How effective are LAUSD teachers according to the LA Times? And, President Obama's mosque remarks have come under fire. Then, the latest on Mayor Villaraigosa's bike summit. And the latest news.
New study of LAUSD examines teacher effectiveness
A new LA Times analysis of teacher effectiveness in the Los Angeles Unified School District is causing a stir. The study is based on 7 years of standardized test scores in math and English – comparing students to their own prior performance. Teachers say that basing instructor performance on standardized test results ignores other critical factors. But some students are being left behind – and the study suggests that some students get poorly performing teachers year after year. Parents can work to get their kids into better performing schools, but fate determines the quality of their teachers. Is the evaluation system broken? Can standardized testing be used to measure teacher performance?
Guests:
Jason Felch, LA Times reporter and coauthor of Sunday’s Times article about LAUSD teacher performance
A.J. Duffy, President, UTLA - United Teachers Los Angeles
Ground Zero Mosque and President Obama
On the eve of his family’s trip to the Gulf Coast last Friday, President Obama seemed to endorse the proposed building of a Mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City. At a Ramadan dinner, he stressed everyone's right to freedom of religion under the U.S. Constitution. But on Saturday, after Republican criticism surrounding his remarks soared, Obama rephrased his statements, announcing “I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.” So what did the president really mean? And, with the mosque debate escalating, should Obama have voiced his opinion?
Villaraigosa’s Bike Summit
The mayor of Los Angeles declared himself an LA cyclist…and promptly fell off his bike last month and broke his elbow. He’s recovering, but the painful experience prodded him to focus more on a basic question of transportation planning: how can cars and bikes co-exist? Do they need to be physically segregated by barriers or buffers? The Mayor is holding a bike summit downtown at LA Metro this morning where he’s taking questions directly from the bike-advocate community. Question number one: in a flat city with perfect weather and a fitness-conscious population, why is it so challenging to get people on bikes?
Guests:
Ted Rogers, freelance advertising copy writer who maintains the bikinginla blog