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With everybody still focused on that big political party going on in Denver, and the news being generally slow, it seems like a good day to bring your attention to a potentially valuable service for parents of kids younger than I am. It’s called Colorado Bright Beginnings, a non-profit group that provides free services to families with their children up to age 3 to help in their long-term development. From their website: “Our vision is every child in Colorado will be healthy, valued, and ready to learn.” Colorado Bright Beginnings helps thousands of families every year all across the state, with regional affiliates throughout Colorado. Maybe you don’t have young children of your own, but you can tell a friend about the services they offer, or sign up to volunteer for Colorado Bright Beginnings yourself. But if you do fit the description of having young children and you live in our state, consider looking up Bright Beginnings Colorado. And remember, it’s also not too early to start looking for the right school to meet your child’s needs.

There’s a big political party known as the Democratic National Convention going on in the heart of our state this week. Maybe you’ve heard of it. My parents say there’s lots of crazy stuff going on there – things that I’m too young to see, things that could warp my young, impressionable mind or worse. But I guess there also was a serious and “inspirational” event yesterday in Denver, an event that should give real “hope” to education reformers that “change” might come: For too long, panelists agreed, the Democratic Party has walked in lockstep with the teacher unions, and has shown little will to take them on. “As Democrats, we have been wrong on education, and it’s time to get right,” said Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, a rising political star. Booker said he was “practically tarred and feathered” by his local union for even broaching the subject of school choice. “This is my wildest dream,” Booker said during a panel discussion, looking out at an overflowing Denver Art Museum auditorium. “I never thought I’d see a room full of Democrats interested in doing this (taking on the unions).” Among those in attendance was National Education Association President Reg […]

More clear, accurate, available and usable information about public education is a good thing – good for parents, teachers, policy makers, and taxpayers — and ultimately for students like me. One good example of a step forward in this area is the Colorado Department of Education (CDE)’s new student growth model, featured in today’s Denver Post: The model shows how students have grown academically compared with peers in the same grades with similar scores on the Colorado Student Assessment Program over the past two years. “The bottom line is, the model tells us how much growth the child has made and whether that growth is good enough to meet state standards,” said Richard Wenning, associate education commissioner. Other states have adopted growth models, but Colorado is the nation’s first to use percentiles to describe the growth, Wenning said. Fortunately, the growth model doesn’t just compare students with their peers. It also uses an objective standard:

If you are going to enter a debate with Dr. Jay Greene over what the research on school choice says, you had better at least come in fully armed. Leo Casey, the blogger for the American Federation of Teachers, made the accusation that Greene cherry-picks evidence, but he probably wasn’t prepared for this kind of intellectual smackdown: If Leo Casey is going to make the charge of cherry picking and improperly citing evidence, he has to deliver proof of those charges. To the contrary, the facts indicate that Casey is the one cherry picking and improperly citing research. Is there a union for playing fast and loose with the truth? Maybe Leo Casey should join it. Oh, I forgot. He’s already a member of the AFT. By the time he had delivered this rhetorical punch, Greene had already dismantled Casey’s arguments in effective and short order. When will they ever learn? Never, of course. Admitting that 9 of the 10 high-quality school choice studies show solid evidence of academic gains would be self-defeating. (Then again, another new study has just shown positive results from the Ohio EdChoice voucher program.) After digging into the question of how well school choice works, […]

Retiring Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo – and former president of the Independence Institute (long before I was even born) – has a great piece published in today’s Rocky Mountain News. Most people associate Rep. Tancredo with the issue of immigration, but his deepest roots go back into education as a former public school teacher and as regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education during the 1980s. As he gives advice to Colorado’s current governor and one of his recent predecessors, the themes in Rep. Tancredo’s Speakout column are not novel or startling, but they’re important reminders we can’t hear enough: Last week, Gov. Bill Ritter and former Gov. Roy Romer wrote a column about the state of education in America. In it, I believe they’ve unwittingly made a powerful argument for precisely the kind of educational reform that they have publicly opposed for many years: school choice…. If history has taught us anything, it is that solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems have come only when we have unleashed the power of the free market. The answer to the education problem, simply put, is more choices for parents, and more competition by schools for students. It […]

