iVoices: Rural School “Chief” Gerald Keefe Sounds Off Against National Standards
Well, we’ve reached the week leading up to Colorado’s critical final decision about whether to adopt the Common Core Standards. This decision could end up marking a significant crossroads concerning K-12 education in Colorado.
A few weeks ago I pointed out that the Denver Post had caught up to me in noticing the whole Common Core […]
Resolved to Fight for Local Control
Have state and national officials overstepped their bounds in setting education policy? Gerald Keefe, superintendent of Kit Carson School District in rural eastern Colorado, explains why his district has taken the lead in resisting national standards and advocating for the rights of local school boards to set curriculum requirements.
Ben DeGrow Didn’t Copy Off My Paper — Great Minds Just (Mostly) Think Alike
Last Tuesday I told you about the need to focus on replicating great teaching rather than shrinking class sizes. The post basically did the following:
Noted that, according to research by Mike Antonucci, Colorado has been an exception by not hiring faster than student enrollment growth
Point readers to an Education Next podcast highlighting the research on […]
Smaller Classes Don't Mean Better Teaching
In these difficult budget times, preserving teacher jobs and smaller class sizes remains as a high-priority education strategy. Yet Colorado can better maximize outputs by promoting practical changes at the classroom level. Research repeatedly tells us that large-scale class size reduction programs bring very little or no bang for a lot of education bucks.
Paul Peterson Wonders if GOP Congress Boosts Obama on Education Reform
It’s Friday, and I don’t want to delve into the depths of education policy today. Instead, I’m recommending an interesting Education Next thought piece by Harvard professor Dr. Paul Peterson, a champion of school choice and education reform.
Peterson muses that a Republican takeover of Congress this November just might save Obama’s presidency… by saving […]
Colorado Takes On Tenure and Evaluation Reform… Are “Master’s Bumps” Next?
Writing over at Education Next, experts Emily Cohen and Kate Walsh explain how reformers should be focused on changing the levers of state policy to improve the quality of teaching, rather than grousing about what locally-negotiated collective bargaining contracts won’t allow them to do. In their piece “Invisible Ink in Teacher Contracts”, Cohen and Walsh […]
Let’s Focus on Replicating Great Teaching Rather Than Shrinking Class Sizes
You’ve got to hand it to the teachers unions. They have so many people conditioned to call for more teachers and smaller class sizes as the leading remedy for what ails public schools. The tide slowly is turning to a greater realization of what the abundance of research shows us: namely, that the quality of the individual teacher is far more important than small differences in class sizes.
How Do Common Core Standards Compare to Colorado’s New Academic Standards?
The deadline for the Colorado State Board of Education to decide whether to approve Common Core Standards (CCS) is fast approaching, now only two weeks away. The debate continues to pick up steam. Are these academic standards for K-12 students truly high quality and voluntary? Is there truly a benefit beyond the money tied to adopting Common Core?
Glimpsing a K-12 Future: Pension Transparency and Education Entrepreneurs
It’s the middle of July. It’s hot outside. If they’re not swimming in the pool, people are more interested in political scandals than education stories. That’s too bad.
Whether we realize it or not, I’m beginning to believe I am lucky enough to be coming of age during a truly transformational time in public schooling and […]
Shining Up My Badge of Honor: Teachers Unions Spend Big on Colorado Politics
Six months ago I told you how Colorado was flattered by the attention from the National Education Association’s political giving during the 2007-08 political cycle. Now we have some rock-solid numbers to back it all up.
In his new report for Education Next titled “The Long Reach of Teachers Unions,” the inimitable Mike Antonucci looks at […]
Only Two Days Left to Watch The Lottery in Denver: Will You Be Conflicted?
As I write this, I’m listening to the Mike Rosen Show on AM 850 KOA Denver as he interviews director Madeleine Sackler about her newly released edu-documentary The Lottery.
A month ago my Education Policy Center friends attended a special screening of this film. The Lottery is back in Denver this week, and you can […]
Good News: Denver’s Forced Teacher Placements into Poor Schools Declines
Ed News Colorado reported last Friday that a new Denver Public Schools policy has started to reap some small dividends:
Fewer Denver teachers unable to find jobs on their own were placed into the city’s highest-poverty and lowest-achieving schools for 2010-11, according to district figures.
That’s a reversal of what’s occurred for at least three years, when […]
