Douglas County Looks to Expand Choices for Families
The Education Policy Center’s Pam Benigno and Ben DeGrow discuss the recent work of Douglas County’s School Choice Task Force, which has led to many innovative proposals under consideration by the Board of Education in Colorado’s third largest school district. Attention is given to the widely-publicized local voucher proposal as well as other policies designed to enhance educational options for Douglas County families and save money for the school district.
Speaking Out for Douglas County’s Important Private School Choice Proposal
So last night the Douglas County Board of Education hosted an hour of public comment on proposals made by the community’s School Choice Task Force. Of course, the testimony overwhelmingly was about the “Option Certificates,” or voucher, proposal. The Denver Post’s Jeremy Meyer reports that public comments “were evenly split for and against the plan.” […]
Congratulations to Michelle Pearson, Colorado’s 2011 Teacher of the Year
With a little snow finally starting to fall around here, it’s time to go outside and play. So instead of any sort of grand analysis today, I just want to extend my congratulations to Michelle Pearson — who last week was named Colorado’s 2011 Teacher of the Year:
Pearson comes from a teaching family; both the […]
Is This What Waiting for Superman Would Look Like If Made in Taiwan?
It’s Friday. Time to lighten up with a 90-second summary of the new education reform movie Waiting for Superman produced by Taiwanese animators, a video you simply have to see to believe (H/T Jay Greene):
Michelle Rhee as a martial arts heroine …
Colorado and Most Other States Face Plenty of Catching Up in Advanced Math
Not everyone can be super-smart at math, but a brand new Harvard study (PDF) by Paul Peterson, Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann shows how virtually every state in the USA is not educating enough top-flight math performers. If you look at the 56 nations who take the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 30 do […]
Charter School Myths Still Alive: Time to Go Back to Education Reform Future?
Most of us know about public charter schools: publicly funded and publicly accountable schools with independent boards and waivers from certain state laws and regulations concerning personnel and program. Here in Colorado they’ve been around quite awhile and have become an important part of the education landscape.
Right now, as the Colorado League of Charter […]
11/9/10
Newsletter November 9 2010
Coming Soon: More School Info for Parents from Colorado Dept. of Education
In all the excitement over what’s going on in Douglas County, I nearly overlooked something else in the Denver Post that deserves our attention. An article last week about the state’s new education accountability system included this little gem:
State officials have called the new School Performance Framework a national model.
“It is intended to build a […]
Local Buzz Growing Around Douglas County School Choice Reform Proposals
Update, 11/9: Douglas County’s choice proposals have been noticed east of the border (the Colorado border, that is). A blogger at Kansas Education notes:
…why are so many private schools religious ones? The answer. As a parent, you’re probably already paying taxes to support a school district to which you can send your child. What’s going […]
Let’s Shed Light, Not Heat, on Douglas County School Choice Reform Efforts
I love it when the Denver Post brings big attention to issues I’ve covered here weeks before. It tells me little Eddie is ahead of the curve. Today it’s true of the Douglas County school board looking to expand the boundaries of parental choice. Doing what newspapers do so well, the Denver Post headline latches on to the potential controversy. So let’s engage by providing some clarity.
Election Fallout for Education Reform in Colorado & Nationally: Overall Positive
It’s the day after a late night election. There are some yawns and droopy eyes around here. But I did want to share you with some initial reactions. Let’s start in Colorado.
First, we learned that Republicans won the state house and closed the gap on the Democrats’ state senate majority….
Forget the Election: Tomorrow Brings Big U.S. Supreme Court School Choice Case
Everybody’s got the election on the brain today, but there is something maybe even bigger going on out there that is of concern to us education transformers.
Tomorrow the United States Supreme Court is set to hear the case Garriott v Winn, which will decide the constitutionality of Arizona’s K-12 tuition tax credit program. Apparently, […]
