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This article reports that in the summer of 2000, Roy Romer accepted the superintendency of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Then, he did something that truly amazed his staff. Anxious to better understand the district's recently adopted reading program, he read the teachers' guides over a weekend. By Monday, he could quote them chapter and verse. Romer had played a lead role in the national movement for standards-based school reform throughout his three terms as Colorado's top elected official, as the head of the National Governors Association, and as the chairman of the National Education Goals Panel.Meanwhile, a school board election last year replaced the majority that hired Romer with one that enjoys the backing of the city's powerful teachers' union, United Teachers Los Angeles.

Reports on the campaigns of union members of the San Diego Education Association to tilt the balance of power on the San Diego school board in the October 2002 elections. Factor contributing to the campaign efforts of the members; Possibility of a change in the political equation of the board after the elections; Possible impact of a favorable outcome in the election from the teachers' perspective on the administration of schools.

Focuses on the application of performance-based pay scheme for teachers at Vaughan Next Century Learning Center in Los Angeles, California. Drawback of teacher-compensation systems; Concept of merit pay and career ladder schemes; Views of school's faculty to the performance-based pay scheme. INSET: Paying for Performance.

The article presents information on the assistance received by troubled schools in San Francisco, California, even though they do not show a standard achievement. The San Francisco school district offers them a helping hand, instead of being hard on them. Schools get a full-time substitute teacher, more teacher planning time, and a master educator to lead schoolwide training. They aim to remove the barriers to good instruction. A program called "STAR" helps schools to raise their performance.

The article focuses on a workshop that was held at the Harvard Business School in San Francisco. The workshop was part of the Public Education Leadership Project, a 2-year-old initiative meant to inject a dose of corporate sense into the way school systems are run. During the intense week, participants discussed case studies, attended lectures, and drafted action plans, some of which already have changed districts' practices. A joint effort of Harvard University's business school and its graduate school of education, the project is part executive training, part research and development.

This article reports that Californians soon will know how much is spent on teachers' salaries at their schools. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, requires that districts, for the first time, include the average teacher salary paid at each school on their annual reports to the public. Specifically, districts must include the average salary paid to teachers at each building on their school accountability report cards, state-mandated school-by-school reports that include student-performance data. Many of the state's bigger education groups, including the California School Boards Association and the California Teachers Association, didn't take an official position.

The article reports that with Alan D. Bersin now set to make an early exit from the top job in the San Diego, California school district, the fate of his much-studied improvement agenda has been left in greater doubt. With a majority of its members new as of December, the board recently halted funding for outside consultants hired under Bersin to work with educators on their mathematics and literacy instruction. And looking ahead, board members predict big changes in, if not the elimination of, another Bersin hallmark: a leadership-development academy that trains aspiring principals through internships and mentoring by San Diego school leaders.

Reports on mixed reactions to teachers' review of their colleagues performance in California. Success of the peer-review program of the Poway Unified School District in California; National Education Association's promotion of the idea; Opposition to a bill by California Governor Gray Davis for school accountability, including a peer initiative.

Presents information on the teacher-evaluation approach proposed by California Governor Gray Davis. Attitude of legislators towards the proposal; Stand of the California Teachers Association on the proposal; Opposition from the United Teachers of Los Angeles.

The article focuses on the measures adopted by a school district to raise student performance in San Francisco, California. Shared decisionmaking and site-based management are the school district's two leadership principles. Many school leaders are able to tailor their programs according to their needs.

This article reports that hallmarks of high schools that succeed with the neediest students include frequent use of data to adjust instruction, common curricula, and opportunities for teachers to learn collaboratively about proven teaching methods. this was concluded in a study of high-performing, high-poverty secondary schools in California. Researchers at Springboard Schools, the San Francisco-based nonprofit group formally known as the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative, reached that conclusion by examining 10 such schools and comparing their practices with those of a group of less successful ones.

The article reports that both fans and critics of San Diego, California's closely watched school improvement efforts are applauding the choice of Carl A. Cohn, a former superintendent of the Long Beach, California schools, as the system's next leader. Interest ran high in who would succeed Alan D. Bersin, who drew national attention to San Diego over seven years of major changes aimed at raising the level of instruction across California's second-largest school district. Robert B. Schwartz, a professor at Harvard University's graduate school of education who has studied the Long Beach and San Diego districts and is impressed with both, said Cohn is well suited to pick up where Bersin left off.

The article informs that a coalition of California education groups is backing state legislation aimed at revealing the spending inequities that often exist between high- and lowpoverty schools within districts. Drafted by Senstor Joe Simitian, a Democrat, the bill would require districts to report publicly how much they spend at each of their schools. A recent report by the Education Trust-West, an Oakland, Calif.-based research and advocacy group that backs the measure, showed that many of the state's largest districts spend less per teacher, on average, at their schools with the most children living in poverty than at their schools serving better-off families.

This article reports on the actual cost of salaries figures for Oakland's schools. When Cecilia Mendoza recently hired eight teachers for her school in Oakland, California, the principal had to consider something that most school leaders in the country rarely take into account: the cost of their salaries. In the Oakland Unified School District, the actual amount of staff salaries counts against individual schools' budgets. The policy, now in its first year in Oakland, is in contrast to districts' standard budgeting practices, which essentially ignore the fact that the cost of filling a position in a particular school depends on the years of service of the person hired. Denise Saddler, the principal at Anthony Chabot Elementary School, a high-performing school in the Oakland hills, said she doesn't think her school will suffer as a result of being charged the actual cost of its employees.

