Tag Archives: Douglas County School District

Making choices is tough. Would Spiderman or Batman win in a fight? Should I have ice cream for dessert, or should I have ice cream and candy for dessert? What should I do with my finger after picking my nose? Should I ask for a smaller present on both my birthday and Christmas, or should I just ask for one really big present? It all gets a little confusing if you ask me. If you think that little guys like me have it rough, you should talk to our parents. They have to make hundreds of decisions, all (ok, most) of which are more important than the already stressful choices I outlined above. Among those choices, one stands out as particularly consequential: Which school best fits my child’s needs? That, my friends, is a tough nut to crack. In fact, one of the most commonly cited arguments against school choice is that some parents—particularly those who don’t earn much or who have lower levels of education themselves—simply aren’t able to find the information they need to make good choices for their children. In one district, that may be about to change.

I recently told you that Douglas County’s innovative new teacher training and licensure program would be up for review by the State Board of Education soon. Well, the good news is that today the Board unanimously agreed to extend the waiver so the program can continue to operate. In cheering what the program has accomplished thus far, State Board member Peggy Littleton even cited the report Douglas County’s Homegrown Teachers (PDF) written by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow. It’s good to see successful local innovation encouraged rather than stymied. More effective and streamlined paths are needed to get high-quality teachers into classrooms. Kudos to Mike Lynch and the staff at Douglas County’s Learning Center. We hope to see the vision for their program grow and inspire action from other school districts in Colorado and across the country.

The Rocky Mountain News today has an inspirational feature on Colorado Teacher of the Year Susan Elliott: Elliott, 54, grew up in California. She has been deaf since early childhood. “When I was 5 years old, I flunked the hearing test when I tried to get into kindergarten,” Elliott said. “And I continued to keep losing my hearing. It got worse and worse every year until I was profoundly deaf in my late teens.” The cause was genetic. Elliott has been teaching since 1977. She taught in Denver Public Schools and has been with Douglas County since 1994. While she has taught at all grade levels, she currently teaches English and social studies at Highlands Ranch High School. “We have a wonderful team of interpreters,” she said of the people who enable communication between students who speak and those who sign. “I guess I could say that creativity and the opportunity to be a lifelong learner is what keeps me coming back to the classroom.” Susan Elliott seems like a remarkable teacher. She is deserving of congratulations for the tremendous honor. It’s interesting to note that she teaches in Douglas County School District, a local leader in advancing ways to […]

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 […]