Which Way, L.A.?

Charter Schools Lag Behind in Test Scores

Charter schools are increasingly popular efforts to improve education by unconventional means. Parents must choose to send their children to charter schools, and the schools sign agreements promising to get results. Now, the first independent, nationwide study of charter schools shows that their test scores are lower than those at traditional public schools. The study, done by the Brookings Institution, doesn-t show why scores are lower. We hear more of the findings and talk with charter-school supporters and skeptics. Newsmaker: Five Homes Burn in Bouquet Canyon Fire In Southern California, fire season has begun with a vengeance. Thousands of firefighters are battling blazes that threaten many thousands of acres. From his window at the Antelope Valley edition of the Los Angeles Daily News, Editor Chuck Bostwick can see three of them. Reporter-s Notebook: Flurry of Legislation Hits the Governor-s Desk Governor Davis is looking at hundreds of potential laws he must either sign or veto, measures sent to him in the last, frenzied moments of the legislative session that ended this past weekend. Dan Weintraub watched it all as a columnist for the Sacramento Bee.