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When was the last time you asked a kid, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and got the answer: “A Learning Engineer!” If you’re being honest, you likely would say it’s never happened. But maybe that all will begin to change soon. Rick Hess and Bror Saxberg give life to the concept in a new book that’s excerpted as “Education Rebooted” at Education Next: When it comes to realizing the promise of digital technology, educators need to start approaching classroom challenges as learning engineers. While such a label may sound unfamiliar at first, stick with us for a moment. The fact is that learning engineering is what tech-savvy education leaders—and more than a few who aren’t so tech-savvy—already do every day (whether they know it or not). These educators ask what problems need to be solved for students, turn to research to identify solutions, and devise smarter, better ways to promote terrific teaching and learning. What is education technology’s role in all of this? Learning engineers see this technology as a tool, not a solution. At times I’ve thought about becoming a railroad engineer (I kind of like the tall, striped hats!). A lot better than […]

Have you ever watched a scene in an action movie (in my case, one that’s obviously edited for younger viewers to enjoy) where two cars, or trains, or planes are on a collision course? The characters in the movie may not realize what’s coming, but everyone watching in the theater or at home can sense that they are about to crash into each other. Then 3-2-1… BOOM!!! Bent metal, broken glass, and explosions… cool stuff. I exaggerate just a little to say that’s kind of how I feel today. Minding my own business at Chalkbeat Colorado, I’m directed to a Denver Post story with the headline “Douglas schools seek to opt out of federal, state standardized testing.” This is the super-conservative school board that’s transforming education, right?

Crafting policy often can be much more art than science. Several years back research showed us that educator evaluation systems were not making meaningful distinctions, and that 98 or 99 percent of teachers were rated effective on a two-tier scale. As a result of such findings, the move to update evaluations has been a big agenda item in many states, with Colorado one of the pioneers. You know what I’m talking about… SB 191? Right. A core piece of the legislation required that at least 50 percent of the evaluation must be tied to measures of student academic growth (including multiple measures beyond the state assessment regime). School districts could use their own systems that abide by the standard. But most districts adopted the state’s model plan, which clearly defines the other 50 percent of the evaluation. One of the great strengths of SB 191 was that it focused on upgrading evaluations for school principals, parallel with teachers. Union officials thrive off the fear that building leaders might subjectively and unfairly target instructors. That (real or apparent) threat is greatly diminished if a principal is rated on the same standard.

Last night little Eddie was able to drop in on a school board meeting for what was until recently the largest school district in Colorado. That’s right. The Jeffco Board of Education took the show out into the community, coming to the people and giving residents a chance to sign up online to make public comments. (Apparently, this is all a new thing.) So it was kind of funny to hear a couple of the commenters complain that the school board wasn’t being transparent enough because they increased transparency. I may be pretty smart, but some things are hard for me to get. Part of the reason for the big crowd at the Arvada High School auditorium was a debate about adding sixth grade to Deer Creek Middle School as part of an expanded STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) program. Now I don’t necessarily have an opinion on this course of action, but the way it’s been handled sends up red warning flags.

There’s nothing quite like taking a step into no man’s land, wandering into an argument between friends. A lot of us are on the school choice bandwagon together, but that certainly doesn’t mean everyone has the same views of what a program should look like. The Fordham Institute this week unveiled its “public accountability and private-school choice” toolkit. It called for administering state tests to all voucher / scholarship recipients, and reporting school-by-school test results if at least 10 kids participated. It took very little time for the argument to begin:

Yesterday we officially learned how many students showed up to Colorado public schools at the beginning of October. The enrollment figures made a little bit of a splash. Why? The news that for the first time in many years Jefferson County R-1 no longer serves the most students. But just barely: As expected, the new count put Denver Public Schools in the top spot with 86,043 students, ahead of the 85,983 in Jeffco, which has been the state’s largest district for several years. Guess that means I have to start getting used to saying that DPS is Colorado’s largest school district — at least for this year. Chalkbeat interestingly points out that Denver didn’t have the largest percentage gain from 2012-13. It was another district I’ve told you about quite a bit.

Some people may wonder why I like talking about report cards on schools and state education policies so much. Well, the answer is simple: Because they’re not MY report cards that MY parents have to sign. It’s hard for me to be objective about that “Unsatisfactory” mark I got in finger painting. Seriously harder than sharing about the latest round of Colorado School Grades or where Colorado districts rank on the new Choice and Competition Index. This time around it’s the second annual Students First State Policy Report Card. A year ago, when I was still 5, I highlighted the good new/bad news that came with the inaugural release. Colorado ranked ninth among all the states plus D.C., but only earned a C grade. Well, there’s two sides to the coin again this year. Colorado’s “GPA” improved enough to push us from number 9 to number 7 on the list. When it comes to student-centered policies that move the ball and bring opportunity and results, we’re still looking up at the likes of:

Today I’ve decided to borrow a page from my mom’s book. How often she has to repeat the same instruction or insight to me, several times, perhaps slightly reworded, until poor little Eddie gets the point. Hey, I’m a kid, cut me some slack! A few weeks ago — right before Christmas, in fact — I dissected a Washington Post story that made it sound like Colorado schools today lack even basic financial transparency. Which, of course, simply isn’t the case. As I explained before, “The state’s 2010 Public School Financial Transparency Act already requires every school district and charter school in Colorado to post budgets and other key financial documents online.” While lawmakers were considering that bill, my Education Policy Center friends released a brief paper on what school district financial transparency should look like, noting:

A story in yesterday’s Chalkbeat Colorado brought my attention to a newly released Brookings Institution study called the 2013 Education Choice and Competition Index. Well, that certainly got my attention. Rather than rate states, Brookings developed a rubric to grade 100 of the nation’s largest districts on “thirteen categories of policy and practice” related to school choice. While Chalkbeat highlighted Denver Public Schools’ impressive fifth-place finish on the survey, you’d also think that Colorado’s own Douglas County — a forward-thinking, cutting-edge bastion of parental choice — would also be near the top, right?

Yesterday I talked about the new legislative session and some of the issues I will be watching. On the list is a discussion of changes to programs that serve students from families who don’t speak English as a native language. The Chalkbeat Colorado legislative preview mentioned what sort of action might be in the works: There’s wide interest in a bill to improve programs for English language learners, increase funding and extend the number of years students can be served by such programs. A bipartisan ELL bill failed in 2013, and this year there may be competing Democratic and Republican versions. What’s the problem with that? Well, research strongly suggests that improving ELL programs and extending the years a student can be funded as ELL may be conflicting goals. A recent edition of the Education Commission of the States’ electronic digest The Progress of Education Reform landed in a friend’s inbox recently. The topic? “English Language Learners: A Growing — Yet Underserved — Population.”