Among New School Awards, Jeffco’s Edgewater Elementary Stands Out
It’s Friday, time to stick to something a little lighter and perhaps more upbeat. This week the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) publicly celebrated its annual award winners. While 27 districts, including Douglas County, earned recognition for topping the state’s accreditation system, today I particularly would like to bring attention to the school-level results from […]
Report Madness! A Breakdown of This Week’s Charter School Reading
As a junior education policy explorer, I’ve noticed a couple of things. First, education stuff is complicated. Second, complicated education stuff leads to a whole bunch of reports and studies. Lastly, those reports and studies tend to come in spurts—a fact that often results in a whole lot of reading for yours truly. Let it […]
It’s Good to Let Teachers Choose, Too: Because One Size Doesn’t Fit All
We often talk about the value of educational choice for students and parents, and rightly so. Less frequently do we strike the theme of the importance of letting teachers choose. As I am fond of doing, a spate of recent stories today presents me with the opportunity to tie this theme together with a big […]
Customized Success: New Study Hints at the Power of Personalized Learning
Earlier this month, I wrote about some new brain science (sorry for the technical terminology) highlighting the potential benefits of personalized learning for children with ADHD. And as if that wasn’t interesting enough, I soon discovered another juicy piece of new research on personalized learning in charter schools. Before I could really chow down on […]
Silly Season Won’t Last, So Find Out Candidate Stances on Key K-12 Issues
Oh, it’s the silliest, silliest season of the year. How do I know? My grandpa muttering under his breath when one more irritating political ad interrupts his otherwise enjoyable viewing of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. And the other night my mom crumpling up the latest campaign attack flier that came in our mailbox and […]
Education Reform Times May Be A-Changin’, But Not for All
A long time ago, during an era known as “The Sixties,” there was a popular song called “The Times They Are a-Changin’”. Or so my Grandpa tells me. Apparently, it’s a sort of iconic piece about all the upheaval that was starting during this distant past. I have to say it’s a catchy tune, too. […]
Power to the Parents: Colorado Comes in 12th in CER Report
Today, the battle continues in Jeffco following the school board’s very reasonable vote on the curriculum review controversy. But we’ve talked about Jeffco a lot recently, so I think it’s time to look at something a little more uplifting. And what could be more uplifting than empowering K-12 parents to make good decisions about their children’s […]
How Much Video Fun is an Education Policy Wonk Allowed to Have?
Thanks to Choice Media for making my Friday life easier. It’s been a crazy week with the Jeffco union using kids as pawns. More on that later, but for now, here’s a 5-minute video from the American Enterprise Institute to catch your attention: Yes, the video features a ghost-girl. Yes, there are more policy wonk […]
Colorado More Leader than Laggard: A Report Card Eddie Can (Mostly) Enjoy
If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you probably know I have a fondness for report cards. A certain kind, anyway. Just as long as it’s not my report card going home to my parents about my performance. Seriously, though, I like to talk about report cards related to education policy — […]
“Race to the Top” Consensus Approach Disappoints: Who Really Wins?
Yesterday the state of Colorado turned in its Race to the Top grant funding application to the U.S. Department of Education. Missing the opportunity to do something bold, Colorado instead opted for “consensus” and “collaboration” — as reported by Jeremy Meyer in the Denver Post. Some of my older friends in the Education Policy Center […]
Families Leaving Private Schools Can Make Strong Choice Advocates
A new USA Today article by education reporter Greg Toppo is featured under the banner of “Recession fuels shift from private to public schools” — more middle-class parents with less money to spend on tuition are making the switch:
Private-school parents typically find that the structure of public schools takes some getting used to. In most […]
Stop! The “Witch-Hunt” Attacks on Charter Schools Really Creep Me Out
Okay, this is hard for me to admit because you’ll probably make fun of me. Here goes: I’m afraid of witches. Yeah, they really creep me out, especially that cackling old hag on the Wizard of Oz. But I learned about something this week that frightened me about as much, and that was an attempted […]
