Category Archives: Innovation and Reform

I’m back. Yes, they almost had to pry me away from my new Legos and video games that have consumed much of my past 9 days. But really that’s OK. This new year brings a lot to get excited about, and get busy about. My Independence Institute friends are moving into their new offices, but that doesn’t slow down the need to move forward on important education issues. One such major issue is how Colorado K-12 public schools recruit, hire, pay, evaluate and retain their teachers. The implementation of the state’s educator effectiveness law occupied a lot of time and attention last year, and an important — but unusual — deadline comes up next month. The rules adopted by the State Board of Education either must be ratified or repealed by the state legislature by February 15. The hope also remains that this debate propels more local momentum toward important educator compensation reforms like those highlighted in my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow’s 2011 issue paper on the subject. Time to stay tuned in….

I don’t think you’ll see me writing much more for the blog this year. Can you believe it’s almost 2012? Well, just in case this is the last post of the calendar year, I wanted to make sure it’s an important one. Looking at the growing world of digital learning certainly qualifies. Basically, I’m past due in telling you about a great new publication my Education Policy Center friends have created for parents: Choosing a Colorado Online School for Your Child by Ella Peterson and Pam Benigno. Along with our fantastic School Choice for Kids website, this is definitely something you’ll want to know about for 2012, if you are at all interested in looking for a new public school for your child here in the great Centennial State. Many school district open enrollment periods really get rolling in January. This kind of guide can be very valuable if you think the cyberschool option might be right for your family. Shortly thereafter comes the first-ever national Digital Learning Day on February 1. Colorado is one of at least 27 states to have signed on as a partner to this effort. Participating in Digital Learning Day is something I definitely look […]

Not long ago I told you how the number of Colorado students enrolling in charter schools was rising quickly. This followed closely on the heels of a national study debunking anti-charter mythology and showing where the real strengths of this public education option tend to stand. One of the oft-cited advantages of charters is the greater level of accountability that allows them to be closed down much more easily than other public schools when they aren’t working as they should. Until now, though, I’m not aware of any comprehensive data telling just how many charters have closed over the course of nearly 20 years since the first states adopted a law. The Center for Education Reform finds that 15 percent of all American charter schools that ever existed — 1,036 out of about 6,700 — have closed for a variety of reasons. CER’s original research breaks down the frequency of these different reasons as follows:

Back in the warm summertime, which seems so long ago, I brought attention to a thoughtful essay that called into question the success of the Innovation Schools Act. My thoughts on the matter really haven’t changed since then — I still believe despite the clear limitations there is a place for innovation schools, though not as prevalent or prominent as some might have hoped. Yesterday brought the release of a three-year study on the eight earliest Denver innovation schools — including Bruce Randolph, Cole, Manual and Montclair. One key, hopeful finding? Successful innovation schools exhibit “positive cultures,” which contributes to steady, effective principal leadership. Still, the two news stories on the study make similar points. The Denver Post highlights that innovation status is simply a tool, not a magic bullet. Meanwhile, Ed News Colorado’s headline trumpets the major (and not terribly surprising) finding that the “innovation law doesn’t spark major change.” One point in the study touched on in the latter story did cause me to roll my eyes a bit:

Today’s Denver Post features a story by Yesenia Robles that notes significant growth in public charter school enrollment. Here in Colorado, 13 new charter schools opened and 8,500 students were added to the rolls, marking an increase of nearly 12 percent. Nationally, charter school enrollment surpassed 2 million as 500 new charter schools opened and about 150 closed down for failing to perform. (Isn’t that one of the benefits of charters, though, after all?) News like this sadly means an opportunity for some to retread discredited arguments against charter schools. I prefer a different approach. It wasn’t that many weeks ago I introduced you to a new comprehensive national study by the Center on Reinventing Public Education that took the air out of knee-jerk anti-charter mythology. One of the things we learned was:

One of my big themes for 2011 has been on the growth of blended learning opportunities. “Blended learning” is a difficult term to define precisely. Several months ago I told you about the Innosight Institute’s report The rise of blended learning: Profiles of emerging models, which introduces readers to a wide array of innovative programs. Parents, teachers and other concerned citizens out there who want to learn more about blended learning but may not have the time to invest in thumbing through a report now have a simpler way to see and think about the subject. A service provider by the name of Education Elements helps to show how the various combinations of online-assisted learning and traditional classroom instruction can better engage students and help teachers focus on the important things they do well.

One thing December brings is the obligatory year-end lists. If you are even a casual reader of this blog, then you should be interested in taking a moment to vote on the “Best and Worst in American Education, 2011” — brought to you by the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Being of a decidedly reform-minded bent, the group has offered up some expected developments in their five choices for each of the “Best” and “Worst” categories. Most of the items I’ve covered at one time or another during 2011. Naturally I can’t make you vote for any particular events (or even vote at all), but I am making some strong suggestions that fans could select on my behalf as one of the most inexpensive Christmas gifts you’ve ever purchased. This is my blog, and I like to save the best for last. So which of the five choices should you recognize as the worst education event of 2011?

Earlier this year Arizona broke down another barrier in the ongoing struggle for educational freedom by enacting the revolutionary “Empowerment Savings Accounts” for special-need students: The state will deposit 90 percent of the student’s funds into an account parents can use for a variety of educational expenditures, including textbooks, therapy services, tutoring, and even tuition for alternative or online schools. Not only does the money follow the student to serve their educational needs as the family chooses, but the families are encouraged to be wise consumers by the fact they can save money in their ESA from year to year. Any money left over at the end of high school can be used toward college expenses. Who wouldn’t like that?

With all the breathless attention on K-12 online education these days, you’d almost think it was a brand-new phenomenon — not something that got its start in Colorado more than a decade ago. This time it’s the Washington Post, chiming in to note that some are questioning the educational value of cyberschools. Am I surprised? No. Let me repeat what I’ve said many times: Full-time online education is by no means the best option for all students, or even most students. But it works very well for many families who have chosen the learning option. Which some might have a hard time understanding if you believe the straw man presented by an opponent in the Post story:

Pretty much nobody is in school today, as we all gear up for the big turkey feast tomorrow. As my parents constantly remind me, the fourth Thursday in November is about more than food and football. Yes, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks. While I could gratefully mention the standard fare — family, friends (like those big people in the Education Policy Center), freedom, our big screen TV, and my growing (ahem!) Legos collection — more fitting for the blog are seven things to be thankful for in Colorado K-12 education: