READ THE LATEST FROM EDDIE

I have a little secret I’d like to share. You want to know how to get under the skin of my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow? It’s pretty easy. Just go online somewhere and repeat the canard that Colorado supposedly ranks 49th in K-12 education funding. He won’t be able to resist the chance to respond and slap you down. The latest example is yesterday from the state of Washington, where they are debating a ballot initiative much like our own Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. So here’s what Seattle Times columnist Lynne Varner wrote: Colorado voters fell for promise of tax relief but the result was horrific. After the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) passed in 1992, the state dropped to 49th in funding for K-12 education…. [emphasis added] Very clever, Ms. Varner. At that point you pretty much had Ben cornered. Just one problem: Like a wounded animal that’s when he is most dangerous (you know, with his arsenal of facts and logic):

If we’re going to improve learning opportunities, especially for the poorest and neediest kids in our state, one of the most important things we can do is have strong and effective leadership at the school level. Principals need to be trained not only to be great instructional leaders but also to be more like entrepreneurial managers than compliant bureaucrats. Enter the partnership between Get Smart Schools and the University of Denver: Beginning in Spring, 2010, the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business will incorporate its cutting edge MBA core curriculum with a specially-designed concentration in education, developed in cooperation with the Morgridge College of Education and GetSmartSchools, a non-profit organization designed to dramatically increase the number of high quality schools serving low-income students in Colorado’s Front Range. All elective courses will be specially designed to train future leaders of autonomous schools. Unlike traditional Principal preparation, this will give participants both the business and instructional expertise to manage and lead schools closing the academic achievement gap. Just as we need more high-quality alternative routes into the teaching profession, so we need more high-quality alternative routs into school leadership. Kudos to Get Smart Schools and the University of Denver. Maybe this […]

The Boulder Valley teachers union may be the only one in Colorado on the precipice of a strike. (And why? Perhaps some nostalgic university town vision of what a labor movement should look like?) But Boulder looks like it’s getting closer to having a little company. As Nancy Mitchell highlights in her latest story for Ed News Colorado, the clash between another teachers union and school district over limited funds has deepened: Greeley teachers this week overwhelmingly rejected the latest contract offer from the district, pushing to three the number of large school districts statewide with educators still working for last year’s pay.

Last year I told you about the remarkable education reform success story in Florida. The elements of this success can be traced to a comprehensive set of policy changes made while Jeb Bush was governor, including: School accountability Student accountability Private school choice Scientific-based literacy instruction Alternative teacher certification In a comprehensive article for the Summer 2009 edition of Education Next, Matt Ladner and Dan Lips explain exactly what Florida did to make dramatic gains on 4th grade national test scores. Perhaps more importantly, they take on critiques from those who say the scores are misleading because of social promotion policies or can somehow be attributed to other education initiatives voters approved: universal preschool and class size reduction. Check out the article.

Interested in learning American Sign Language (ASL), but not exactly sure where to get started? Our friends at the Rocky Mountain Deaf School (RMDS) (just around the corner from my friends at the Independence Institute) wanted me to let you know about this opportunity that you’ll appreciate. RMDS is offering an ASL class for adults and children, starting next Monday, October 12, at 6 PM. The way the class is structured families can come together to learn. The one-hour class, led by experienced teachers Jeff Beatty and Valerie Sharer, will repeat every Monday for a total of six weeks. Costs are as follows:

You probably assume a prolific blogging prodigy like myself eventually will head to a prestigious 4-year university — maybe even with Doogie Howser-like potential. But what if when I turn 16 some day my heart is set on a career as a plumber or a chef? You wouldn’t deny me that, would you? Writing for the America’s Future Foundation, Liam Julian of the Hoover Institution says we could take a big bite out of our high school dropout problem by engaging more students in vocational education programs — particularly those that integrate academics directly with students’ career aspirations, providing greater relevance to many teens (H/T Heritage Insider): Imagine a 17-year-old who does not want to attend college (or at least not right away); who finds parsing Macbeth maddeningly immaterial; who yearns to learn a practical skill and put it to use; who feels his personal strengths are being ignored and wasted; who is annoyed by his school’s lackluster teachers, classroom chaos, and general atmosphere of indifference. Too often, such a pupil has no other options. He has no educational choice.

I don’t know a lot about India, except that a whole lot of people live there and my parents love the food (Me? I’ll stick with hot dogs and mac & cheese). But then yesterday I found this story about a study of India’s education system (PDF): We find that the teacher performance pay program was highly effective in improving student learning. At the end of two years of the program, students in incentive schools performed significantly better than those in comparison schools by 0.28 and 0.16 standard deviations (SD) in math and language tests respectively….

Some day I might grow up to be cynical about education politics, but for now I see a big glimmer of hope. What do I mean? Look at yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: Low-income families in the District of Columbia got some encouraging words yesterday from an unlikely source. Illinois Senator Richard Durbin signaled that he may be open to reauthorizing the Opportunity Scholarship Program, a school voucher program that allows 1,700 disadvantaged kids to opt out of lousy D.C. public schools and attend a private school. “I have to work with my colleagues if this is going to be reauthorized, which it might be,” said Mr. Durbin at an appropriations hearing Tuesday morning. He also said that he had visited one of the participating private schools and understood that “many students are getting a good education from the program.” This could be the sign of a big turnaround for the influential Democratic senator, whom I have rightly critiqued in the past. At the Flypaper blog, Andy Smarick says Durbin’s statement “was a major step in the right direction”, and wonders if the D.C. 6’s dramatic sit-in a few weeks ago had an impact.

You don’t think I would be considered a “gifted and talented” student, do you? Because if so, and if I lived in the north Denver metro area, I would take a really close look at getting into the new Westgate Community School. Chartered by the Adams 12 School District and located in Northglenn, Westgate serves students from kindergarten to 6th grade. According to the school’s main web page: Our school offers an innovative, stimulating learning environment to all students, including the twice-exceptional, visual-spatial, and highly/profoundly gifted learners. We specialize in gifted learners whose needs diverge from traditional educational models. Our instruction is organized to support diverse learning styles by using methods that match the strengths of alternative learners. We believe the social and emotional needs of gifted students are as important as their intellectual needs. While making our high expectations clear to all students, we also offer a loving learning environment where it is safe to take risks among peers. Our goal is to make our students feel successful, understood, and appreciated for who they are.

Do you live along Colorado’s Front Range? Are you running for the board of education in your local community this fall? Then my friends in the Education Policy Center are glad to invite you to a school board candidates issue briefing on Thursday, October 15, at 7:00 PM. Hosted at the Independence Institute offices, the event is free. An electronic copy of educational materials will be handed out, and light refreshments will be served. If you’re planning to come or have questions related to the event, please contact Ben DeGrow.