Los Angeles Unified Superintendent David Brewer, board President Monica Garcia, board member Yolie Flores Aguilar and other district officials will brief members of Congress Thursday on the impact of the No Child Left Behind law on English Language Learners.

They will also recommend improvements to the law and outline the federal commitment necessary to fully address the needs of English learners.

Between five and six million English Language Learners are enrolled in public schools in the United States. NCLB was designed to guarantee that schools and districts were held accountable for teaching these students English and measuring their academic progress with tests they could understand.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

At 11:30 today, a group of LAUSD parents plan on putting on a press conference at Roosevelt High School to "publicly oppose Mayor Villaraigosa's impending takeover of their schools."

An email from the group, Roosevelt Says No, states that although "parents of children in LAUSD schools have expressed their deep desire to not be part of Mayor Villaraigosa's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, however city hall staffers incessantly persist in lobbying parents at the sites."

The mayor, who will manage two families of schools--two low-performing high schools and their feeder elementary and middle schools--has said he will not go to schools that don't want his involvement.

"In East Los Angeles, parents are coming together to publicly state once and for all they do not want Villaraigosa's reform model in their public schools," states the press release.

It's unclear who the group represents and how many parents are involved in opposing the mayor's involvement. And Villaraigosa has not singled out Roosevelt publicly as a school he'd like to include in his family of schools.

The mayor and school district hope to announce the names of schools to be included in the groups by fall.

Posted by Naush Boghossian at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Noah, a kindergartener at Lumbini Child Development Center in Los Angeles, decided he wanted to help "people who don't have blankets," after driving past Skid Row with his mother. He started asking questions: Why is that man sleeping on the sidewalk? Why doesn't he go and live with his mommy or grandma? Isn't he cold? Where do the kids do their homework? Are there kids that sleep on the street too?

The line of questioning ended with the decision to start "Project Star," because Noah likes stars. Since he can't count as high as 100, his goal simply is to collect lots and lots of blankets by Nov. 1 to deliver to shelters around the city before Thanksgiving.

If you have questions or would like to donate a blanket, contact Noah at projectstar100@yahoo.com

Click here to see a picture of Noah and his letter asking for support.
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