All sides hustle to tell Lobato stories

Each party in the Lobato school finance lawsuit has scrambled to put its spin on the case as the start of the trial nears

Education policy critics march in D.C.

Teachers and supporters gathered near the White House on Saturday to chant, cheer, and march for changes they hope to see in public schools

Curtain rises on historic Lobato trial

Is the system Colorado uses to pay for its schools constitutional? That complex question is the focus of a major trial opening Monday.

An apology to the class of 2013

In a few weeks the class of 2013 will begin its junior year of high school.  We know enough about the skills and knowledge of our 11^th graders to see we must do something different for almost half of them during their last two years of high school—their last chance for a “free, public education”—if they are to graduate with the academic skills we expect of seniors.  If we do not, many will walk off that stage with a high school diploma in late May 2013, but without the skills needed for success in college.  Perhaps we will owe them a heartfelt apology.

“Overall, 28.6 percent of recent high school graduates in Colorado need remediation upon entering a higher education institution.” (In 2009, that was 8,606 students out of 30,042 first-time high school graduates assigned to remediation in at least one subject.) “The cost of remedial education increased from $13 million last year to $19 million this year…. As higher education funding continues to be cut, these numbers appear even more ominous.”
2010 Legislative Report on Remedial Education, Colorado Department of Higher Education, 2/4/11.

I have kept in touch with several former middle school students, now entering 11^th grade.  Most will have many good choices available to them as they reach graduation.  In a few cases it won’t happen without extra effort.  Several years ago, when one junior—a former student—scored low on the 10th grade CSAP and the PLAN (a pre-ACT) assessment, her parents brought her in for a few tutoring sessions.  Scores improved.  After graduating she went on to a state university.  Motivated students, from supportive families.  They’ll be OK.

But when we see at least half of Colorado’s 10th graders are not proficient in writing, math, or science (in 2010, 50 percent in writing, 67 percent in math, and 50 percent in science scored Unsatisfactory or Partially Proficient), and 30 percent are not proficient in reading, isn’t it clear we need to rethink how we serve these teenagers during their final two years of high school?  Especially when we know they may not have parents advocating for them, or they may doubt the necessity of going the extra mile before they graduate? (Hey, can’t I just zip through a few credit-recovery courses?)

The Churn: MALDEF weighs in

Updated - A second party in the Lobato lawsuit made its case to the media today, just ahead of Monday’s trial.

State panel targets school discipline

Zero tolerance policies got no respect during the first meeting of a legislative task force assigned to review discipline methods in Colorado schools

Wednesday Churn: DPS goes to D.C.

Updated – Boasberg testifies about teacher quality in Congress and Colorado Teach for America gets $3 million

Opinion: What’s with Colo.’s 12th-grade dropout rate?

It is heartbreaking when any student drops out of high school. It is especially heartbreaking when that student makes it all the way to 12^th grade only to leave months before his classmates don their caps and gowns.

That’s why a certain statistic caught my eye as I read the 2011 Education Week “Quality Counts” report. The report examined (among other things) the students who were scheduled to graduate with the class of 2008 but dropped out instead.

Nationwide, 25 percent of the dropouts from the class of 2008 left school senior year.

Yet in Colorado, 43.4 percent of 2008 dropouts left senior year.

That’s a big difference.

One obvious reason for the high percentage of 12^th grade dropouts is that in 2007, Colorado raised the legal dropout age from 16 to 17. It is difficult, however, to determine whether the 12^th-grade drop-out rate was higher before this occurred.  That’s because the state, in recent years, has made import changes to dropout rate calculations.[i]

Opinion: Campaign launches; funders unknown

The One Chance Colorado education reform advocacy campaign officially launches today with a 30-second TV ad on five stations, a website and social media presence.

Here’s a look at the campaign’s first ad:

I wrote about the campaign last week, and there’s not a lot more detail to offer than what leaked out then. Look for billboards, signs at bus-stops, and a presence on Twitter, Facebook and the web.

The statewide campaign has been in the works for over a year. The timing of its launch corresponds with the start of a new school year, former Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien said yesterday. The campaign is tentatively scheduled to last through September, but could go longer depending on the success of fundraising efforts.

Will Dougco ‘voucher charter’ undermine charter schools?

Editor’s note: This post and the one that follows offer two differing perspectives on aspects of the Douglas County School District’s voucher program, which is slated to begin early next month, but is being challenged in court by several groups.

This post was submitted by Jim Griffin, president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools

In recent days, the Colorado League of Charter Schools has publicly commented on its concern about the Douglas County Choice Scholarship charter school.

First, we want to make it clear that our concerns are about the way Douglas County School District is choosing to implement its scholarship program. We are not taking issue with Douglas County’s intentions nor its scholarship program in general.

Charter schools were built on the foundation of innovation and choice. Therefore, the League applauds Douglas County’s attempts at using innovation to provide parents with additional educational options.

Unfortunately, however, the Douglas County School District decided to use the Colorado Charter Schools Act as a vehicle to implement their voucher program, which creates a number of issues and could ultimately be detrimental to the Colorado charter school community as a whole.