Billboard Alerts Teachers to Union Deadline
A new Independence Institute billboard in Pueblo tells teachers about their limited opportunity to stop paying money to the union, while a new poll released today by the Independence Institute shows more than 82 percent of Coloradans support allowing union employees to leave their union without force or penalty.
Pueblo Teachers (& other K-12 Employees): Options to Get Union Money Back End Sept. 15
A new billboard in Pueblo shares a special local message for National Employee Freedom Week. Teachers and other local school district employees only have until September 15 to make important membership-related decisions that could save them more than $700 for the 2014-15 school year.
Backpacks for Poudre
Very soon, I’ll be heading to the store with mom and dad to pick up this year’s school supplies. Pencils, pens, highlighters, a new backpack—we’re going to need a pretty big cart (especially if I want to ride in it). But as back-to-school week approaches for most of Colorado, it’s important to remember that there […]
Evaluation Valuation: Goals, Issues, and Questions for the Coming Year
To students like me, teachers are mythical creatures. Sure, I see them every day, but I can’t see behind the proverbial curtain. I don’t know how they judge their success or failure in different areas, how well they are serving their students as a whole, or how they communicate information about their teaching performance to […]
Adults Say the Darndest Things, Too: Jeffco Anti-Charter Edition
One night, not too long ago, when I made one of my off-the-wall education prodigy remarks, my dad just smiled and replied, “Kids say the darndest things.” Apparently, there used to be a TV show by that name — or so my grandpa once told me. The premise was to take advantage of youthful innocence […]
Colorado Charter Schools Serving Students and Families Well
More Colorado families are choosing their children’s educational path than ever before. As of last year, charter schools were serving 11 percent of Colorado’s K-12 public school students. That’s more than 96,000 charter students attending more than 210 charter schools.
Gamblin’ for Children
My father always told me that nothing says “kid-friendly” like a day of gamblin’ at the ol’ horse track. Coloradans for Better Schools, the backers of Initiative 135, agree. And just this week, it was reported that the initiative has received enough signatures to appear on the ballot in November. Everyone, say hello to Amendment […]
Let’s Grow Colorado K-12 Course Access But NOT Reinvent the Wheel
Give me Legos, Play-doh, or just a pile of rocks and sticks, and I’ll create something. If you want to know what some of my crazy inventions have been, just ask my poor mom. But let me tell you one thing I haven’t tried to do, and that’s reinvent the wheel. I’m sure the members […]
1000s Embrace Florida K-12 Choice: When Can Colorado Kids Win, Too?
I hope you haven’t forgotten about helping Colorado Kids Win (including giving the Facebook page a “Like”). After all, it’s been two whole weeks since I’ve reminded you about the benefits of K-12 scholarship tax credits that our state’s kids could really use. And you know that this particular little kid will use almost any […]
Amy Oliver Show: Blended Learning Grows Denver “Roots”
Jon Hanover talks about his his role as founder of the newly approved, innovative blended learning Denver charter school Roots Elementary—opening in fall 2015.
Overconfidence, Low Expectations, Little Innovation: Not a Good Mixture
Remember that clip from the ages-old education documentary Waiting for Superman, where we’re told that American students are behind the pack in math in almost any way you measure it, except for one: Yes, when it comes to students’ classroom confidence (“I get good marks in mathematics”), a much different story emerges: The USA is […]
Can’t Get Enough Productivity: Charter Schools Doing More with Less
If “productivity” is really a dirty word for education, as some critics would like us to believe, maybe that explains why I feel the overwhelming urge to write about it for the second time in less than a week. A kind of “forbidden fruit” thing, you know. Or maybe the connection just was too easy […]
