Retiring Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo - and former president of the Independence Institute (long before I was even born) - has a great piece published in today’s Rocky Mountain News. Most people associate Rep. Tancredo with the issue of immigration, but his deepest roots go back into education as a former public school teacher and as regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education during the 1980s.

As he gives advice to Colorado’s current governor and one of his recent predecessors, the themes in Rep. Tancredo’s Speakout column are not novel or startling, but they’re important reminders we can’t hear enough:

Last week, Gov. Bill Ritter and former Gov. Roy Romer wrote a column about the state of education in America. In it, I believe they’ve unwittingly made a powerful argument for precisely the kind of educational reform that they have publicly opposed for many years: school choice….

If history has taught us anything, it is that solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems have come only when we have unleashed the power of the free market. The answer to the education problem, simply put, is more choices for parents, and more competition by schools for students. It is not another ambitious big government “solution” put together by the same special interests that have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo - a status quo that even Romer and Ritter admit leaves our students lagging far behind youngsters from Seoul and Singapore as they enter a newly competitive global economy.

In case someone reading this post is new to the site, I don’t mind repeating myself, too. The best tool to help parents understand and take control of their educational options in Colorado is our School Choice for Kids website. Check it out!

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School is getting back into gear for most students across Colorado. An ever more popular and innovative option for parents and students is the online charter school. The newest - Insight School of Colorado - is authorized by the Julesburg School District in the far northeastern corner of the state.

Technology and cyberspace are ever changing, so you may need to revise your notions of what an online charter school program looks like for the typical student. Here’s what Insight has to offer:

Enrolling at Insight means having access to the very best online high school education, including

• A personal mentoring program
• A nationally recognized curriculum
• Professional one-on-one instruction
• In-person meetings
• Social activities
• All the administrative and technology support you and your family need

There’s also a video that explains more about the Insight program (free Quicktime software needed). Social activities, you say, at an online school? According to the website, there will be a school newspaper, student government, academic clubs, occasional field trips throughout Colorado, and “Yes, there will be a prom!”

As an online charter school, the opportunity to enroll in Insight is open to students age 14 to 20 anywhere in Colorado. But only local Julesburg students have the option to enroll part-time; all others must sign up for at least 5 courses. Students at Insight benefit from the development of an individual learning plan, 24-hour-a-day academic and technical support, and the opportunity for upper-level students to earn as many as 12 college credits through the University of Phoenix Pathways program.

It’s too late to sign up for the upcoming fall semester, which starts next Monday, August 25. But the enrollment process remains open for the coming spring. No matter where you live in Colorado, Insight might be the right fit for your high schooler. Check it out!

Other new schools featured:

• eDCSD Online
• The Studio School in Adams 12
• Cesar Chavez Academy-North Central
• Early College High School Arvada
• AXL Academy
• The Imagine Classical Academy at Indigo Ranch

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Successful schools need to be highlighted, and West Denver Prep Charter School gets the appropriate treatment from Nancy Mitchell in today’s Rocky Mountain News:

West Denver Preparatory Charter School was born over lukewarm coffee in the basement of a church called The Pearl in a graffiti- stained neighborhood at the south end of Federal Boulevard.

In meeting after meeting, a carefully selected and diverse group - The Pearl’s minister, the city’s chief operating officer, a troubled kid from L.A. turned veteran teacher - drew the bones of a school they hoped would change minds about what can be achieved in public education in Denver.

Today, West Denver Prep ranks No. 1 among the city’s 44 middle schools in the academic growth of its students. It stages annual lotteries to select pupils from an overflow of applicants and, from those not chosen, tears are not unusual. [emphasis added]

Read the whole thing. Three cheers to West Denver Prep, and continued best wishes for success. Here’s hoping other schools - as well as education policy makers - take the time to watch, listen, learn, and follow its example.

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On its very first day of class, here’s a quick update on the Early College High School at Arvada, via an email one of my friends in the Education Policy Center received from school director Sarah Brock:

…First of all, due to strong community request and concern regarding the upcoming changes to the high schools in the area, we are enrolling both 9th and 10th graders this year (very small classes of both, between 30-40 students per grade). Going forward we will only be enrolling 9th graders each year - around 80 students each year - and we expect to reach capacity in 2012, with approximately 320 students. Because we are enrolling 10th graders this year, our first graduating class will happen in Spring of 2011!

