous budget-cuts to public education, which have deeply scarred the K-12 public education system. Could it be the heroic feat of public school teachers struggling to do their jobs as best as possible? Self-described education reformers have demonized the nation’s public school teachers as being unaccountable, overpaid, and under-qualified. A brand new documentary called American Teacher directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth, and narrated by Academy Award-winner Matt Damon, tells the stories of four teachers from 4 different cities who passionately struggle to remain teachers sometimes at the expense of their own well-being. A whopping 85 percent of recent college graduates are apathetic towards this seemingly unappealing, low-paying career, and the profession is at risk over the next decade as more than half of all teachers will be eligible for retirement. American Teacher is based on the New York Times bestselling book, “Teachers have it Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of of America’s Teachers.”
Thank you Gifts:
A pair of tickets to American Teacher screening on October 1st at 11 am at the AMC Loews Broadway 4 in Santa Monica – $75
A single ticket to the screening – $50
Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman – $50
Call 818-985-KPFK(5735) or visit www.kpfk.org to make a pledge.
When viewed in the context of recent disclosure in Atlanta, Houston, D.C., NYC, and elsewhere, that these districts were fixing assessments, grades, and graduations of their students, while intimidating teachers into either fixing the grades or just going along with the fraud, I would be very weary of LAUSD claims of having done better, given that I have proof that they too are engaged in fixing assessments, grades, and graduations.