Category Archives: Innovation and Reform

You can’t judge a book by its cover. There are many expressions like this one out there that convey a basic piece of wisdom. A beautiful building you may have driven by many times could be a filthy mess inside. How do you know? If it’s somebody’s house or private property, they would have to invite you inside for you to properly find out for yourself. But if that building is a place where tax dollars are paying officials to negotiate how tax dollars are spent and policies are made for our public schools, then there’s no reason for the doors to be locked. Citizens should be able to peer inside and know what’s going on. The Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE) — one of Colorado teachers’ professional membership options — today highlighted some interesting results from their latest member survey, showing that most of their members like the idea: The Professional Association of Colorado Educators recently asked member educators their views on a variety of relevant policies related to education in Colorado. One of these issues related to whether or not negotiations between school boards and union officials should be open to the public. An overwhelming 81% of […]

Recently, I raised the issue of how PERA reform could fit into the ongoing school finance reform debates. It certainly lessens the sense of a “grand bargain” — tying reforms to a billion-dollar tax increase — when such big issues are left off the table. But then I came across the information in a Friedman Foundation sequel study, Part II of The School Staffing Surge. Then, as now, we can do better than having Colorado’s K-12 education system as a jobs program, correct? As this Washington Times story by Ben Wolfgang (cool name, huh?) details:

I am going to be catching my breath all day, I’m so excited by this fantastic news from the Colorado Court of Appeals today: DENVER—The Independence Institute, Colorado’s leading pro-freedom policy voice, praised today’s decision to restore a groundbreaking school choice program previously struck down by a Denver judge. The Colorado Court of Appeals today overturns an August 2011 ruling that permanently enjoined the Douglas County Choice Scholarship Program. A majority of the three-judge panel ruled that plaintiffs “failed to carry their burden of proving the unconstitutionality of the CSP beyond a reasonable doubt” and that they lack standing to make their case. (A copy of the opinion is posted at https://bit.ly/WjOq3S.)

A powerful research report released today from a big study confirms what anyone paying attention to the urban charter school movement already should have noticed. KIPP produces big gains for students: KIPP middle schoolers learn significantly more than comparison students, concludes a report by Mathematica Policy Research on 43 schools in 13 states plus the District of Columbia. Three years after enrollment, the average KIPP student gained an extra 11 months in math, moving from the 44th to the 58th percentile, and eight months in reading, moving from the 46th to the 55th percentile. Science gains equalled an extra 14 months and social studies an extra 11 months. Following up on research released in the summer of 2010, Mathematica confirmed earlier findings that KIPP doesn’t benefit from attracting more gifted students than those left behind in surrounding schools. Mike Feinberg, the cage-busting co-founder of the national, no-excuses charter school network, notes among other findings:

Since it’s Presidents Day today, it seems somewhat fitting to write about a local teachers union president seeking some limelight with a Friday lawsuit: The Douglas County Federation of Teachers filed two lawsuits Friday, alleging that the Douglas County School District illegally didn’t consider teachers for job openings after being laid off and that it wrongly eliminated a bank of sick leave days. “This is about treating teachers fairly and professionally, and acting within the law,” DCFT President Brenda Smith said in a news release. “The teachers who were downsized out of a job are veteran teachers with 60 plus years of experience between them.”

A few weeks ago an article by the I-News Network (“an independent, nonprofit journalism project that creates long-form investigative reports, in partnership with major daily newspapers and has recently accepted significant funding from wealthy Democrat activist Tim Gill”) portrayed Colorado minorities as victims of inadequate tax funding of education: Regardless of which way the causal arrow runs, poverty and education are intertwined across the range of societal distress. Several experts said the state’s pullback in funding education over the past two decades has narrowed the path for escaping poverty. Between 1992 and 2010, according to Census data, Colorado plunged from 24th to 40th on overall state spending per student for K-12 education. When compared to per capita personal income, Colorado ranked 45th among the states on K-12 spending. Today The Gazette in Colorado Springs published a powerful response from my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow:

These are momentous days in Douglas County, Colorado. A 60,000-student school district charting new horizons for parental choice and academic excellence through cutting-edge, performance-based systems? An organized labor interest group frustrated at being stripped of monopoly power? Yes and yes. A lot of eyes are watching what unfolds in the growing suburbs south of Denver. While we wait for the Colorado Court of Appeals to weigh in on the fate of student educational opportunity through the district’s groundbreaking Choice Scholarship Program,opponents of the bold, outside-the-box school board have been trying to make waves.

Local education leaders want to transform a rigid, bureaucratic system — re-imagining the delivery of instruction, giving more freedom, flexibility, and accountability to teachers and principals at the school level. But then some interest groups or just plain old naysayers come along to protest, saying “We’ve never done it that way before.” Or maybe a little self-doubt creeps in and the leader wonders if that’s really something he or she should do. Well, into the fray comes American Enterprise Institute (AEI) education scholar and guru Rick Hess with an Education Next essay to help infuse a little can-do attitude into the discussion:

It’s been a whole year since the last Digital Learning Day, and somehow I’m still 5… Go figure! There is so much going on with digital learning innovations in Colorado, but I just wanted to hone in on one of them. In December, my Education Policy Center friends visited Denver’s Rocky Mountain Prep charter school. Because of the school’s innovative use of the blended learning rotation model, I said it “may be at the cutting edge of an important trend in Colorado.” To get a clearer picture of how learning and instruction looks different at Rocky Mountain Prep, listen to school founder James Cryan’s radio interview yesterday on the Amy Oliver Show. Depending on Rocky Mountain Prep’s level of success, families should demand more such options to emerge in the future. For those looking to start an effective new school that combines online instructional delivery, customized student-centered learning, and traditional brick-and-mortar supervision (in Colorado or elsewhere), Digital Learning Now has just released the Blended Learning Implementation Guide.

You can forgive a blogger if once in awhile he decides to rehash a little old news, can’t you? Especially if he’s a cute little kid like yours truly? Anyway, long-time readers may be aware of my longtime edu-crush on former DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. You also may recall how excited I was to report in 2011 her Denver speech when she declared she had changed her mind in favor of private school choice. Well, I’m all smiles to relive that moment again in this newly-published piece Rhee did for The Daily Beast, titled “My Break with the Democrats,” in which she explains the transformation. She talks about numerous meetings she had with parents who were seeking Opportunity Scholarships to get their kids out of failing DC schools: