One reason why American public education sucks.

Talk about unexpected: the LA Times takes a swipe at lousy teachers and their unions here. Be sure to also see the chart showing what it takes to fire a teacher.

But L.A. Unified doesn't pursue as many firings as other major districts, considering its size. The district, which has about 30,000 tenured teachers, fires 21 a year -- well under 1 per 1,000 -- according to district statistics for the last five years. Long Beach fires 6 per 1,000, and San Diego fires about 2 per 1,000.

Evidence suggests that L.A. Unified does a poor job of tracking teacher performance overall, making it tough to prove anyone is a bad apple.

A one-time study of teacher evaluations from the 2003-04 academic year, for instance, showed that 98.9% of all tenured teachers were said by supervisors to have "met standards."

The only categories in which a substantial percentage were said to have needed improvement concerned punctuality and attendance. Five percent had difficulty showing up on time.

Even some teachers union representatives said they do not believe the evaluations accurately portray the quality of teacher performance. Joshua Pechthalt, a United Teachers Los Angeles vice president, said the process is "fraught with problems" and results in teachers, especially young ones, not getting the guidance they need.

"I don't know any workplace where 98% of the people are doing a good job," Pechthalt said.