After a pitched battle that exposed a deep rift in management philosophy, the Los Angeles, California, school board took a budget ax to the district's regional administrative zones last week. At a packed meeting, and with members of the local teachers' union protesting outside, the board voted 5-2 on June 8 to reduce the number of "local districts" from 11 to eight. The size of the staff in each district office could shrink from more than 100 employees to fewer than 60. The plan marks a compromise offered by Superintendent Roy Romer, who had wanted to preserve all of the district offices, which he argues play an important role in driving instructional improvement.

Reports on a complaint filed by a candidate against his opponent in a school board elections in San Diego, California. Allegations against the opponent regarding the violation of California campaign-finance laws.

Focuses on the creativity of teachers in respective classrooms in Ohio. Application of creative ideas in teaching mathematic; Establishment of a state program to reward with small funds for class projects; Lack of funds; Survey on perception of teachers of the project.

Reports on the system for rewarding schools in Los Angeles, California. Opposition of the teachers on the pay plans; Bases for the awarding of bonus money; Purpose of the bonuses.

Presents news briefs related to education in the United States, as of April 25, 2001. Reinstatement of ousted school board officials in Kansas City, Missouri, by a federal judge; Survey of the leadership roles of master teachers; Settlement of the lawsuit filed by former Beverly Hills Unified School District superintendent Robert Pellicone against the California district.

Deals with the housing project for teachers in San Francisco, California. Reason of the San Francisco school system for canceling its partnership with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; Information on teachers' inadequate salaries; Benefits of the project to teachers according to Kent Mitchell, president of the United Educators of San Francisco.

Presents news briefs related to education in the United States (U.S.) as of June 21, 2000. Food-safety standards on school lunches announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Strike staged by teachers in Pittsburg, California; Investigation into the act of vandalism at Palm Springs High School in California.

Focuses on the low-cost housing project for teachers in San Francisco, California. Agreement between San Francisco's school district and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; Problem of inadequate teacher salaries; Size of the apartment complex.

Presents news items of interest to students and educators in the United States. Disputes over the showing of an R-rated film to students at a California high school; Penalty received by a Wisconsin teacher to battery charges for kicking a student; Result of the implementation of anti-smoking programs among youths in Florida.

Reports that the Hoover Institution will convene a panel of 12 researchers, called the Koret Task Force, to craft a five-year research and action agenda for K-12 school reform. Members of the panel.

Presents a roundup of news about education throughout the United States as of March 1999. Includes reorganization of the San Diego, California school district; Plans of the National Reading Panel; Settlement of a student-transfer case in a district in Bakersfield, California.

Looks at the donations given to the University of Southern California's education school, to improve educational programs offered. Amount donated to the effort by Barbara and Roger Rossier; By whom other donations were made to the school; Identification of students as the primary beneficiaries of donations.

Reports on concerns regarding the needed conversion of the El Segundo Junior High School building in California which was leased to the Oakland Raiders since 1982. Need to renovate the building for education purposes; Renovation costs; Statement that the district can not afford to fund the needed renovation.

Focuses on restrictions on fund raising, approved by teachers unions in California and other labor organizations, following a June 2nd, 1998 vote on Proposition 226. Impact of Proposition 226 on unions in California which collect political funds through payroll deductions; Effect of Proposition 226 on general elections in California; Comments on project director at the Center for Governmental Studies, Craig B. Holman.

Gives information relating to private schools in Los Angeles, California, focusing on Catholic schools. Financial problems experienced by Roman Catholic educators; Reports made by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) of enrollment growth; Findings of a study conducted on elementary schools; Statistics on the increase in tuition costs.

Reports that teachers' unions and their political foes are expecting that the primary election ballot be held in June, 1998 in California to provide a base for a national movement on the issue of `paycheck protection.' What initiatives the voters will consider; Reference made to the initiative Proposition 226; Comments from Grover Norquist, president of the American Tax Reform.

Reports on the agreement reached between teachers and school district officials in Los Angeles, California over teacher-compensation suit. Unfair series of policy introduced by the Los Angeles district favoring newly hired teachers; Back pay and other compensation as part of a $10.2 million agreement; Introduction of amended pay-scale directives.

Reports that the California Community Foundation has convened a panel as part of an initiative to tackle textbook shortages in the Los Angeles, California school district. Gift of $200,000 to help five schools buy books; Fund-raising campaign to raise $1 million; Probe into how the district buys, distributes and keeps track of textbooks; Factors that conspire to create the shortages.

Presents news briefs on education in the United States in January 1999. Challenges facing the voter-passed law which seeks to eliminate bilingual education in California classroom; Death of J. Harold Flanney Jr., a Massachusetts judge, on December 18, 1998; After-school funds provided by philanthropist George Soros for Baltimore students.

Presents news briefs on school-related events in the United States as of October 1999. Account of the mercury-exposure incident at Fitz Intermediate School in Santa Ana, California; Persons indicted in Sumter, South Carolina on charges of benefiting from a former school official's embezzlement of more than $1 million; Reason for giving detention for students from Jamesville-DeWitt High School.

Reports on news briefs related education in the United States (US). Approval of a settlement to a lawsuit on a desegregation plan based on ethnicity in San Francisco, California's public schools; Approval of a salary increase by lawmakers in Washington state; Details on a survey of Public Agenda on the importance given by US people to the alleged problem of not learning basic values faced by young people.