Category Archives: Research

Every year the Center for Education Reform rates the quality of different states’ charter school laws based on their flexibility and equity. This week they released the new edition, and the news again is good for Colorado — one of only 13 states with “strong laws that do not require significant revisions.” But I’m never satisfied with a B letter grade, and neither should Colorado. As usual, there are some key improvements that can be made to our state’s charter school law: More alternative authorizing options beyond the state’s Charter School Institute Greater opportunity for charters to have autonomy from district policies over budgeting, personnel and the like Greater opportunity to access funding for the construction and maintenance of school facilities It’s great to be one of the best states when it comes to charter school laws. But as long as the District of Columbia, Minnesota, California, Utah, Arizona and Michigan stand ahead of Colorado, our work is cut out for us to provide the best in independent public school innovation that meets the needs and demands of families in our state.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports some interesting developments in that city’s nearly two decades old voucher program (H/T Joanne Jacobs). Four Milwaukee voucher schools — including the fast-growing independent Atlas Preparatory Academy — now have more than 750 students each. More than 21,000 students total are enrolled in 111 voucher schools this year. But what’s really telling: And 18 schools that were on the voucher roster a year ago were not there. It’s hard to get sentimental looking at the list. Most were small or weak. Some could not meet the tightened requirements of state law, including rules being applied full force now that voucher schools get accredited by independent organizations…. “The market is working,” said Terry Brown, who heads St. Anthony. “It’s not a perfect market,” but over time many bad schools have been weeded out.

This week the Detroit News reported on one of the measured reactions Michiganders have to proposals to address that state’s budget crisis: Local public school districts have too little funding to provide a quality education, according to 60 percent of voters surveyed in an exclusive Detroit News/WXYZ (Channel 7) poll released Tuesday. Only 23 percent of respondents said the taxes and fees paid for public education are “too high”; 60 percent said they are about right, and 12 percent said “too low.” What’s missing from the story?

(H/T Jay Greene) A new study of North Carolina by Harvard researcher David Deming finds that school choice for the poorest students — especially African-American males — leads to less criminal activity: Importantly, the effects of winning the [school choice] lottery persist beyond the treatment years into the peak ages of criminal offending and beyond. After enrollment in the first choice school is complete, youth attend similar schools and live in similar neighborhoods. Yet the impacts persist for seven years after random assignment. The findings suggest that schools may be a particularly important setting for the prevention of future crime.

Should Colorado enact a K-12 scholarship tax credit program that empowers families to choose private schools? It may sound crazy politically, yet the idea would make sense not only to expand choice for families but also to help the state save money during an especially tough budget year. What, you say, you don’t believe that it could save Colorado money? Then you simply have to take a look at this: As the Center for Arizona Policy reports, an analysis by Baylor University economist Dr. Charles North shows that Arizona’s education tax credit program saves their state somewhere between $100 million and $240 million! Arizona’s experience shows that there is a demand out there among families for something better, and that providing the right kind of tax credit incentive can help provide a quality education to more students more efficiently than the existing system. It’s time for Colorado to take a closer look.

I’ve told you before about groups like ABCTE that are reaching out to top-notch professionals and making it easier for them to make an effective transition into classroom teaching. But where’s the proof this is a good idea for the bottom line of education? In the new edition of Education Next, Daniel Nadler and Paul Peterson show that states with genuine alternative teacher certification programs (like Colorado) have experienced greater gains in math and reading scores, and especially among African-American students. Is it a coincidence, or cause-and-effect? Ultimately, it’s hard to say. But as the authors conclude, the arguments against alternative certification have been eroded: But the burden of proof would now seem to shift to the plaintiffs in the Renee v. Spellings case, who argue that traditional state certification is necessary to ensure teacher quality. Genuine alternative certification opens the door to more minority teachers, and student learning is more rapid in states where the reform has been introduced. Meanwhile, scientific evidence that alternative certification harms students remains somewhere between scant and nonexistent. The Race to the Top push in Colorado has brought forth some good ideas, but a truly bold and visionary effort also would have included a […]

Over at Education Next (one of my favorite stops these days), professors Robert Costrell and Michael Podgursky say there may be a way to make a positive move beyond the traditional debate over teacher pensions: The critics of DB [defined benefit plans] are correct that current plans are seriously underfunded in part because benefits are not tied to contributions. This makes plans vulnerable to gaming and juicing up of benefits formulae when stock market returns are good, which, of course, leaves the taxpayers and employers holding the bag when stock market returns turn south.

Can we have an honest discussion about school funding? Not that my friends in the Education Policy Center haven’t been trying. All sorts of numbers are used in various ways to make the case that Colorado (or pick your state) has drastically underfunded schools, and more than once they’ve worked to set the record straight. Certain interest groups and their useful supporters nonetheless want us to aim for the middle of some specific ranking. If that’s their goal, someone almost always can find some category in which Colorado (or pick your state) lags the national average, or even the middle of the pack. And when have you ever heard the same advocates in high-spending states acknowledge that they have enough funding, that no increases are needed? Well, how about a little context? Along comes Vanderbilt University professor James Guthrie with a new piece in Education Next that effectively breaks through the scare tactics and lays the foundation for a serious, honest discussion.

Chalk up another gold star for public charter schools as an education reform success. What am I talking about? The second half of a one-two research combination punch, released in late October but just reported by the smart people writing opinion for the Wall Street Journal: Mr. [Marcus] Winters focuses on New York City public school students in grades 3 through 8. “For every one percent of a public school’s students who leave for a charter,” concludes Mr. Winters, “reading proficiency among those who remain increases by about 0.02 standard deviations, a small but not insignificant number, in view of the widely held suspicion that the impact on local public schools . . . would be negative.” It tuns out that traditional public schools respond to competition in a way that benefits their students. Writing on Jay Greene’s blog, the venerable Greg Forster additionally notes: …Marcus also finds that the lowest-performing students in NYC’s regular public schools benefit from charter competition; in fact, while the benefits for the overall population are statistically certain only in reading, they’re certain in both reading and math for low performers.

I have a little secret I’d like to share. You want to know how to get under the skin of my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow? It’s pretty easy. Just go online somewhere and repeat the canard that Colorado supposedly ranks 49th in K-12 education funding. He won’t be able to resist the chance to respond and slap you down. The latest example is yesterday from the state of Washington, where they are debating a ballot initiative much like our own Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. So here’s what Seattle Times columnist Lynne Varner wrote: Colorado voters fell for promise of tax relief but the result was horrific. After the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) passed in 1992, the state dropped to 49th in funding for K-12 education…. [emphasis added] Very clever, Ms. Varner. At that point you pretty much had Ben cornered. Just one problem: Like a wounded animal that’s when he is most dangerous (you know, with his arsenal of facts and logic):