Independence Institute

Students’ Walk in the PARCC Gets a Little Shorter 0
- May 27, 2015
It wasn’t too long ago that we were in the midst of a high-stakes game of legislative testing chicken. The Great Testing Debate of 2015 eventually ground to a (sort of) conclusion that involved reducing the amount of testing overall and creating a pilot program to look into new possibilities on the testing front. Yes, […]
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Colorado, Time to Observe National Charter Schools Week Eddie-Style 0
- May 8, 2015
It’s a little bittersweet writing near the end of National Charter Schools Week, a couple short days after Colorado’s legislative session concluded with very little progress made on behalf of choice and fair funding. (Nor does all the wet, gray, gloomy weather help, either!) Looking back, though, the week kicked off with a great Watchdog […]
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Broad Brush “Limited Impact” Claim Vindicates Progress of Prop 104 0
- May 4, 2015
Last week I posted a case study from the Thompson School District, an example of how NOT to negotiate an employee agreement. Just because the popularly enacted Prop 104 has opened the door on these negotiations doesn’t guarantee that they will be conducted effectively, at least not on the first try. That isn’t to say […]
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High-Stakes Game of Legislative Testing Chicken Nears Point of No Return 0
- April 30, 2015
There’s nothing quite like the last-minute drama of a Colorado legislative session to fire up the creative juices. Last year at this time, I imagined the crazy showdown over transparency in the Student Success Act as an old gangster film. This time around, the big looming education issue is what to do about testing. No […]
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How Not to Negotiate: Thompson’s Tepid Tentative Agreement 0
- April 29, 2015
Last week, we dove into the ongoing ugliness in Thompson School District. The highlight of that post was CEA’s bogus petition against the board majority’s attempts to draft clearer MOU for negotiation. Certainly, CEA’s involvement in the district is a major issue and seriously alters the calculus as negotiations move forward. Reform board members were […]
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Yes, It’s Hard to Be Humble — for Education Reformers and for This Blog 0
- April 23, 2015
There have been more than a few times when I’ve gloated about an awesome blog idea that came to life here. On some occasions, my Education Policy Center friends warned me not to “get a big head.” At first, I was worried they meant little Eddie might turn out like this guy. Later I figured […]
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