There are achievement gaps between all groups of students, when defined by race. Asian-American students consistently out achieve white students. White students out achieve African-American students by about a standard deviation. That has remained true for the past forty years, and the gap is frankly huge. We are also told that there are no intelligence differences based on race.
My experience with teachers is that they are not racists. In any case, you can't teach this group of students one way, and that group of students some other (racist?) way, in the same classroom, at the same time.
https://www.jbhe.com/2018/02/the-racial-gap-in-advancement-placement-tes...
The evidence indicates that achievement in school is primarily influenced by the families of the students. Expecting a new superintendent of schools to solve a nationwide problem is asking too much of that person. Apparently the school board (elected) thinks that the district's most pressing problems are financial.
God bless the teachers and the children they work with.
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Another rotten choice for school superintendent.
When are we going to have educators run the district, not politicians or investment bankers?
Because all they know how to do is throw money at the problem. They don't want solutions like getting rid of onsite administrators and unions. That would be too logical.
Let them continue to blame and get rid of the good teachers, because it's not about educating people, it's about maintaining the status quo.
This is a great day for me sitting here very early in the morning in my shabby little East Los Angeles public school classroom reading the paper before the kids get here from the surrounding barrios that we'll all soon be having the pleasure of a wealthy investment banker to be looking up to for spiritual guidance and leadership as our new superintendent and visionary. The intersection of Wall Street with Cesar Chavez Avenue ought to be an interesting place to be waiting to catch a bus out of town.
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Beutner is a CONVENTIONAL choice for LAUSD, not unconventional. This school district has always believed they need a business executive or politico to run the district and not someone with education experience.
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Today's NYT ”California Today” contained several education articles, including this one published by the Atlantic, ”Schools in the University of California system are doing significantly better than other four-year institutions in the U.S. in graduating low-income students…”
I’m convinced, and evidence-based, peer-reviewed studies show, investments and improvements in education benefit both individuals and society now and far into the future. Among the best investments a nation can make.
Parents, educators, and students know this; they live this truth day in and day out. Many governments and polititions know this too. Unfortunately, due to past decisions, economic forces, and deference to non-aligned political interests, many states and districts find themselves backed into corners with few alternatives for improvement.
To that I say the past is past, your institutions broke it, your institutions can fix it. It’s our responsibility to nominate, elect, and support a slate of new leaders with fresh, can-do approach to restoring, and improving education, with an equal emphasis on 1) reaching all students today, rich and poor, fortunate, and unfortunate, and 2) securing our nation’s prosperity, growth, technology edge, and leadership among nations far into the future—that bight shining, sometimes elusive, beacon we all believe is essential to the American fabric. --OWL, Culver City.
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I just moved here from NJ where I taught in the public schools for 14 years. It takes months just to get credentials reviewed here. The schools are not offering a lot of the advanced and creative coursework that was provided in NJ. Per pupil spending in NJ was $19k in CA it is $9k.
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Yo Matthew,
I've been living here forever with stints in NY (PS, Universities), S. Carolina and N.Carolina, Hawaii (USMC), FLA (parents business move), etc.
And so, I wouldn't want to be a resident and homeowner of any other state. The beauty of the landscape (recognizing the constant pressures of the private sector to exploit that which even nourishes their own psyches), the weather, alone, is enough to extract anyone from an in-your-face winter ice and snow nightmare as well as a compromised environment by those who only see profit in one's living space.
So, the writing is on the wall. If you have a gripe with educational expenditures by all means, get involved in your community and run for a school board seat. That, would certainly put the status quo on notice.
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Even with a license and a degree in architecture and twenty years of practice, it still took me five more years to get a teaching credential here. This state has no idea what they're doing with regard to teaching kids anything they can use.
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Did your NJ district have the same percentage of ESL and impoverished pupils as Los Angeles?
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