Finally, I notice that you have our Open House and Information Sessions on the site - but all the dates are past. I would truly appreciate it if you would update the site to say that ECHS at Arvada will be accepting walk-in enrollments through August 22nd. Interested families can stop by the school and speak to Ms. Paula Kendall, our Office Manager, in the main office anytime between 8am - 4:30pm. They can also email me at sbrock@echswest.org if they would like more information or to set up a tour.

For anyone in the Denver metro area still looking for a free high school in which to enroll for 2008-09, this is the week to check out ECHS at Arvada as an option. Remember, you can find all your Colorado schooling options at the School Choice for Kids website.

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Last week I told you about how charter schools in Aurora were getting shortchanged in a proposed bond measure. The local newspaper, the Aurora Sentinel, fired back at the charter schools with a strange and poorly informed editorial.

There’s no need to rehash all the places where the newspaper’s editors went wrong. Denise at Colorado Charters took care of it pretty well with a two-part series (here and here).

According to a 2007 Harvard University national survey, most Americans don’t really know much about charter schools. Though interestingly, support for charters and equalized funding for charters is much higher among those who actually understand how they work. Perhaps if the Aurora Sentinel editors were similarly well-informed, their opinion would change.

But the reason I wanted to bring this all to your attention was the full and fresh treatment given today at the online news shop Face The State. One of the Education Policy Center’s own is quoted in the story:

“The claim that charter schools lack accountability is laughable,” said Ben DeGrow, an education policy analyst with the Independence Institute, a Golden-based free market think tank and frequent supporter of charter schools. “In many ways they’re more accountable than traditional public schools. If charters are managed poorly or fail to meet academic performance standards, they actually can be shut down.” [link added]

That’s somebody I want to grow up to be like. Anyway, you really ought to read the whole story, and then work to help my friends here in the Education Policy Center educate the public about school choice in Colorado — and particularly in this case, charter schools.

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Colorado is a great place to be for a host of public online education options. Douglas County School District has a new cyber-learning alternative: eDCSD Online Education. “Learning That Takes You Places” is the eDCSD motto. Online learning well may be the massive wave of the future in education - it might even be common for a major portion of students to be enrolled in these kind of programs by the time I reach high school.

But another online education program, you say? What makes eDCSD unique?:

eDCSD combines rigorous curriculum, well qualified teachers, and the best in Web 2.0 technologies—all with the convenience of online accessibility to create a learning experience that is truly one of a kind.

In addition to low student-to-teacher ratios and convenient, flexible scheduling - traits common to cyberschools - eDCSD also puts an emphasis on “a safe, secure social networking environment that encourages student connection and fosters collaboration.” If they can take what kids know today from the online worlds of MySpace, Facebook, and the like, and combine it effectively with the content students need to reach educational success, that would make the eDCSD program stand apart.

You have to go to the eDCSD Online website directly to see the introductory video that tells what the school is about far better than my little blog post. But I love this quote that Douglas County Superintendent Jim Christensen gives in the video about the district’s online program:

What we respect most is your choice on how your child should be educated, and we can provide the full menu. And if you want part of this menu, and part of that menu, we have it for you. So this is a one-stop shop for any parent or any child in whatever learning environment they would like to pursue. We believe we can meet those needs. [emphasis added]

It’s great to see that the Douglas County Schools leadership really gets it, as they respond to the demands from families to tailor options that suit their children’s learning styles. And if you think the eDCSD Online learning program may suit your child, I suggest you go check it out.

Other new schools featured:

• The Studio School in Adams 12
• Cesar Chavez Academy-North Central
• Early College High School Arvada
• AXL Academy
• The Imagine Classical Academy at Indigo Ranch

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In an interview yesterday with reporter Nelson Garcia of 9News, our own Ben DeGrow offered a different point of view on the bevy of school district bond and mill levy elections slated for the Denver metro area this November (H/T Mount Virtus):

Ben DeGrow is the education policy analyst for the Education Policy Center within the Independence Institute, which is a conservative political think tank. DeGrow says too many middle class families are coping with high gas prices and a poor real estate market to think about raising their own property taxes for schools.

