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When I happened to mention to my mom and dad that I might blog about this issue, one of them said: “That’s the kind of topic you bring up when you want to break up a party.” Well, there isn’t any party going on here right now, so why not just throw the provocative question out there: Are teachers paid too much? Before you roll your eyes, pick up your coat and walk out in disgust, let me explain briefly. It’s not this precocious little 5-year-old who’s dumping broccoli on the birthday cake. It’s Andrew Biggs and Jason Richwine, from a couple of Washington think tanks, who a couple weeks ago released the report Assessing the Compensation of Public School Teachers. Sounds pretty innocent, doesn’t it? Just wait. They released the report at an event called “Are Public School Teachers Overpaid?” Now look. I could only begin to start explaining the research methods and the finer points of the debate. As a provocative way to bring attention to the topic of K-12 employee compensation, asking “Are Public School Teachers Overpaid?” is an effective way to bring attention to your work. And it definitely brought attention. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne […]

As a nation and a state, we’re on the brink of a digital learning explosion. I’m talking about a system of education characterized by flexibility, freedom and personalization — one where online courses and opportunities are embraced wholeheartedly in a family or community context, or blended in various ways with traditional classrooms and school functions. But we just can’t flip a digital learning switch, and solve all the ills of public education. One of the biggest obstacles to the important transformation is a dusty old system of school finance that delivers money to district administrative offices and allots it to schools through staffing formulas. Dr. Paul Hill, in his thoughtful new Fordham Institute issue brief titled School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era, notes: This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to move money from concrete facilities, established programs, and entrenched staff roles to new uses like equipment, software, and remote instructional staff. Yet to encourage development and improvement of technology-based methods, we must find ways for public dollars to do just that—and to follow kids to online providers chosen by their parents, teachers, or themselves. Will “disruptive innovation” overtake the existing K-12 education system, or will Colorado lawmakers make some […]

Not long ago my Education Policy Center friends released a report analyzing how well Colorado’s 195 local education agencies (i.e., school districts and BOCES) are complying with the 2010 Public School Financial Transparency Act. As you might imagine, this kind of work presented the challenge of capturing a perfect static picture in a dynamic online world. Not surprisingly, a few small provisions to the report have been posted. One case was an error. A couple of others posted the missing financial documents online at the close of the 11th hour. Those details have been ironed out, but the big picture findings remain unchanged:

Last week I told you that the first-ever Digital Learning Day is less than three months away. Someone out there must have been paying attention! Today the Wall Street Journal has a big — no, make that a huge! — article by Stephanie Banchero and Stephanie Simon about online education cleverly called “My Teacher Is An App”: In a radical rethinking of what it means to go to school, states and districts nationwide are launching online public schools that let students from kindergarten to 12th grade take some—or all—of their classes from their bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens. Other states and districts are bringing students into brick-and-mortar schools for instruction that is largely computer-based and self-directed. The first sentence talks about full-time online education, something that Colorado has had going for more than a decade. (You didn’t hear it from me, but a helpful new report on this topic from my Education Policy Center friends may be coming soon.) About 2 percent of our state’s K-12 public school students are enrolled in a full-time online program, and the number has been rising significantly in recent years.

Occasionally I like to take a peek around at other states and see if there’s anything Colorado can glean from them, or vice versa, or just to get a bigger picture of the education reform debate. Today let’s look west at Nevada. Why? Because of the new School Reform News story penned — er, keyboarded? — my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow: As four school reform bills Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) successfully championed earlier in 2011 go into effect, Sandoval is redoubling efforts to expand school choice and end social promotion for third-graders who lack basic reading skills. Nevada’s House and Senate are currently controlled by Democrats. During this last session, they refused to grant a hearing to a voucher bill Sandoval backed. Nevada lawmakers convene every other year, so the governor’s next crack at improving K-12 education will come in 2013.

Twelve weeks seems like a long time to someone my age, and I know it can be really hard for almost anyone to plan beyond the Christmas holiday and into the New Year. But I wanted to let you know about a great opportunity so you can mark your calendar right away for Wednesday, February 1, 2012, the first-ever Digital Learning Day: a year-long campaign to celebrate bold, creative innovative teachers in classrooms across this nation. These front-line innovators are already embedding digital learning into new instructional practices to ensure that every student leaves the classroom ready for college, career and life success. We ask you to join with us, as with them, as we launch an unprecedented, collaborative effort to expand innovation into every city, town, school and classroom in America! Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise explains a little bit more in this 3-plus minute video:

Despite what you may hear, legislative “gridlock” isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it quite often can be a good thing. Case in point comes from this story yesterday in Ed News Colorado: Colorado’s top senator says he’ll introduce legislation to “rein in” online schools after his request for an online education audit was rejected Tuesday on a party-line vote by the Legislative Audit Committee. The gridlock in question is yesterday’s 4-4 audit committee vote, which prevents Senate President (and Congressional candidate) Brandon Shaffer from making a selective attack on K-12 online providers and the families that choose their services for a full-time educational program. At least through the audit process, that is. Ed News writer Nancy Mitchell explains that opponents of Shaffer’s request proposed a more comprehensive audit:

Update, 11/9: Peter Meyer has provided a great response to Petrilli’s piece. In the end, I don’t think the two are that far apart in their views on this. But it’s an important conversation to join. It’s a “discuss-amongst-yourselves” Tuesday in little Eddie’s world. Fortunately, I have two terrific, thought-provoking articles to share. Without further ado, please feast your minds on these:

So here we are, almost a week after the election here in Colorado that got a lot of big people’s attention. Prop 103’s “for the kids” tax hike went down in a ball of flames. A record number of local school tax and debt elections ran headlong into defeat. In at least one case, “negative perceptions” of a school district’s level of financial transparency has been credited with bringing down a mill levy override proposal. If that’s the case, then the timing couldn’t be better for the release of my Education Policy Center friends’ new issue paper Time to Show the Money: Complying with Colorado’s Public School Financial Transparency Act. Research associate Devan Crean was the lead author, and senior policy analyst Ben DeGrow was the co-author. In 2010 our state legislature passed HB 1036, a bipartisan measure requiring local K-12 agencies to post budgets, financial audits, financial statements, salary schedules, and as of July 2011, expenditures in the form of check registers and purchase card statements. So how well are they doing?:

Who knew it would be such a busy week? Before I head off to go play in the snow or jump in a pile of leaves or two — you never know with the weather here in Colorado — I thought you’d like to see the new results from the Association of American Educators nationwide survey of its member teachers on some important education issues of the day. I know you’re going to go look at it yourself, but here a few highlights to catch your interest: