The Resistance won a big victory in Los Angeles.
Thanks to newly elected LAUSD board member Jackie Goldberg, a key committee of the school board rejected a plan to assign a single grade to every school.
The idea of grading schools with a single letter was first hatched by Jeb Bush, in his relentless push to impose test-based accountability on every public school in Florida and to set up those with the worst grades to be privatized.
Several states have adopted the Jeb Bush plan, and in every case, the letter grade was a reliable proxy for students’ family income. The schools where poor students predominated received the lowest grades and were fair game for the charter industry.
Jackie Goldberg has a long history as a teacher, school board member, and state legislator, and she strongly opposed the plan.
Nick Melvoin, who was elected with the help of millions of dollars contributed by Eli Broad and other friends of the charter lobby, proposed the plan.
The Los Angeles Unified school board’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee approved a resolution introduced by board member Jackie Goldberg that calls for the district to suspend implementation of “any use of stars, scores, or any other rating system” for its schools.
The committee’s action includes a shift in support by Kelly Gonez, who says she now opposes assigning single ratings to schools. Gonez last yearco-sponsored a resolution with board member Nick Melvoin that called for creating a school performance framework that would include a “single, summative rating for each school.” The board approved that resolution in April 2018.
Goldberg’s resolution, which is expected to pass when it goes before the full board Nov. 5, would effectively kill the idea to give all schools in the district a single rating, which Melvoin says would allow the district to better identify and help struggling schools…
The three board members on the committee — McKenna, Scott Schmerelson and Gonez — voted unanimously to send Goldberg’s resolution to the full board, where it needs four votes to pass. Board member Richard Vladovic also indicated to EdSource that he supports the new resolution. Goldberg’s expected vote would give the resolution a five-vote majority on the seven-member board…
Goldberg’s resolution says that summative rankings “promote unhealthy competition between schools” and “penalize schools that serve socioeconomically disadvantaged student populations.”
Jackie Goldberg proves that one person can make a difference. She does so by dint of superior experience, knowledge, and intellect.
The billionaires once owned the LAUSD. They bought it, fair and square.
No longer.
Be on alert for the next school board election. The sharks will gather round again.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
just committee; still needs to go to whole board….but a good start
On Thu, Oct 10, 2019 at 7:03 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “The Resistance won a big victory in Los Angeles. > Thanks to newly elected LAUSD board member Jackie Goldberg, the school > board rejected a plan to assign a single grade to every school. The idea > of grading schools with a single letter was first hatch” >
amazing that we have reached years where trying to protect and promote the public school system has become known as a “resistance” — may it spread widely and grow exponentially
David, I think you’re suggesting we shouldn’t sit back and assume everything will be alright? We should continue to call on the board to do right by Los Angeles?
Yes!
Thank you for all you do.
Yes, there will be a full vote by the board on Nov. 5th. With board member Kelly Gonez switching sides to be against a single Yelp-like “star” rating system, the final vote will be very interesting. Nick Melvoin, who is sticking to his intention to implement the Yelp system as promised to his Speak Up “base”, is finding himself more and more isolated from the general public, including teachers, but most of all parents. Prior to the LAUSD teacher strike, resistance to his policies was scattered across the district. But, now, it is organized and growing.
When the vote happens on Nov. 5th, it will be interesting to see how Monica Garcia will vote. She is the one long term board member who is staunchly in the charter/privatization corner. However, she is also running for LA City Council. There is no clear evidence that the constituents in her district support her allegiance to charters. So, she may have to pick sides, knowing that her vote may trigger a backlash regardless of whether she votes “yes” or “no”.
It will be interesting indeed. I think we really got to Garcia during the strike. She previously thought she was acting as savior by partnering with Broad to destroy teachers and unions. On the last day of the strike, after public support for teachers was so palpable and protesting took place at her residence, her tone changed. I think she realized she wasn’t winning any friends attacking teachers. Gone but not forgotten, perhaps, is the relentless charter cheerleader of before.
We are moving in the right direction now because “when we fight, we win.” Let’s keep it going.
Jackie Goldberg is a saint!
“The billionaires once owned the LAUSD. They bought it, fair and square. No longer.” — So, it was stolen, er, expropriated from them.
Reclaimed by its rightful owners, the public.
That billionaire phony astroturf (COUGH! COUGH!) “parents” group, SPEAK UP, just put out a blistering attack on the LAUSD board’s about-face regarding, and abandonment of SPF:
http://speakupparents.org/speakup-board-watch-take-action/2019/10/9/despite-parent-objections-lausd-board-is-poised-to-dismantle-school-rating-system-while-release-of-student-growth-data-remains-uncertain
At yesterday’s LAUSD Board Meeting, parent dupes or plants read pre-written scripts provided by the privatization industry, but it was to no avail.
What’s not mentioned in any of this coverage is all the behind-the-scenes detail contained in the secret documents of secret charter school industry meetings, documents uncovered and released by Michael Kohlhaas.
SPF is exclusively described in the documents as a means for ranking, and then closing traditional public schools, and eventually turning over the buildings, budgets, and land over to private charter corporations. Nowhere is it mentioned that SPF is a mechanism for informing parents, or helping parents, the facade that’s being maintained by the charter industry (i.e. the SPEAK UP story just above.)
In the Kohlhaas docs, the names of their LAUSD School Board Member allies in backing this SPF charade are:
1) Nick Melvoin;
2) Kelly Gonez;
and
3) Monica Garcia.
Indeed, those three are always referred to very familiarly in this “CONFIDENTIAL: DO NOT SHARE” charter school industry documents, the ones released to the world by Kohlhaas. It’s never the last names. They are almost always only referred to by their first names:
“Kelly” this, “Nick” that, “Monica” this other thing.
This alone shows that CCSA and the charter school industry owns these folks lock, stock, & barrel.
However, it was the release and widespread dissemination of these docs that has perhaps driven those three to drop this matter quickly and quietly, and dial down their support for SPF and not fight back against Jackie Goldberg, as this would trigger greater focus on the Kohlhaas docs — i.e. perhaps Jackie showing them on the Jumbotron in the
LAUSD Board meeting, and/or reading them aloud at an LAUSD Board meeting.
Thus, I’m a little sad that “Kelly”, “Nick” and “Monica” aren’t fighting harder for SPF, as this might get more spotlight on the Kohlhaas docs, which is the last thing that those three want right now.
“…one person can make a difference.” True statement of the year.