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!
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 […]
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 […]
Dougco Shakes It Up Again By Earning State’s Top Accreditation Rating
There was a time when my former perpetually 5-year-old self was busy writing a lot about Douglas County. The ebb and flow of news and activity has changed that somewhat, though there have been opportunities of late to talk about my Education Policy Center friends chiming in to the courts on the Choice Scholarship Program, […]
For More Educational Freedom, I’ll Give Up (Figurative) Ed School Explosions
Explosions are cool effects to watch in the world of make-believe. But blowing things up in real life is generally a bad idea with lots of potentially bad consequences. Somebody could get hurt. So it’s probably not surprising that I got a reaction from Rick Hess’s latest blog piece, “A Better Path than ‘Blowing Up’ Schools of Education.”
ADHD and Education: A New Take on Personalized Learning
As this year’s election silliness mercifully raged to a close earlier in the week (well, kind of), I teased you with the promise of a blog post on ADHD as it relates to customized education and personalized learning. I then proceeded to torture you with a discussion about yet another interpretation of this year’s education […]
Two New Columns Bring Us Back to Reality in Jeffco Public Schools
It’s time to cut through the fog. Pieces of misinformation about the Jeffco school board have become so rampant that, even with your low-beams on, you’re bound to run into one or two of them. To deny the concentrated campaign of union field-tested talking points has been effective at increasing the numbers and volume of […]
Big Screen TVs and Backward Protests: Pass the Popcorn, JCEA
If you haven’t heard the news, boys and girls, there’s going to be quite a party in Jefferson County tonight. And it sounds like it’s going to be a biggin: Turnout is expected to be so high that the teachers’ union plans to stream video from the meeting room — which holds a couple hundred […]
Jeffco Teacher “Sickout” Has Me Feeling Sick… And Confused
Having to write this kind of post makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. Why would some teachers walk out on kids, enough to close down two Jeffco high schools? The headline from a 9News story points to the only two possibilities I can see: AP US History or teacher pay raises. What… […]
Brookings: Superintendents Don’t Make Big Impact on Student Learning
What exactly should we expect of Colorado’s school district leaders? With a title like SUPERintendent, are we expecting too much of what they can accomplish? What difference does it make for what students in a district learn to have an experienced superintendent as opposed to someone new at the helm? A brand-new Brookings study strongly […]
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 […]
Hoping Race to the Top Spurs Colorado Funding, Teacher, STEM Innovations
Katie Redding at the Colorado Independent reported yesterday on the official recommendations for Colorado’s application to receive Race to the Top federal reform dollars. One of my Education Policy Center friends got a chance to chime in:
Ben DeGrow, education policy analyst for the free-market Independence Institute, found much to like about the application, particularly the […]
