Category Archives: School Choice

I’ve had a great time lately with the cool (and here in Colorado, I mean “cool”) fireworks shows and water fights. Still, it’s good to be back sharing some more good news about school choice. Yes, I’m behind the curve in letting you know about what Louisiana has done, but better late than never — besides, it’s summertime: Washington, D.C. (June 25, 2010) – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal this week signed into law the nation’s 20th private school choice program, which will allow children with special needs to use state-funded scholarships to attend the private schools of their parents’ choice.

Looking for something a little different than the traditional schooling model, maybe even cutting edge and innovative? After all, exposing Colorado families to more choices and educational options is a big part of what the “glimpse at new schools” series is all about. You might be interested in this: Aurora Public Schools opens the doors of Vista PEAK Exploratory in August. The school was highlighted a few months back in a story for the Aurora Sentinel: It’s an approach that will offer students a new way of planning their education from an early age, one that will give children access to specialized programs in science, math, visual arts, business and other areas. This new “pathways” method will play a central role in the Vista PEAK Exploratory School on East 6th Avenue and Harvest Road that’s set to open later this year, the first part of a campus that’s eventually slated to include a high school and a satellite college campus.

The faithful readers of Ed Is Watching (I love you, mom and dad!) know that during the past two summers I have dedicated many blog posts to introducing interesting new education options in Colorado. Links to all the posts are compiled on our A Glimpse at New Schools page. This year, I’ve decided to get an earlier head start while we head for the mid-summer doldrums. To kick off the 2010-11 edition, it seems appropriate to highlight the offspring of some golden oldies. I’ve written before about West Denver Prep middle school and Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) — both top-notch, “distinguished” charter schools. The great news is that these schools won’t be contained, but rather are multiplying under successful models and sound leadership. The 2010-11 school year doubles the number of West Denver Prep campuses from two to four, with new sites shared at Lake Middle School (starting with 6th graders only) and Emerson Street School. And DSST (the original campus in the Stapleton neighborhood contains both a middle school and a high school) will open a second campus in far northeast Denver’s Green Valley Ranch. If DSST II hits the same trajectory of getting 100 percent […]

Last week I pointed you to some research and analysis that put the current K-12 budget cuts and proposed education jobs bailout in perspective. Well, what are the answers then? One way is to open the doors for parents to more quality education options that aren’t as labor-intensive. One way is to let successful entrepreneurs like Rocketship Education continue to thrive at their hybrid learning model and share what they learn with others. But Colorado also is a national leader in online public schooling, though we certainly have room to improve over time both in terms of quality and quantity. Briana LeClaire of the Idaho Freedom Foundation — who appears to be closely connected with our friend and cyberschool champion Lori Cooney — has a great metaphor. In highlighting a successful district virtual school program in her state, she suggests it’s time to throw away the teachers’ union hymnal and find a new song to sing. I like it … Sing on, education reformers!

A little earlier this week the U.S. Department of Education released the research results from the final evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). What did it say? Basically, an admission that the very small program hasn’t had any tremendous impacts — oh yeah, except for this one: The Program significantly improved students’ chances of graduating from high school, according to parent reports. Overall, 82 percent of students offered scholarships received a high school diploma, compared to 70 percent of those who applied but were not offered scholarships. This graduation rate improvement also held for the subgroup of OSP students who came from “schools in need of improvement.” Writing on Jay Greene’s blog, Greg Forster deconstructs the control group (since the graduation rate for D.C. Public Schools is actually 49 percent), and concludes the grad-rate benefit from the voucher program is “somewhere between 12 percentage points and 33 percentage points.”

About a month ago I brought your attention to the remarkable story from the New Jersey legislature, in which a liberal Democrat committee chairman moved a voucher bill hearing outside after union members hogged all the seats and refused to give up any to children supporting the bill. Well, today the Wall Street Journal has the latest news on this legislation, and it’s not all good for school choice supporters: A bill that would give poor children in New Jersey scholarships to attend private schools is bottled up in the Democratic-controlled Legislature even though it has the backing of prominent members of the party.

I sure hope no schools in Colorado are doing this sort of thing. It’s a story told by a New Jersey mom, via the Washington Examiner‘s Mark Hemingway (H/T The Union Label): I am looking for your opinions and insights based upon a very distressing situation my youngest daughter brought to my attention last week involving a school fundraiser.

Last night my Education Policy Center friends went to see the Colorado premiere of The Lottery. Ben DeGrow has written up a review over at Ed News Colorado. While it was past my bedtime and I didn’t get to stay up and watch the film, the story about kids like me who live in Harlem and whose parents hope and pray that they win the lottery to get into a successful charter school is something I look forward to watching. If you don’t get what I mean, this trailer should help you see it: What are you waiting for? Find a theater near you to go see The Lottery, and then get involved in fighting for the cause. You could do it as a favor for your all-time favorite junior blogger, but the four kids who are the stars of the film are even better reasons!

Little Eddie’s Florida-thon blogging continues. And today’s edition could be the most exciting yet. From Matt Ladner and Greg Forster (both writing on Jay Greene’s blog) comes word of a new research study by David Figlio and Cassandra Hart, who conclude: We find evidence that public schools subject to more competitive pressure from private schools raised their test scores the most following the introduction of Florida’s voucher program, and that the gains in test scores appear to generalize to students ineligible to participate in the voucher program. In other words, the competition of school choice through tuition tax credits helps to lift the boat of academic performance even for public school students who come from families with incomes too great to take advantage of a scholarship. Wow! Forster notes that top-notch empirical studies are 18-0 in showing positive competitive effects from school choice programs, then calls out detractors for their weak attack on the findings:

Not that it’s a huge surprise, but we’ve learned the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to take a second look at the Ninth Circuit decision striking down Arizona’s 13-year-old individual scholarship tax credit program. The American Federation for Children reports this morning: Supporters of school choice programs that provide children with educational opportunity will once again have their day in court—in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court decided today that it would hear an appeal to a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that declared an Arizona school choice program unconstitutional.