Opportunity Culture Promotes Smarter K-12 Spending through Teaching Enhancement
Edublogger extraordinaire Joanne Jacobs brought my attention to Opportunity Culture, a new website project of the group Public Impact. The idea? How to extend the reach of excellent teachers with innovative uses of time, space, technology and professional roles. Opportunity Culture has a smart group of people advising the project, and of course Public Impact […]
Will Hick’s $10,000 from AFT Affect Dougco Intervention Decision?
Five weeks have passed since the Douglas County Federation of Teachers (DCFT) filed a request with the Colorado Department of Labor to intervene and protect the union’s monopoly power. The clock is still ticking. What is Hick going to do? Labor Department executive director Ellen Golombek’s longstanding ties to the AFL-CIO — the DCFT’s mother union — have been well established. But ultimately the decision rests with her boss, Governor John Hickenlooper.
Harvard Study Puts Three States on Medal Stand for Boosting K-12 Achievement
The latest edition of the Olympic Games is almost here (who else do you know who gets to live through two different Summer Olympics at age 5?), so what better time to hand out some figurative medals to states for K-12 student learning success? A new Harvard study by Eric Hanushek, Paul Peterson, and Ludger […]
A Good Balance? Louisiana Brings New Kind of Accountability to Voucher Schools
Choice and accountability are two words you’ll hear my Education Policy Center friends say quite a bit if you’re around them enough. Empowering families with a broader range of educational options, and providing transparent information about — and real consequences for — a school ’s learning results, are two general principles they and I regularly […]
Time to Revisit the Need for Serious Cost-Saving K-12 Reforms in Colorado
In Education Next, Nevada state superintendent James Guthrie and co-author Elizabeth Ettema argue that U.S. schools face a prolonged period without historic per-pupil funding increases. The time remains ripe for Colorado K-12 leaders to develop a performance-based school finance system and to help forge a path that can be followed to promising innovations like blended learning and merit pay.
Indiana Teacher Case Should Unsettle Colorado Union Foes of Member Options
Colorado union leaders succeeded in killing this year’s House Bill 1333, a proposal that would have granted teachers the ability to opt in or out of union membership with 30 days notice. Yes, they hung their opposition on the pathetic “local control” argument. And they have to be hoping the issue just goes away.
But poke […]
Latest Filings in Lobato Case Remind of Need for Real School Finance Reform
Ed News reports that the State of Colorado has laid out its detailed argument in the appeal of the Lobato school funding case. Former governors of both political stripes joined the University of Colorado Board of Regents and a coalition of business leaders in submitting their formal backing with the State and against the lawsuit:
The […]
“Teacher Who Couldn’t Read” Addresses Literacy at Next Brown Bag Lunch
That last Brown Bag Lunch back in April — the one with Marcus Winters, author of Teachers Matter — was such a success that my Education Policy Center friends are excited to introduce the second Brown Bag Lunch, coming soon:
This year’s signature education legislation, the Colorado READ Act, has shined the light on the need […]
Colorado K-12 Education Spending
We’ve heard the narrative a million times before: Colorado just doesn’t spend enough on our children’s education. We are always ranked near the bottom on spending lists. But is this true? Senior policy analyst Ben DeGrow looks at the spending data over the last 10 years and discovers that Colorado has increased real dollars on every single measure of school revenue and spending over that time period.
Douglas County Aftermath Means Time to Inform about Teacher Member Options
So no more union monopoly collective bargaining agreement exists for teachers in Colorado’s third-largest school district… Now what? Change certainly isn’t easy. And the group losing its prestigious status, in this case the Douglas County Federation of Teachers, isn’t just going to walk away quietly into the shadows.
The largest teachers union, NEA, already is […]
Choice Media K12 Video Reminds Colorado It’s Time to Move Ahead on Digital Learning
Friday means I’m taking it easy, and leaving the work up to Choice Media TV’s Bob Bowdon, who interviewed Jeff Kwitowski of K12, Inc., to talk about online education in this 8-minute video:
K12’s Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA) is the state’s largest provider among many online schools parents can choose. COVA mom Lori Cooney notes that […]
State Data Show Colorado 10-Year K-12 Funding Trends Still Going Up
Not many people out there get the joy out of school funding figures, but understanding them clearly is crucial to the debate. Part of the problem? Depending on which source you look at, per-pupil spending and revenue data don’t always line up, something my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow pointed out in his 2006 […]
