A ground-breaking series by the Los Angeles Times (L.A.) promises to provide practical information to parents on the relative effectiveness of teachers within their schools.

The report compares all K-6 teachers in the L.A. Unified School District over a 7-year period, comparing teachers within the same school teaching the same grade. It cited wide variations in student improvement based on yearly standardized state tests. Since the only variable was the teacher, the difference is commonly called the "Value-Added," what good teaching provides our students.

Significantly, the quality variations among teachers within schools is greater than those between schools; this new information highlights that parents mistakenly focus on sending their kids to certain "better" schools when they should try to get the best teacher within a given school. It also shows that these star performing teachers are not concentrated in affluent schools, but are spread throughout the L.A. school system.

It is the individual teacher, not the school that makes the difference.

Unfortunately, parents have had no easily accessible data to compare teacher effectiveness. Yet teachers' "Value-Added" results are public information. The Times now has data on 6,000 elementary teachers that will soon be online and easily accessible. Hopefully, such data will be made available for all of California school districts.

I strongly urge all who care about education to follow this series closely. The first article appeared Sunday and provided names and photos of L.A. teachers, some of whose students were improving dramatically, others whose students were falling behind.

On Monday, the L.A. teachers' union announced a boycott of the Times, disputing its methods for identifying poor performing teachers. The teachers themselves, however, did not dispute the findings and seemed open to improving if properly directed. If the teachers' unions really want to elevate the profession-rather than just protect their weakest members-they should embrace this information as a needed tool in improving performance.

The point is not to shame poor performing teachers but to highlight those who are effective and to share successful techniques with their colleagues. As a teacher, often times I've shared methods and material with other teachers so we could mutually improve. Those times were far more valuable than the costly consultants that were often called in for time consuming in-services.

Earlier this week it was reported that President Obama's Secretary of Education Arne Duncan fully supports the "Value-Added" approach to teacher evaluation and praised the L.A. Times for making this available to the public.  

Most of my legislative colleagues aware of the Times report had positive feedback. Some Republicans have long dismissed the Times as a "liberal" paper, but the union boycott shows that this newspaper is doing effective and objective digging. Effective teaching is not a liberal/conservative issue. We will all benefit when clear and transparent standards for evaluation exist. Shielding poor-performing teachers hurt both the kids and the teacher. Recognizing and emulating high performers will help us all.

The L.A. Times has also made news with its disclosure of massive abuse of salaries, pensions, bonds and property taxes in the City of Bell. This story broke last month with the disclosure of the City Manager's $787,000 salary and council members making $96,000. Even the OC Register-which usually ignores L.A. County stories-has covered the scandal, which has statewide policy implications.

Salaries are public information, but they were obfuscated from view, aided by a history of corruption and public apathy in this working class town of 36,000. The public is apathetic no more.

Top city management has fled and the council is barely hanging on, facing voter wrath.

The Interim City Manager and Interim City Attorney recently appeared before about a dozen legislators to discuss their situation. They're discovering massive cover-ups of salary spiking, bond deals gone bad and even property taxes hikes, collected illegally. Bell has among the highest property tax rates in the state.

They are asking that the legislature authorize $3 million in refunds to Bell homeowners from illegally collected property taxes. Legally, such ill-gotten excess taxes must be passed along to the local school district (L.A.), but refunds to Bell residents would appear to be a fairer solution. Officials would like residents to see real results from their embattled clean up efforts.

The most important reform will be immediate internet disclosure of all city salaries of elected officials and staff of all cities. The information is technically public information, but many cities make it difficult to obtain. When it is, it's often hard to compare compensation, as much of it is hidden in benefit packages and delayed retirement cash-outs.

Thank you to the 22 readers who responded to last week's newsletter. I emailed you back personally with all of my thoughts. Feel free to write at any time. Or call me on my cell phone: 714-813-5899.