Race to the Top pot gets richer

Colorado could garner $17.9 million from round three of Race to the Top.

DPS SchoolChoice plan set to go

The Denver Public Schools’ new streamlined “one form, one timeline, all schools” enrollment system now has the participation of every district charter.

The Churn: Hick names new regent

Jeffco Schools administrator Irene Griego has been named to the CU Board of Regents, just one of the names in the news this week.

Budgeting smartly for digital success

For decades, education pundits have predicted that technology would radically alter and improve the delivery of educational services. Radio, Ed TV, and computers in classrooms were all examples that were highly touted in their time. And, while none of these has really had much impact on student learning, a cottage industry has also developed to explain why. Now, with widespread digital access and technologies, we may well be on the cusp of a technological change in education that will be meaningful.

Getting past CREDO

I’ve been anxious to address the performance of Colorado’s charter school sector since I took the dive into blogging on EdNews. Before I talk about Colorado performance, however, I have to address the 400-pound gorilla in the room: The Center for Research on Education Outcomes’ (CREDO) popular – and highly misunderstood – report Multiple Choice: Charter School Study in 16 States.

For those who don’t know, the CREDO report is a broad look at charter school performance in 15 states and DC that generally uses 2003-2008 state longitudinal student performance data to compare the academic performance of charter schools student to “virtual twins” in traditional public schools (TPS).  I won’t go further into the methodology of the report due to space constraints, other than to say that it is accepted as a fairly strong method.

So what did the author find?  Well, anyone who has so much as dipped into charter school policy knows that the overall finding was the following: In math, 17 percent of charter schools demonstrated growth that significantly exceeded TPS growth, 46 percent showed indistinguishable growth, and 37 percent showed growth below their TPS peers.  This 17-46-37 combo has been cited ad nauseam since the release of the report in 2009, primarily by charter school opponents, as an indictment of charter schools and the justification to claim failure and dismantle the system.

But – and this is unfortunate – the continual drumbeat of 17-46-37 obscures some of the other very important findings of the study along with the very significant limitations of this – or any – national study on charter schools.

Opinion: School choice … is it really?

Julie Poppen is editor of Education News Colorado’s sister site, EdNews Parent.

Well, it’s that time of year and I’m not talking about racing around looking for cranberries or figuring out how many pounds your bird should be. I’m talking open enrollment.

Six years ago, this was my situation: I frantically sought all the information I could on Boulder elementary schools. I analyzed their websites, loading them with way too much import: “Oh, that one is nicely designed and creative – they must have fabulous parent volunteers and the school must be top-notch, too” or “Geez, what a crappy website, don’t they care enough to present a positive image to the world?”

As much as I say I don’t care about test scores, I looked at those too. As a former K-12 education reporter in Boulder, I had a distinct advantage. I had already visited many of the schools I was now considering for my precious daughter. I knew which ones aced the CSAPs, which ones focused on the arts, which ones were struggling.

My husband and I faithfully showed up at the open enrollment tours and school visits for parents. We dutifully took notes and scrutinized children’s art on the school walls as if we were art brokers: “Wow, they must have a really good art teacher here … or is the teacher guiding their work too much, so it looks too professional?”

Of course, all this happens smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. I remember getting really sick, but still feeling like I had to show up at these open enrollment venues. At one visit, my ears were completely clogged, I felt rotten and I had to wonder what the heck I was doing. Still, I was there, checking out the parent volunteers who escorted us around the school. “Hmmm … they seem nice, and very well-dressed. Would I fit in?”

Open enrollment season is indeed a crazy time. How can you not participate in the dance? I mean, it’s your child, and you want what’s best for him or her, right?

Colorado readies next R2T bid

Hoping the third time’s a charm, Colorado officials are getting ready to submit their latest application for federal Race to the Top funds.

The path from changing laws to helping kids

This piece was submitted by Celine Coggins, CEO of Teach Plus, a Boston-based non-profit organization with a mission to improve outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. Coggins is the featured speaker at the Nov. 18 Hot Lunch event. At Teach Plus, we are working [...]

Denver board approves school changes

DPS board members approve C3 elementary at Merrill Middle School, vote against renewing Life Skills’ charter and elect a new president

“Shake ‘em up” – Why Prop. 103 failed

This article was written by Kristen Burroughs. She has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in Philosophy from Yale University.  As a new resident of Colorado, she hopes to contribute to her new home state.
Their plan was clear.  Too clear.  Voters were expected to willingly increase their own taxes so more money could meander along the channels of the education bureaucracy, eventually making its way to kids.

The response was clearer: two-thirds of Colorado’s voters clearly rejected the plan known as Proposition 103.

Why?

Here’s a telling anecdote.  As I was writing this essay in grassy park in Colorado Springs, an elderly woman came and sat at my table.  During the course of our conversation, I asked her if she had voted in the last election.  She said never missed an election.  So I asked her what she thought about Prop 103.  After a bit of memory jogging, she told me that she voted against it because she wanted to “shake ‘em up.”