READ THE LATEST FROM EDDIE

If you gave me a big box of crayons and asked me to write a manifesto, it’s probably not what I would have come up with. But I am glad to give it a big thumbs up, and hope that lots of big people sign on. What am I talking about? Closing the Door on Innovation: Why One National Curriculum is Bad for America: We, the undersigned, representing viewpoints from across the political and educational spectrum, oppose the call for a nationalized curriculum in the Albert Shanker Institute Manifesto “A Call for Common Content.” We also oppose the ongoing effort by the U.S. Department of Education to have two federally funded testing consortia develop national curriculum guidelines, national curriculum models, national instructional materials, and national assessments using Common Core’s national standards as a basis for these efforts. We agree that our expectations should be high and similar for all children whether they live in Mississippi or Massachusetts, Tennessee or Texas. We also think that curricula should be designed before assessments are developed, not the other way around. But we do not agree that a one-size-fits-all, centrally controlled curriculum for every K-12 subject makes sense for this country or for any […]

As usual, I’m taking the weekend off for extra Lego time and lots of playing outdoors in the beautiful Colorado sunshine. Since tomorrow is an important anniversary, I decided to observe it today. On May 7, 2008, I began my three years of blogging here as a 5-year-old with a post titled “Denver Parents Want More Successful Schools to Choose From.” (Interestingly, FOX 31 News ran a special story last night about one of the area’s most successful and well-known charter schools, which has grown since 2008: Denver School of Science and Technology.) Last week the prolific education reform blogger Matthew Tabor posed the question: “What makes you feel old as a teacher or blogger?” I’m not really sure how to answer that, other than I feel kind of old for… well, my age. Time doesn’t really fly when you can stay 5 for this long. Let me tell you. But what better way to mark this commemorative 3rd anniversary Ed Is Watching post than to give a shout-out to Teacher Appreciation Week — which ends today. For all the arguing I do about the need to improve educator effectiveness in our system, it needs to be repeated clearly from […]

My mom really doesn’t have much tolerance for the “But everybody’s doing it” excuse. I’m hoping she makes an exception for this posting. What am I talking about? Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (who, today, I might add, signed into law “the nation’s largest voucher program”…. HIP, HIP, HOORAH!) gave a big education reform speech at D.C.’s American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Not surprisingly, AEI’s education guru Rick Hess had some good things to say about the “uber-wonk” Daniels’ speech. Matthew Ladner posted the full 51-minute speech on Jay Greene’s blog with the telling observation: “Indiana 2011 stands as the best reform session since Florida 1999 in my book.” Meanwhile, for those who don’t have time for the whole speech, RedefinED’s Adam Emerson has posted a key 90-second clip:

What can I say but, “Wow?” (I know, bad rhetorical question, because here goes….) All you education transformers out there should be aware of a new Innosight Institute report by Heather Staker titled The rise of K-12 blended learning: Profiles of emerging models. Doesn’t sound that spectacularly exciting, I know, unless you have joined little education policy geeks like me in catching on to the hugely important trend known as blended learning. And this snippet from Staker’s introduction gives you just a taste of what I mean: Online learning appears to be a classic disruptive innovation with the potential not just to improve the current model of education delivery, but to transform it. Online learning started by serving students for whom there was no alternative for learning. It got its start in distance-learning environments, outside of a traditional school building, and it started small. In 2000, roughly 45,000 K-12 students took an online course. But by 2010, over 4 million students were participating in some kind of formal online-learning program. The preK-12 online population is now growing by a five-year compound annual growth rate of 43 percent—and that rate is accelerating…. This paper profiles 40 organizations that are blending online […]

Denver’s Professional Compensation System for Teachers has received a great deal of attention through the years from those interested in education policy and reform. (Just Google “ProComp” if you want to see what I mean.) So it’s certainly no surprise to see the Denver Public Schools celebrate ProComp’s fifth birthday. Somehow, ProComp has caught up to become the same age as me: This may mean a challenge to my self-proclaimed position as Colorado’s #1 Education Reform Five-Year-Old! Anyway, not long after the system went into full effect in Denver, my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow wrote an issue paper titled Denver’s ProComp and Teacher Compensation Reform in Colorado. He took the opportunity to credit the district for the extent of improvements made, given the binding power of a union bargaining contract, while pointing out areas where improvements could be made. As Charlie Brennan noted in today’s Ed News Colorado story, DPS’ leading partner in developing and implementing ProComp has more doubts now to express about how the pay reform has turned out — but not for the same reasons: [DCTA president Henry] Roman, who attended Monday afternoon’s event, offered a tempered endorsement of the program – in which he […]

