EDITORIAL : LAUSD'S LAST GASP; ZACARIAS MUST HAVE BACKING TO REBUILD EDUCATION BY LOPPING OFF THE DEADWOOD.IT is encouraging to see Superintendent Ruben Zacarias taking positive steps, albeit baby steps, toward serious reform. The need for more radical changes to spark an education revival are still desperately needed. But we applaud any sign of hope, and Zacarias' plan to tackle accountability districtwide is worthy of community support. Under the plan, all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. would have to show improvement on yearly achievement tests and other measures of performance or face intervention and sanctions, which could eventually include firing principals and teachers who fail. The reform effort is based on guidelines Zacarias created for the 100 lowest-performing schools, including six in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , named on a list a year ago. Already, unions are cackling cack·le v. cack·led, cack·ling, cack·les v.intr. 1. To make the shrill cry characteristic of a hen after laying an egg. 2. To laugh or talk in a shrill manner. v.tr. over his plan to boost student performance, which is so typical of the way the decaying old guard clings by its decrepit de·crep·it adj. Weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use. See Synonyms at weak. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin d fingernails to power. Of the 100 worst-performing schools, 68 raised their test scores, in great part because teachers and administrators knew the spotlight was on them and were given help to achieve their mission. Glenwood Elementary School Glenwood Elementary School is a public elementary school in Langley, British Columbia, a part of School District 35 Langley. Students from Glenwood were involved in The Langley Schools Music Project in 1976-77. in Van Nuys showed one of the most significant leaps: 12 percentile percentile, n the number in a frequency distribution below which a certain percentage of fees will fall. E.g., the ninetieth percentile is the number that divides the distribution of fees into the lower 90% and the upper 10%, or that fee level points. If shining a light on poor performance makes people squirm, imagine what holding them accountable will accomplish. But Zacarias can't run a school district of 700,000 students alone. He needs the full backing of the board. Zacarias has decided to stand and deliver. Now it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for board members to accept the challenge. Will they wilt under the intense heat from unions they're so beholden be·hold·en adj. Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted. [Middle English biholden, past participle of biholden, to observe; see behold. to? Or will board members finally jump out of the unions' back pocket and stand up for the children? It's time to support Zacarias and take an unequivocal stand. The nonsense is over. The board needs to back up Zacarias' plan with decisive action. Unless student performance improves, they must make it clear that heads will roll. And that should be sooner rather than later. Three more years is too long to wait when thousands of budding minds are at stake. Based on past performance, we doubt the board, Zacarias' administrative staff or the unions have the backbone to weed out the failures and create a culture of success. It is LAUSD's last chance. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion