Category Archives: Uncategorized

Over at Jay Greene’s blog, Greg Forster takes on the issue (via the extraordinary education investigator Mike Antonucci) of states with growing teacher workforces and flat – or even shrinking – student populations: Maryland, for example, expanded its teacher workforce 10 percent from 2001 to 2006, while enrollment grew less than 1 percent. California, which is still carrying around an extremely bloated teacher workforce from its apparently failed experiment in class size reduction, has just announced that it’s cancelling the large majority of its planned teacher layoffs. Greg goes on to point out that growing teacher-to-student ratios largely have not resulted in smaller class sizes – in part because teachers have their classroom time limited or some are working in non-classroom positions. So who gets the best of this arrangement? Well, the teachers’ unions make out like bandits. More teachers means bigger budgets without the hassle of selling the membership on dues hikes, and more political clout because the public school gravy train is larger. Jay Greene himself has made the point that to an extent more teachers in the system pushes down the overall quality of the teaching workforce, because there is a limited pool of talent. It’s just […]

Last week I gave a “cautious hooray” to the new Innovation Schools Act, which makes it easier for individual schools to free themselves from the red tape and union rules that crush reform efforts. The movement came to life last December when Bruce Randolph School asked for autonomy. Bruce Randolph and Manual High School have had a hard time getting the local teachers union to approve their requests. Now another Denver school – Montclair Elementary – has come forward, reports the Rocky Mountain News, only to face similar obstruction: Montclair teachers voted 22-1 in favor of seeking autonomy, and the staff sent the request to DPS and to the teachers’ union on April 18. DPS board members unanimously approved the request on May 15. But Kimmal and his principal, Shannon Hagerman, say they’ve had no response from the union. So Friday, the last day for teachers in DPS, Hagerman, four parents and 21 teachers went to union headquarters downtown. “We don’t want to go through the summer without any agreement with them,” Kimmal said. Union leaders, including Denver Classroom Teachers Association President Kim Ursetta, were out, attending a Teachers Union Reform Network conference in Vail. At least they weren’t sick […]

Ben received this email from the Colorado League of Charter Schools: On May 22, a destructive tornado tore through the town of Windsor in northeastern Colorado. Thankfully, Windsor Charter Academy (WCA) avoided a direct hit and all of its staff and students are safe. Unfortunately, it is estimated that nine WCA families lost their homes in the tornado. The Colorado League of Charter Schools is accepting donations of money, food, clothing and gift cards to help these charter school families. Please send your donation to the Colorado League of Charter Schools, 725 S. Broadway, Suite 7, Denver, CO 80209 — or drop it off at our office. We will deliver the items to Windsor Charter Academy on your behalf. Please make any checks payable to the Colorado League of Charter Schools–100% of your donation will be directed to WCA for distribution to its families that were affected by the tornado. If you prefer to take your donation directly to Windsor Charter Academy, please call them at 970-674-5020 to make arrangements. If you have any questions, need additional information, or know of other charter school families in northeastern Colorado that need assistance, please contact Stacy Rivera at 303-989-5356, ext. 112. Thank […]

Do private school vouchers help kids graduate from high school? A new study about the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) suggests that might be the case: In “Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School Students in Milwaukee: 2003-2007,” John Robert Warren, Ph.D., compares graduation data for students in the MPCP and the MPS. Dr.Warren concludes that “students in the MPCP are more likely to graduate from high school than MPS students.” According to Warren, had MPS graduation rates equaled those of MPCP students, there would have been almost 20% more public high school graduates between 2003 and 2007. Over the five years studied, that would have meant nearly 3,000 additional MPS graduates. The very smart Jay Greene also points out the need for caution: Warren acknowledges “he can’t say whether the voucher program caused their higher graduation rate.” But our Governor – who has promised to cut the state’s dropout rate in half – ought to pay attention over the next few years, as Jay Greene is working on a study that will help answer the question: Do private school vouchers help kids graduate from high school?

It’s always a little scary when the legislature is in session making new laws that affect education. But one bill the governor signed yesterday gives a little hope for some real positive changes: Bruce Randolph Middle School led the way and now all schools in Colorado will have the opportunity to become autonomous. “A status quo approach is no longer working and in fact is hindering our ability to graduate our students with skills they need to succeed in a global economy,” said Colorado Senate President Peter Groff. Wednesday morning, Gov. Bill Ritter was joined by staff members and students at Bruce Randolph during a bill signing that would allow schools to break free of a certain district to have more decision making power as it relates to students, staff, and budget. National education reform writer Joe Williams took the opportunity to send “bigtime kudos” to Senator Groff for his leadership in bringing forward this bill – known as the Innovation Schools Act. The bill certainly didn’t end up as strong as it could have, after being watered down by the teachers union. But it should be easier now for schools to break free from some of the red tape […]

