Choice in LAUSD

Many times the problem is not instruction, it is the site administration wanting to cover the sun with one thumb. What I mean by this is simple, we have every program under the sun being implemented this leads to no real cohesive goals. Ever hear the term too many supervisors, not enough workers. In LAUSD we have too many experts that are not teachers. That is part of the problem that contributes to the lack of students achieving. Getting a ticket out is not the solution because you are only trying to cover the sun with one thumb.

Stan @ 10:40 PM PST, Feb 17, 2008

The half that aren't reading at the end of fifth grade are likely those who won't graduate. Of the other half maybe a fifth to a quarter will make it to college. A good number will need remediation in college. Its absurd to defend this mess. And its disingenuous to not discuss the effect of illegal immigration on LA schools.

Ann @ 8:40 AM PST, Feb 16, 2008

In Levitt/Dubner's Freakonomics, the Chicago B of Ed and the U.S. Dept of Justice tried to integrate the city's schools in 1980. A lottery was held for students who wanted to transfer to better schools. The students that opted for the lottery but did not win, were more likely to graduate whether or not they went to the new school. The students that did not leave their old school also tested at the same levels prior to the "brain drain". It appears, from this example (and from my anecdotal experience), that MOTIVATION is a better indication of future succes than attending the "better performing school".

mjw @ 9:58 PM PST, Feb 13, 2008

A commenter asks about the recent editorial on charters and LAUSD. Well Dan, I think there are 80 or so middle schools of nearly 2000 kids each. KIPP, the Lexus charter management organization which received Broad funding, plans some 20 sites. I think that might yield 4 middle schools. Charter schools can serve as R and D and help with tipping points, but only a misreading of American utopian history would think they would scale up to the size of California's 6.5 million student. Green Dot's ten plus high schools will only surpass Fremont HS alone's population after GD opens at Locke HS. Scale, scale, scale.

David Tokofsky @ 9:45 PM PST, Feb 13, 2008

How exciting to have child entering kindergarten next September!! Youcould have applied for a magnetschool . It is not too late to apply . This will give you CHOICES. Next work with the kinder in your neighborhood to mirror the one 5 minutes away at the other school A few other like minded parents set expections higher. If in fact your local elementary is very low on federal test criteria, you have the right to request transfer to a high performing school with a busride.. Finally, LAUSD, a national leader, has a Full Day Kinder rather than the old half day that districts all around the state and nation still maintain.

David Tokofsky @ 6:47 AM PST, Feb 13, 2008

Lisal's argument obviously isn't moot, and Folsom's obviously only begs the question of whether the Florida law (including, if necessary, its constitution) needs to be changed; and ditto for California's.

Bruce William Smith @ 7:56 PM PST, Feb 12, 2008

It is obvious to me that Ms. Snell spends most of her time within the "Think Tank" walls and with "think-tankers" rather than in the classrooms. We cannot solve the complex problems of our students by schools alone. A full view of society must take place. Come spend a week with me in my 9th grade classroom, and then we'll talk!

Lori Woods @ 6:08 PM PST, Feb 12, 2008

Perhaps we should ask the contributors to opine on yesterday's Editorial in the Times suggesting that Charter schools take over LAUSD middle and high schools, leaving LAUSD to focus on improving elementary schools? I found it to be a highly significant editorial, worthy of consideration if not debate.

Dan @ 1:33 PM PST, Feb 12, 2008

Score one for Lisa. In deference to David, I'll try not to sound polemical, but one thing that can matter to families is the power to send their children to schools they believe in. I believe this to be Lisa's basic point, and merely stating the obvious "L.A. isn't New York or San Francisco" (who didn't know that? And why was Florida, her most germane example, ignored?) misses her main point, which is not that every school or feature of New York's education system is admirable, but that we can learn valuable things about funding public schools, empowering principals, and radically changing (rather than defending) failing schools from them.

Bruce William Smith @ 10:55 PM PST, Feb 11, 2008

Snell quotes a 2007 report. Beware think-tankers quoting other think-tankers. Snell's argument is moot. Notwithstanding the NBER's 2007 study, on Jan 5, 2006 - two years ago - The Florida Supreme Court struck down the Florida voucher program for students attending failing schools saying the Florida constitution bars the state from using taxpayer money to finance a private alternative to the public system. If anything the California constitution is even stronger – affirmed by LAUSD v Villaraigosa in the Superior Court and reaffirmed in the Court of Appeal and made binding by the Supreme Court in their refusal to depublish. –smf

Scott Folsom @ 5:18 PM PST, Feb 11, 2008

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