Educators

At Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Laurel Canyon, there are lesson plans on diverse families -- including those with two mommies or daddies -- books on homosexual authors in the library and a principal who is openly gay. But even at this school, teachers and administrators are flummoxed about how to carry out a new law requiring California public schools to teach all students -- from kindergartners to 12th-graders -- about lesbian, gay,...

WASHINGTON - Targeting an issue popular with women, a key voter group, Mitt Romney assailed President Obama's leadership on education Wednesday and blamed teachers unions for problems facing American schools. The Republican presidential candidate is making education the focus of his brief campaign schedule this week. On Thursday, he will tour a charter school in Philadelphia and lead a discussion on education in the most heavily Democratic part of the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

What does it mean when (at least) seven adults have to hover around a child who bites, throws chairs and overturns desks? What does this "hovering" cost in monetary terms? Too, what does it mean when a judge has to decide who may and who may not be a cheerleader in a high school? What, I wonder, are teachers, principals and superintendents for? Are disciplinary problems and academic standards to be reserved for special committees and judges? What does it mean? Among many, many other things, it surely means that the state of education today is humiliatingly tragic.

For the first time, L.A. Unified and other individual school districts can apply for federal Race to the Top grants, bypassing California officials, including the governor, who had objected to the rules for receiving the education-reform incentives. The draft rules, announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education, will allow school systems to vie for funds that had been unavailable to any state that was unable or unwilling to compete for the grants. "We're wide open to new strategies, new approaches," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a conference call.

If you have ever rolled your eyes when your child says a teacher's grade was unfair, you might want to think again. Your child might be right. Douglas Reeves, an expert on grading systems, conducted an experiment with more than 10,000 educators that he says proves just how subjective grades can be. Reeves asked teachers and administrators in the United States, Australia, Canada and South America to determine a final semester grade for...

I was filled with profound indignation after reading the article about Helen Bernstein, president of United Teachers of Los Angeles ("Playing Tough in Hard Times," Nov. 21). In these days of financial crisis both in the public and private sectors, it does little for the professionalism of educators to hear only vindictive outbursts from union leaders. It is understandable that UTLA members would be angry when their salaries are being cut; the members of our association, AALA (Associated Administrators of Los Angeles)

The education of our children is in dire straits! As a teacher at Hawthorne High School, I know the school climate is in turmoil. The educational environment grows increasingly negative each day. The situation has been created by a growing conflict between professional staff who are divided along racial lines. Specifically, the division of the staff has been manifested with racial remarks, accusations and statements that are resulting in serious damage to the educational climate in our district.

The fifth-graders at Broadous Elementary School come from the same world — the poorest corner of the San Fernando Valley, a Pacoima neighborhood framed by two freeways where some have lost friends to the stray bullets of rival gangs. Many are the sons and daughters of Latino immigrants who never finished high school, hard-working parents who keep a respectful distance and trust educators to do what's best. The students study the same lessons. They are often on the same chapter of the same book.

Anyone looking for the perfect encapsulation of what is wrong with our educational system and our society need read no further than the Column One article of Sept. 14, "What's Best for Young Geniuses?" on the Chang sisters, the preteen students taking (and excelling in, by all accounts) classes at College of the Redwoods in Eureka. At one time excellence, studiousness, self-discipline, and hard work were honored (indeed, expected) in our society. No more, obviously. I was sickened by the comments of the so-called "educators" cited in the article (starting with the college president)

Re "Formulas for Math Problems," Jan. 5: The ingredients of a successful program of math instruction are no mystery. Adherence to a few basic principles will go a long way toward producing the desired results. 1. Develop facility with numbers. Multiplication and division tables should be learned through drills until arithmetic manipulation becomes second nature. Calculators should not be allowed until this proficiency is achieved. 2. Do not allow making mathematics fun or easy to become a priority.

Now that most states have received or applied for relief from the No Child Left Behind Act, California is submitting its own proposal . And in true California fashion, it's - different. The state has long been at odds with the U.S. Education Department over the waiver process. Both sides agree that the federal law is flawed to the point of being counterproductive. But California won't agree to do what other states have promised to get out from under the law's most punitive measures: include standardized test scores as a significant component in the performance evaluations of individual teachers.

In Los Angeles, red carpet treatment is not just for celebrities. Here, mere mortals can find specialists - medical concierges, cat whisperers, image consultants - for almost everything. And that includes experts who are hired to help families prepare for their newest members. Enter the baby planner. Before the advent of the current expert culture, it was a role that used to be filled by mothers, grandmothers and best friends, doling out advice, shopping lists and favors.

The Los Angeles Unified school board did an injustice to hundreds of students and to the school reform movement when it overrode the recommendation of its staff and decided not to close a low-performing charter school. Academia Semillas del Pueblo in El Sereno is run by dedicated educators who are striving to provide their kindergarten-through-eighth-grade students with a safe environment, a lively and enriched curriculum, as well as skills in three languages. The school has been controversial because one of those languages is an indigenous language of Mexico, and part of the school's mission is to instill in children an understanding and appreciation of their cultural heritage.

The Los Angeles Unified School District will require all students to pass a college-preparatory curriculum beginning next fall. The Class of 2016, next year's ninth-graders, will be the first in the nation's second-largest school system who must take those courses needed to apply to a four-year state university. The Board of Education approved a proposal Tuesday that also allows the students to pass those classes with a D - rather than the C needed for admission to either a Cal State or UC school.

Re "Displaced Miramonte staff share hurt, anger," May 4 As a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District adult division, I can accept having classes interrupted twice this year for a child-abuse awareness workshop. What I fail to grasp is the necessity of removing dozens of innocent teachers from their classrooms at Miramonte Elementary School and isolating them at another site. The warped logic of Supt. John Deasy purports to show that the district is concerned about the safety of its children.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday that he supports gay marriage rights, a declaration that came as President Obama's reelection campaign downplayed comments from Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday that some saw as an evolution in the administration's position. Speaking on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Duncan was asked, "Do you believe that same-sex men and women should be able to get legally married in the United States?" The answer was simple and direct. "Yes, I do. " Duncan's answer went further than Biden did Sunday, when he said he was "comfortable" with the idea of "men marrying men" and "women marrying women" having the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Appalled by the gaps in California students' knowledge of history, state education officials are considering a major overhaul of history teaching that they hope will make the subject students love to hate more comprehensible and exciting. Next month the state Board of Education is expected to approve a new history framework, a document that is revised every several years and recommends guidelines for local districts to use in developing courses.

What a nostalgic and revealing picture of a Newport Elementary School class in 1918 ("School to Celebrate 100th Anniversary," May 3). Did modern educators notice the following: A class size of 40 pupils? Not one student with a hat on, or a cap on backward? No dark glasses? An apparently disciplined class, although a couple of the boys looked a bit cheeky (note that none of the girls gave that appearance). Current pedagogy holds that uniformity, strictness and discipline, together with a basic 3 Rs education, inhibit individuality, drive and inventiveness.

An activist investor is demanding thatYahoo Inc.fire its new chief executive, Scott Thompson, after the Internet company confirmed that his resume contained misleading information about his education. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company confirmed Thursday that Thompson's credentials, questioned recently by a shareholder, incorrectly stated in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Stonehill College. The company called it an "inadvertent error.

Re "Why adult education must be kept alive," Opinion, May 1 John McCormick can be forgiven for not remembering too many of his former students' names. The good work he has done for Los Angeles teaching English as a second language cannot be underestimated. Learning good English-language skills is the most important step for anyone who wants to break free from low-paying jobs and a dim future. There is probably no way McCormick will ever find out just how many lives he helped improve.