Members of the Don’t Hold Us Back coalition of parent and civil rights organizations visited Oakland on Feb 28 to share their experiences with local education advocates who are working to improve Oakland’s public schools. We joined Oakland’s All Kids Campaign for a discussion about the path to ensure sure every child has access to a quality public school. Oakland’s All Kids Campaign is a collaboration of parents, community, faith and education leaders working to ensure that Oakland’s school district creates conditions that provide equity and opportunity for our kids
Jason Mandell and Sandy Mendoza from Communities for Teaching Excellence, Vanessa Rodriguez from Alliance for a Better Community and Lisa Ruben from United Way led a discussion about how our efforts in LA can serve as a model for Oakland. The Don’t Hold Us Back campaignled to a plan to allow all schools to adopt autonomies that help educators have a greater voice n how their school works, with support from the parents and community.
Sunday’s column from LA times columnist Steve Lopez talked about Don’t Hold Us Back.
Six million, give or take. That’s how many children are in public school in California.
Arguably, we won’t have a strong economic future if they don’t get a good education.
But boy, do the grown-ups love to muck things up for the kids.
Politics, ego, endless skirmishes between school districts and teacher unions — it all gets in the way of the kids’ best interests. And California spends less per pupil than all but a few states when you adjust for regional cost-of-living differences, leading to an annual ritual of laying off thousands of teachers and other staffers.
But in Los Angeles, the status quo is under attack.
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Today United Way with civil rights and parent organizations released the Teacher Quality Roadmap; Improving Policies and Practices in LAUSD, an in-depth study conducted by the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). Designed as a tool to highlight what is and what is not working in our local schools, the report compares LAUSD’s policies with both surrounding districts and similar districts around the nation.
Executive Summary
Full Report
United Way and Alliance for a Better Community, Families in Schools and Los Angeles Urban League officially urge the Los Angeles courts and United Teachers Los Angeles to accept the terms of the agreement from American Civil Liberties Union’s recent lawsuit over teacher lay-off policies. The settlement will improve student’s opportunities for a quality education at up to 45 of our city’s most challenged schools.
Read the Official Statement
Read the Los Angeles Times articles and editorial
August 6, 2010- United Way, LAUSD, LA Chamber, City of LA and other partners of the L.A. Compact announced today that a 3-year $6M grant by the U.S. Department of Education has been awarded to turn around and sustain student achievement in Los Angeles’ lowest performing schools.
Read the official statement for further information.