Today is an important day for families interested in Douglas County School District (DCSD)’s brand new, groundbreaking Choice Scholarship Program. Student applications are now available. Completed forms — available either online or as a hard copy to download and print — will be accepted up through next Thursday, May 12, at 5 PM. Events are moving rather quickly, as the district prepares to have up to 500 funded slots available for students to attend one of 31 (potential) partner private schools in 2011-12. Students must be Douglas County residents and currently attend a DCSD school since at least last August. If more than 500 eligible students apply, the district will hold a lottery on Monday, May 16, and inform winners of the $4,575 choice scholarships by the end of that week. Initially, it looked like there were either 27 or 28 private schools that had applied to be partners in the program. The updated final list of applicants shows 31 schools, including 8 non-religious schools. In any case, it’s encouraging to see such broad interest from schools seeking to participate in the program.

About four weeks ago I raised the question about Falcon School District 49’s school buses at the State Capitol stunt: Are they serious about tough decisions ahead? Well, in a story reported this week by the Colorado Springs Gazette‘s Kristina Iodice, the answer appears to be Yes: A staffing plan that eliminates 143 jobs, including teaching positions, in Falcon School District 49 was approved Wednesday by the school board. Board members also voted to reinstate the Transportation Department as fee-for-service operation with no budget other than the money necessary to bus special education students. That vote caused the crowd at Falcon High School to erupt in applause. After that cheerful moment, Chief Education Officer Becky Carter delivered her staffing plan, which was approved but not released Wednesday. It eliminated 108 positions in schools; 16 in learning and pupil services; 10 in special education; six in facility maintenance, and three 3 in other/administration. Of course, Falcon 49 is the 15,000-student school district in the Pikes Peak region that’s pursuing innovation district status. The school board set the budget parameters for each of the four zones of innovation and left specific decisions on staffing positions (except for proposed cuts at the shrinking […]

There’s more to creating good policy than just passing a good law. This is especially true when it comes to big changes, like Colorado Senate Bill 191’s push to update how teachers are evaluated and retained. It wasn’t that long ago I expressed my concerns about the implementation. A couple weeks ago the co-chairs of the State Council on Educator Effectiveness presented their recommendations to the Colorado State Board of Education. One of the presenters expressed a hopeful confidence that the 50 percent of teacher and principal evaluations based on observed performance would match up with the 50 percent based on student growth. The good news, as reported by Education Next, is that new research by Thomas Kane and colleagues shows creating such an effective evaluation system can be done — because in a sense, the Cincinnati Public Schools’ Teacher Evaluation System (TES) already has done it:

Transparency. Good government. Conducting public business in the light of day. I happen to think these are more than trite phrases and ideas. If you’ve been following my coverage of the dispute over opening union bargaining sessions in Colorado Springs School District 11, you have an idea of what I mean. Yesterday my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow took on the growing controversy over whether negotiations in Colorado’s largest school district — Jefferson County Public Schools — should be open to public observation. The story is kind of long and convoluted, which is why he took it on in his own blog rather than drag this poor little 5-year-old kid into the fray so quickly. But I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to highlight a couple items, including his conclusion: Neither parents and other taxpaying citizens, nor the journalists who help bring them information, are welcome at the table to observe how tax dollars are divvied up and many operational policies are established. I just so happen to think that good government conducts its affairs in the light of day. Here’s hoping we can get a positive resolution for greater transparency in Jeffco — and soon.

I’m still recovering from an Easter candy “hangover,” so this post will not be filled with my usual in-depth analysis. Instead, I want you to check out a new School Reform News feature story by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow about a cutting-edge Arizona “blended learning” charter school that’s getting remarkable results: Explaining the success of Carpe Diem Collegiate High School and Middle School requires more than simple answers, but the school’s innovations hold great promise for expanding educational excellence and opportunity. With dozens of cubicles filling a large, open room, Carpe Diem resembles a corporate office more than a traditional school. Students in grades 6 through 12 sit at their individual stations as software loaded on their laptop computers guides them through core instructional material….