The education writer and blogger Joanne Jacobs points to a news story about an Indiana public school teacher who was really mean to a 5-year-old boy in her class: Ignorant. Pathetic. Self-absorbed. Those are some of the harsh names an Indiana kindergarten teacher called one of her students, and the boy’s parents captured it all on tape. So what happened to the teacher?: After 13 years of teaching, Woodward has been suspended indefinitely, according to the Indiana State Teachers Association. The teachers’ association is defending Woodward, saying that she “lost her cool” that day and hasn’t had a chance to tell her side of the story. From this story we also learn: Woodward — who already was planning on moving to Pennsylvania this summer — told Mooney that this situation taught her a lesson: To never teach in a public school again. Mooney said Woodward will consider teaching at a private school with hopes that things will be handled differently. It’s sure hard to tell a good reason for the teacher to have said what she did, but what if she didn’t already happen to be leaving? In Colorado, the schools would have to go through this long, costly process […]

Update: Pam let me know that a couple things quoted from her interview with 9News weren’t quite right. So I’ve marked them below. Yesterday, Education Policy Center Director Pam Benigno spoke out about a proposal to raise school property taxes in Jefferson County: “Well, I think this is definitely not a good time,” said Pam Benigno, director of the Education Policy Center within the Independence Institute. The Independence Institute is a Golden-based, non-partisan government watchdog group. Benigno says the homeowner should not have to shoulder the burden of JeffCo’s increasing costs. “I think that this is, this is too much,” said Benigno. “However, the system is the problem. They will always need more money.” Benigno claims that while attending a meeting on the 2004 bond election [it was actually many years before that], a district staffer told her JeffCo plans on a bond issue or mill levy increase once every four or five years. “As a citizen of Jefferson County, that really makes me uncomfortable to know that they’re planning on raising my taxes every five years,” said Benigno. “And, this time, this has been only four years.” Benigno says the district should take a hard look at the way […]

The Denver Post says that the city’s teachers union is about ready to throw under the bus an innovative pay plan, including huge pay raises for newer teachers: Talks fell apart May 16, and teachers Monday petitioned the Colorado Department of Labor to take over negotiations — an initial step before a strike could be called. Perhaps the most contentious issue is ProComp — the system that has caught the eye of national education experts as a merit-pay plan embraced by the union…. Under the district proposal, a teacher would get $3,000 for working at a high-poverty school, choosing a hard-to-fill position such as special education or math, or teaching in a high-performing school. Sixty-three percent of teachers would get three or more incentives, DPS officials say. On average, teachers would receive $6,000 in incentives, said Tom Boasberg, DPS chief operations officer. Annual starting pay would rise from $35,000 to $44,000. District officials want to pay teachers more for good performance and to recruit top-notch teachers with higher salaries. Kids like me all over Colorado need high-quality teachers to give us the best educational advantages we can get. I hope the two sides can come to an agreement that benefits […]

Some people just don’t want to believe that more boys than girls have a hard time in our education system. The really smart Jay Greene points out the problems with such a new report: The American Association of University Women released a report this week attempting to debunk concerns that have been raised about educational outcomes for boys. The AAUW report received significant press coverage, including articles in the WSJ and NYT. But the AAUW report simply debunks a strawman — er, I mean — strawperson…. Jay Greene goes on to explain how the AAUW report ignores the problem that boys are under-performing in our schools. Joanne Jacobs says the report is missing a big part of the point, too, and concludes: “Focusing more on the learning needs of boys isn’t necessarily bad for girls.” I still think girls are yucky, but Ms. Jacobs has a point. The authors of the AAUW report should have read what Independence Institute senior fellow Krista Kafer had to say last year for the Independent Women’s Forum. I agree with Krista: Parents know what’s best for their boys and their girls, and should be given more school choice to meet the unique needs of […]

The 2008 edition of the Newsweek and Washington Post annual Challenge Index – which “measures a public high school’s effort to challenge its students” – was released this week. One Colorado high school made the top 100 nationwide: Lafayette’s Peak to Peak Charter School, which ranked #40. The Colorado Charters blog has posted some information from the press release: The highly accredited college-prep K-12 charter school opened as an elementary school in 2000, and has grown to over 1300 students in grades K-12 in 2007. Peak to Peak High School offers a rigorous liberal arts curriculum including AP classes, highly acclaimed fine arts and state championship athletics. The three graduating classes to date average a 99 percent graduation rate, and 100 percent of the 93 graduating seniors in the class of 2008 have been accepted to a college of their choice. The 81 2007 graduates were offered over $4 million in scholarship money. Ten 2008 seniors qualified as National Merit Finalists, over 10% of the senior class, and eight additional students received Commended recognition. Sixty-two students qualified for Advanced Placement Scholar distinctions based on the 2007 AP exams taken last spring. Even though high school is a long ways off […]