If it's LAUSD, I push the failure button
Except for schools in selective parts of the district, LAUSD is a failure:
- A failure to graduate students from high school.
- A failure to prepare students for anything but testing--not for the next grade and not for life.
- A failure to allow the students time to master skills, review skills, and remediate skills, before they go on to the next skill.
- A failure to teach any subject that is not tested.
- A failure not to have shops and practical arts based on the theory that everyone must take college preparatory programs.
LAUSD: is the purpose of schools to get a well rounded education or to do well on tests?
Why are kids in school?
They are taught to the tests following the testing calendar. They are taught in a one size fits all program where every class on the same grade and every class on the same subject is covering the same skill at the same time.
They are taught not to mastery, but to pass the tests. That’s all! They are taught quickly covering a skill in two to three days with an insufficient amount of practice on the skill in class and at home. There is no time for review or remediation of the skill. There is no time to bring children up to grade level on the skills that they did not master in previous grades.
Read moreWe need an Eddie Haskell clone to be LAUSD Superintendent
Eddie—Good afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver, you sure are looking lovely Mrs. Cleaver.
June—Thank you Eddie.
Eddie—Are the boys home?
Ward—Yes, Eddie go on up.
Eddie—Beaver, you little twerp why are hanging around?
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Today
Eddie to the Board at a public meeting—how are you today and I hope that we have a very productive meeting.
Eddie to the Board behind closed doors—You guys are too busy raising campaign funds from charter school operators.
Read moreSchool starts next week; Welcome to the LAUSD world of testing
They start testing and tracking the students in Kindergarten. Some of the students are still 4 years old. Kindergarten used to be about left and right, getting along with others, finger painting, singing and dancing, stories, and reading readiness for some. Now the students are tested and tracked, tested and tracked.
Read moreOur country is for sale—our schools are not, but
The large corporations have either purchased or forced the closure of the smaller competitors and have said goodbye to the mom and pop stores.
The banks have taken over the smaller banks and financial institutions so we just have colossal behemoths of finance.
The legislators, national and local, have been bought and paid for through campaign contributions and they listen to persuasive lobbyists.
The Brothers Rich are trying to buy a Republican Presidency through their selection process, influence, and contributions.
Read more$133 million for MiSIS, the iPad scandal, the Food Services investigation, What’s next?
The cost of MiSIS is now $133 million.
No one knows the costs of the iPad mess and the health costs to students who did not get air conditioning because the money was spent on iPads and WiFi enhancement.
The Food Services investigation is still taking place. What about the waste, loss of time, and heavy caloric foods of Breakfast in the Classroom?
How much has been spent on housing teachers in teacher jails and paying their substitutes?
What is the cost of the outside law firms and investigators?
Doing our best to waste your tax and bond money from Chatsworth to San Pedro, to mismanage our personnel from Sylmar to South Gate, to fail your children from Tujunga to Topanga, to serve them lousy food from the mountains to the sea--we are LAUSD.
People want to hold LAUSD teachers accountable—what about everyone one else in LAUSD?
Sure, go ahead and hold teachers accountable for test scores. Even attach their raises to the scores. Make it so they can be terminated; but wait.
Who holds the principals, assistant principals, and deans accountable? What about the downtown administrators, the superintendent and his assistants, the local administrators, and the school board members?
No one holds them accountable! The school board hires the superintendent. He and the school board hire his assistants. He and the school board select the downtown administrators and the local administrators who in turn choose and support the principals.
Read moreHow do school districts pay for tests and test preparation materials?
The money to pay for the tests and the test preparation materials comes from the districts’ budgets funded by our taxes. Almost 12% of my property taxes go to LAUSD. It is an appalling usage, especially to a teacher in LAUSD!
In order to pay for the tests, districts such as LAUSD:
- Increased class sizes;
- Laid off school counselors, librarians, support people, custodians, and office clerks;
- Cut art, music, sports, and gifted programs;
- Reduced teacher salaries and health benefits.
Do you as a parent appreciate of this?
Teachers don’t!
Read moreOpen Court was an abomination
- They paid LAUSD teachers to go to training for five days during their vacation.
- Teachers could also go during the school year for three days and receive their regular pay while the district paid substitutes.
- They paid Open Court instructors to fly into Los Angeles and stay at nice hotels.
- They rented large halls in the hotels for instruction rooms and halls where they provided lunch for all of the teachers.
- Each elementary school had a Literacy Coach who really was the Open Court Police.
- They ran around the school visiting classrooms, finding fault, and reporting the teachers to the principal.
- Initially 60% on an Open Court test was considered passing.
- Open Court measured reading speed, even though there are students that read excellently but slowly.
- Any elementary teacher can tell you that it is comprehension, not speed that is important in Reading.
A home for retired LAUSD administrators
People in the know have been saying that the well entrenched bureaucracy, particularly the downtown administrators, needs to go.
Now with the audit of LAUSD Food Services revealing graft, corruption, and waste, plus the MiSIS mess and the iPad scandal, it’s past time for them to leave.Where should they go?
Read more