Correction: Insight School is a district choice school, not a public charter school, as originally written. The change has been reflected in this post. We apologize for any confusion caused. School is getting back into gear for most students across Colorado. An ever more popular and innovative option for parents and students is the online school. The newest – Insight School of Colorado – is authorized by the Julesburg School District in the far northeastern corner of the state. Technology and cyberspace are ever changing, so you may need to revise your notions of what an online education program looks like for the typical student. Here’s what Insight has to offer: Enrolling at Insight means having access to the very best online high school education, including A personal mentoring program A nationally recognized curriculum Professional one-on-one instruction In-person meetings Social activities All the administrative and technology support you and your family need There’s also a video that explains more about the Insight program (free Quicktime software needed). Social activities, you say, at an online school? According to the website, there will be a school newspaper, student government, academic clubs, occasional field trips throughout Colorado, and “Yes, there will be a […]

Successful schools need to be highlighted, and West Denver Prep Charter School gets the appropriate treatment from Nancy Mitchell in today’s Rocky Mountain News: West Denver Preparatory Charter School was born over lukewarm coffee in the basement of a church called The Pearl in a graffiti- stained neighborhood at the south end of Federal Boulevard. In meeting after meeting, a carefully selected and diverse group – The Pearl’s minister, the city’s chief operating officer, a troubled kid from L.A. turned veteran teacher – drew the bones of a school they hoped would change minds about what can be achieved in public education in Denver. Today, West Denver Prep ranks No. 1 among the city’s 44 middle schools in the academic growth of its students. It stages annual lotteries to select pupils from an overflow of applicants and, from those not chosen, tears are not unusual. [emphasis added] Read the whole thing. Three cheers to West Denver Prep, and continued best wishes for success. Here’s hoping other schools – as well as education policy makers – take the time to watch, listen, learn, and follow its example.

On its very first day of class, here’s a quick update on the Early College High School at Arvada, via an email one of my friends in the Education Policy Center received from school director Sarah Brock: …First of all, due to strong community request and concern regarding the upcoming changes to the high schools in the area, we are enrolling both 9th and 10th graders this year (very small classes of both, between 30-40 students per grade). Going forward we will only be enrolling 9th graders each year – around 80 students each year – and we expect to reach capacity in 2012, with approximately 320 students. Because we are enrolling 10th graders this year, our first graduating class will happen in Spring of 2011! Finally, I notice that you have our Open House and Information Sessions on the site – but all the dates are past. I would truly appreciate it if you would update the site to say that ECHS at Arvada will be accepting walk-in enrollments through August 22nd. Interested families can stop by the school and speak to Ms. Paula Kendall, our Office Manager, in the main office anytime between 8am – 4:30pm. They can […]

Last week I told you about how charter schools in Aurora were getting shortchanged in a proposed bond measure. The local newspaper, the Aurora Sentinel, fired back at the charter schools with a strange and poorly informed editorial. There’s no need to rehash all the places where the newspaper’s editors went wrong. Denise at Colorado Charters took care of it pretty well with a two-part series (here and here). According to a 2007 Harvard University national survey, most Americans don’t really know much about charter schools. Though interestingly, support for charters and equalized funding for charters is much higher among those who actually understand how they work. Perhaps if the Aurora Sentinel editors were similarly well-informed, their opinion would change. But the reason I wanted to bring this all to your attention was the full and fresh treatment given today at the online news shop Face The State. One of the Education Policy Center’s own is quoted in the story: “The claim that charter schools lack accountability is laughable,” said Ben DeGrow, an education policy analyst with the Independence Institute, a Golden-based free market think tank and frequent supporter of charter schools. “In many ways they’re more accountable than traditional […]

Colorado is a great place to be for a host of public online education options. Douglas County School District has a new cyber-learning alternative: eDCSD Online Education. “Learning That Takes You Places” is the eDCSD motto. Online learning well may be the massive wave of the future in education – it might even be common for a major portion of students to be enrolled in these kind of programs by the time I reach high school. But another online education program, you say? What makes eDCSD unique?: eDCSD combines rigorous curriculum, well qualified teachers, and the best in Web 2.0 technologies—all with the convenience of online accessibility to create a learning experience that is truly one of a kind. In addition to low student-to-teacher ratios and convenient, flexible scheduling – traits common to cyberschools – eDCSD also puts an emphasis on “a safe, secure social networking environment that encourages student connection and fosters collaboration.” If they can take what kids know today from the online worlds of MySpace, Facebook, and the like, and combine it effectively with the content students need to reach educational success, that would make the eDCSD program stand apart. You have to go to the eDCSD […]