Due to Choice Fight, Florida Adds School Board Member Choice: What Next?
If I had a nickel for every time the word choice was used on this blog, my college fund would be well on its way. (Of course, it’s not clear when or how a perpetual 5-year-old pursues postsecondary education, but that’s a conundrum to unpack on another day.) Well, it’s about time to make a […]
Exciting Stuff: Jeffco’s Jefferson Area Plan Moves Closer to a Vote
Some positive efforts for change are underway in the Jefferson Articulation Area, one of Jeffco’s most challenging regions. An important improvement plan faces a March 5 board vote. The plan is the culmination of a huge process that pulled together district officials, school leaders, community members, and parents. Education collaboration is a beautiful thing. Let’s hope it leads to better results for students!
State Board Gets Even Weirder On Testing Issue
Last month, we kicked off the 2015 legislative party together. I promised it would be an exciting year, and that has certainly been the case. But I may have been wrong about where that excitement would be coming from. The legislature has its hands full when it comes to education-related issues, but the real party […]
Harrison: More About Real Performance Pay than Former Presidents
What kind of a holiday is Presidents Day anyway? For many kids, it’s just a great excuse to stay home from school. Speaking of which, yours truly decided to dig up eight little factoids about Colorado public schools named after former U.S. presidents: Hardly a shock, “Lincoln” is the most popular presidential school name with […]
Overcoming the Gloom, Focusing on the Sunshine of #SchoolChoice
Well, the Brookings Institution this week released its latest edition of the Education Choice and Competition Index. Might I add the acronym ECCI (ecky?), awash in a sea of edu-acronyms through which yours truly has to doggy paddle day after day, is just a bit too much fun to say. And say. And say again. […]
Tom Coyne Smart Jeffco Whistle Bomb
Every now and then, an op-ed drops from the sky like one of those whistle bombs in the movies. The resulting explosion gets folks all riled up, and usually leads to some highly entertaining (though not terribly productive) conversations. Today is one of those days, with a Denver Post op-ed that sees Jeffco’s Tom Coyne outlining […]
Testing Issue Isn’t as Easy as “1, 2, 3,” But You’ve Got to Start Somewhere
Have you ever watched a big person prepare to do some public speaking behind a microphone? Or maybe you’ve done it yourself. Almost always, when someone asks if the microphone is working, the person leans into the device and says something like, “Testing, testing… 123, testing.” Well, I’m worried that little rote phrase may take […]
Ding Ding Ding! JCEA’s Round Two Battleflop
Not too long ago, John Ford of the Jefferson County Education Association told us that “the fight would start in January.” I wrote about his inspiring speech recently, but here’s the video in case you forgot: And if that weren’t enough to get this little guy scared, Complete Colorado broke the story that he’s been […]
Little Eddie’s Transparency Soap Box
I love flashlights. I can remember many nights spent reading under my Batman sheets with a flashlight well past the time I should have been asleep. And just last week, I used a flashlight to hunt down the final Lego block I needed to finish my replica Millennium Falcon. It had fallen under the bed. […]
Eddie’s Top Posts of 2014: Part Two
Yesterday, we embarked on a fun little tour of your favorite policy explorer’s best 2014 blog posts. Knowing that you’re still trying to work through all the holiday tryptophan, however, I limited myself to covering just the first half of the year. (Fun make-you-sound-smart-at-your-next-holiday-party factoid: The turkey-tryptophan thing is actually a myth.) As promised, we’ll […]
Can’t Contain My Excitement: Dougco Case Reaches Supreme Court Today
Don’t get me wrong: Christmas will be great when it comes in a couple weeks, but there’s only one Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program hearing before the Colorado Supreme Court! Following a great amicus brief and a terrific Denver Post op-ed written by a Dougco dad, a positive ruling sometime in 2015 could open doors and break down more barriers in parts of Colorado and beyond, giving students and families access to more educational options than ever before. Power to the students and the parents!
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 […]
