LA Times vs LAUSD

That would be Los Angeles Unified School District.

Via Instapundit here is a link to a Slate article on the LA Times talking about "Grading the Teachers:  Value-Added Analysis".

The lede is:

The Los Angeles Times has produced an analysis of how effective Los Angeles Unified School District teachers have been at improving their students' performance on standardized tests.  The Times has decided to make the ratings available because they bear on the performance of public employees who provide an important service, and in the belief that parents and the public have a right to the information.

The Slate reporter, Jack Shafer, sees this as becoming a fight between the LA Times and the Teachers' Union.

Nobody but a schoolteacher or a union acolyte could criticize the Los Angeles Times' terrific package of stories—complete with searchable database—about teacher performance in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Union leader A. J. Duffy of the United Teachers Los Angeles stupidly called for a boycott of the Times.  Boycotts can be sensible things, but threatening to boycott a newspaper is like threatening to throw it into a briar patch.  Hell, Duffy might as well have volunteered to sell Times subscriptions, door-to-door, as to threaten a boycott.  Doesn't he understand that the UTLA has no constituency outside its own members and lip service from members of other Los Angeles unions?  Even they know the UTLA stands between them and a good education for their children.

And, Mr Shafer notes that US Secretary of Education Ernie Duncan is supportive of the LA Times.

Interesting.

Regards  —  Cliff