Category Archives: Public Charter Schools

February is a big month for awards. There’s the Oscars for movies and the Grammys for popular music. Before both of them comes the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the winner of the most-watched sporting event: the Super Bowl. So I thought today would be a great opportunity to highlight a couple of freshly-announced education-related awards. First and foremost, the group Stand for Children Colorado yesterday announced well-deserved recognition, along with giving out $1,000 each, to 10 superhero teachers across the state: At Stand for Children, we’ve seen the impact a great teacher can make. And after reading nearly 100 nominations for outstanding teachers across the state, we know you have, too. Please join us in celebrating the ten teachers listed below who have won $1,000 to recognize and reward their commitment. The list includes teachers from Evans to Grand Junction and all along the Front Range, teachers who represent the elementary and middle and high school levels, as well as six neighborhood schools, three charters and an alternative school. Congratulations to each and every one of them! Read the entries to see what their nominations had to say about them. Now for something mostly different. Matt Ladner this morning has […]

This morning Education News Colorado has published an important story by Nancy Mitchell on the growing number of families opting to enroll students in public education programs outside their district of residence: This fall, 66,296 students are “choicing out” of their home district. That’s 8 percent of the state’s 843,316 pupils; in 2001, the comparable figure was 3 percent. In education circles, it’s known as “inter-district open enrollment.” There’s also “intra-district open enrollment,” where students move to a public school outside their neighborhood but still within the school district. But even that description is too cut and dried.

Well, it’s that time of year again…. Hey, stop giving me those blank stares! Time to preview Colorado’s upcoming legislative session and the debates over bills and policies that could affect K-12 education in our state. Session starts in two days, and Ed News Colorado has posted the annual preview by Todd Engdahl — a must-read for local education transformers. Of course, anyone who has been paying attention or reading what I have to say, knows what the driving theme will be. Engdahl’s story hammers it home:

Twenty-eleven is here, and I’m back with my youthful optimism looking toward a better, freer education future. While a lot of states — including Colorado — look forward to convening their legislatures with a focus on tackling budget problems, truly bold education reform is at the forefront of conversation in at least one place: Florida. Education Week State Education Watch blogger Sean Cavanaugh recently took note of some recommendations made by Governor-Elect Rick Scott‘s transition team. The 20-page document covers a wide range of ideas in various areas, including teacher quality, school choice and digital learning. Most of the focus is being drawn to a “universal voucher” idea that Gov-elect Scott had hinted at, and is now being fleshed out in the form of education savings accounts. As Cavanagh reports:

In the end-of-the-year holiday dash, it sure looks like the Colorado League of Charter Schools has been busy. Busy standing up against the anti-charter actions of a couple local school boards. Two cases in point. The first is an op-ed League president Jim Griffin penned for the Greeley Tribune. It came out a couple days ago as the Greeley school board contemplated denying an expansion of the successful Union Colony charter school on the basis of student demographics. (The board since has officially rejected it.) But Griffin provided the skeptical Board and the Tribune itself with some clarifying insights:

My mom and dad work with me a lot to help me be less selfish. The phrase “Me first” is kind of frowned upon in our household. Ok, I get that. But what about “We first”? If I’m thinking about all us kids out there who are students, that’s not being too self-centered… right? It was about two months ago you all had to help me fight back the tears after the news that Michelle Rhee was forced out of her job as D.C. schools chancellor. But it’s always darkest before the dawn, they say. For last week the news came out that my edu-crush is now leading a national education reform advocacy group known as… you guessed it: Students First. Isn’t this great news? Well, if you don’t want to drown in my enthusiasm, you ought to read the thoughtful, well-informed perspective of the Center for Education Reform’s Jeanne Allen, who offers some valid cautions to Rhee with her “Welcome Aboard” message.

This morning, Colorado’s outgoing governor Bill Ritter formally recognized some schools and school districts for outstanding academic performance. A couple observations, first about the school districts. As Ed News Colorado’s Nancy Mitchell explains and breaks down, there are five levels of rating districts can earn from the state’s Department of Education. Only 14 of 178 earned the highest (“Accredited with Distinction”), while 7 districts received the lowest (“Accredited with Turnaround”). Most districts fall somewhere in between. Many times we’ve heard during the discussion about Douglas County’s groundbreaking private school choice proposals (which passed on to the superintendent in resolution form on Tuesday night) that the district doesn’t need choice because it’s the highest-performing district in the state. But a careful look at the list shows Douglas County isn’t anywhere in the top 14 “with distinction.” Maybe — just maybe — a whole slate of expanded choices and options for families will help the district compete and rise to the top. Hmmmm. With the governor’s blessing today, the Colorado Department of Education also recognized 32 schools as “Centers of Excellence” for demonstrating the highest rates of student academic growth while serving at-risk student populations (75 percent or more). Included on the […]

This is not the week for your average, run-of-the-mill, humdrum school board meeting. Not in Colorado, not in the Denver metro area. I already highlighted the heavy attendance at Douglas County’s Tuesday public testimony on their School Choice Task Force proposals and all the attention generated from it. Then there was last night in the Denver Public Schools, as a divided Board of Education was set to weigh a controversial turnaround reform proposal affecting the Far Northeast (FNE) part of the city. According to Jeremy Meyer in the Denver Post, the Board stayed up well past my bedtime to approve the proposal on a 4-3 vote. The newly-approved proposal includes a lot of features — which are well broken down in Nancy Mitchell’s Ed News Colorado story. One piece is an expansion of the successful Denver School of Science and Technology program using shared space in the Cole Arts and Science Academy innovation school. My Education Policy Center friends alerted you to this possible development back in March on an iVoices podcast with Cole principal Julie Murgel. In its story, Ed News Colorado also published a 4-minute highlight video from the Denver school board meeting, a more balanced presentation than […]

So last night the Douglas County Board of Education hosted an hour of public comment on proposals made by the community’s School Choice Task Force. Of course, the testimony overwhelmingly was about the “Option Certificates,” or voucher, proposal. The Denver Post‘s Jeremy Meyer reports that public comments “were evenly split for and against the plan.” Ed News Colorado’s Nancy Mitchell says the comments were about 60/40 against the private school choice proposal, though their embedded five-minute video dedicates 80 percent of airtime to opponents. In addition to the Ed News video, you should watch the local 9News report, including a great comment from Douglas County resident and task force member Charcie Russell: “It’s not about private versus public, it’s really about more choice, and I see that great for kids, great for parents, and great for the district,” Russell said. It’s not surprising to see passion on both sides. The opposition, though, should consider the merits of their arguments. Drawing from resources at the Foundation for Educational Choice and the Institute for Justice, my Education Policy Center friends have compiled the following document to address concerns about effects on public school performance, fiscal impact and constitutionality:

Most of us know about public charter schools: publicly funded and publicly accountable schools with independent boards and waivers from certain state laws and regulations concerning personnel and program. Here in Colorado they’ve been around quite awhile and have become an important part of the education landscape. Right now, as the Colorado League of Charter Schools reports, there are about 170 charter schools serving 70,000 students in our state (or 176 schools serving 66,000-plus students, if you accept the Center for Education Reform’s new numbers). There’s been a long debate about charters that doesn’t need to be rehashed here. Some are truly top-flight, head and shoulders above most public schools, others operate at about the same level but offer something different or unique, while some are underperforming (one of the great things about charter schools is the poor ones can be shut down much more easily than other public schools). The myths about charters have been debunked over and over and over again.