“This may be a tough year for JeffCo and other metro school districts to be asking for money,” said DeGrow.

JeffCo is just one of the major districts around Denver poised to ask voters for money this fall. Denver, Aurora, and Cherry Creek have also expressed the intent to place bond issues or mill levies on the November ballot along with a number of other districts across Colorado.

DeGrow says school districts place bond issues and mill levies on the ballot during presidential elections because that means more un-informed voters will come to the polls.

“You’re reaching into a base of voters who don’t necessarily have as much information who may be inclined to just give more money to schools because it sounds like the right thing to do,” said Degrow.

DeGrow says, instead, people should be asking districts how it can spend the money it already has more efficiently instead of trying to fix all problems by throwing more money into the system.

“Most studies show, there’s no connection between how much is spent and what the results are as far as student tests,” said DeGrow.

You can also find the video by following the link to the story. Ben’s interview follows up on similar points that Pam Benigno made to 9News a couple months ago.

As highlighted in this backgrounder Ben wrote, Colorado still ranks 26th in per-pupil spending at roughly $10,000 per pupil. It’s time for more school district budget transparency.

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For those who educate their children at home, and for all those who support the rights of homeschoolers, recent news from California comes as a relief. A little more than five months ago a state appeals court issued a ruling that many worried would have the effect of shutting down homeschooling in California. Supporters in other states rallied to their defense, in part from fear that the dangerous precedent would have a ripple effect in their own backyards.

Last Friday brought a happier ending to this saga:

In a decision widely praised, a California appeals court this morning affirmed the right of parents who don’t have a teaching credential to educate their children at home.

A three-judge panel overturned a lower-court order in February that had created an uproar among home-schooling parents when it required that they be credentialed. An estimated 166,000 California children are home schooled.

The Second District appellate court in Los Angeles ruled that individual parents, like private schools, are exempt from the requirement that those who teach children be credentialed by the state.

This court decision (follow the link to read the actual ruling) is truly a victory for parental rights and personal liberties. The growing voice of the homeschooling community certainly was heard, now more clearly protected by a strong legal foundation.

Any time educational freedom either grows or fends off a repressive attack, there is reason to celebrate. This latest decision is such an occasion.

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Olympic excitement has taken hold. All eyes are on China to watch the best swimmers, runners, cyclists, gymnasts, boxers, weightlifters, shooters, and ballplayers compete at the highest level and represent their countries under the brightest lights on the international stage.

But there’s another Olympics taking place, as well. The Thomas Fordham Foundation has created the Education Olympics website, as a way to measure America’s education performance versus other nations, according to a series of different measures. After two events, Finland and Norway have taken home the gold, while the United States has been shut out of the medal count so far.

You can stay tuned with video clips that provide “coverage” of the “events”. Here’s hoping - and all but expecting - that the United States will perform better in the real Summer Olympics in Beijing than in the Education Olympics.

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Families in the Northglenn-Thornton area north of Denver who are looking to immerse their younger students in a creative arts approach to education have a new option this fall. The Studio School (formerly known as the District Arts Magnet School) in Adams 12 opens its doors to students in kindergarten through 2nd grade on August 18. In each successive year, one grade will be added until it becomes a full K-8 school in 2014-15.

According to The Studio School’s website:

The arts are infused in core subject areas such as language arts, math, science and social studies. Staff empowers students with an interest in the arts to flourish and expand their artistic abilities through a solid academic environment. The learning environment capitalizes on the latest research linking academic success with the integration of arts concepts and experiences.

Each school day will include 85 minutes of creative arts–including visual art, music, theatre, dance, and literary art.

The Studio School is neither a public charter school nor a district school of choice. Applications must be made directly to the school, but only families living in Adams 12 are eligible to enroll. Students are selected by lottery on a geographic basis to represent different regions of the school district. Applications are closed for 2008-09.

Other new schools featured:

• Cesar Chavez Academy-North Central
• Early College High School Arvada
• AXL Academy
• The Imagine Classical Academy at Indigo Ranch

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