Tag Archives: commentary

If you aren’t a regular reader of Mike Antonucci’s Education Intelligence Agency (EIA), you don’t know what you’re missing. Mr. Antonucci is one of the best national experts on teachers unions, has a very keen perspective on the significance of issues in unions and education politics, and breaks many stories with his vast network of (mostly anonymous) sources. That’s why when he took a break from his online reporting and commentary for nine or 10 days a little earlier this month, I was suffering from a mild case of withdrawal. But EIA’s Intercepts blog is back, with two new pieces I commend to your reading enjoyment and enlightenment: “NEA & ACORN: The Details” (adding more depth to an issue my Education Policy Center friends covered recently on our Independent Teachers site) How the two national teachers unions now face the equivalent of a political “electric chair” in their education policy discussions with a Democratic presidential administration … big stuff EIA is back with a bang. Happy Monday!

It’s Monday, which means it’s time again to highlight a new public school opening here in our great state of Colorado. Today we look south along the Front Range to the Colorado Springs area, where the Atlas Preparatory Charter School has kicked off its very first classes today. One hundred fifth-graders represent the first cohort of what is slated to take students all the way up through eighth grade by 2012-13. Using an intense college-prep model, the leaders of Atlas have set specific goals to make high academic achievers out of their students, and will incorporate a longer school day with extra focus on reading and math to get it done. While as a tuition-free public charter school Atlas is open to all comers, they are especially geared toward instilling a focus on achieving a four-year college education in young people who may be the first in their family to take that academic step.