Tag Archives: School Choice for Kids website

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 […]

Our governor has placed a lot of attention on the goal of cutting Colorado’s dropout rate in half in 10 years. To get a sense of what it will take to accomplish that goal, inquiring minds should go check out Diplomas Count 2008 by Education Week. (Thanks to John LaPlante at the SPN Blog for pointing it out.) There’s lots of information at your fingertips, such as: State-specific background reports with easy-to-read information … here’s the report for Colorado (almost 26 percent of students failed to graduate in 2005) A tool to compare Colorado’s P-20 Council to different states’ education alignment councils An interactive mapping tool that allows you to see how successful individual school districts are at seeing kids through to high school graduation Memo to Education Week: The Education Policy Center staff here says what you have put together is a great resource for looking at the dropout issue. But did you know that there is no way to find Colorado’s largest school district (Jefferson County, where I am right now) on your mapping tool? It doesn’t come up in a name search. It isn’t labeled on a map of the Denver metro area. What’s the deal? When […]

I’m excited to feature this story from today’s Denver Post in my first post, because it’s a big part of what this blog is all about! Parents in Denver have seen several amazing, successful charter schools at work and are demanding more: “We want this for our kids and our families,” said Luci Saenz, mother of a child at Valdez Elementary. “We are ready to fight. We believe in our children, and we believe they deserve it.” Like other urban districts, Denver Public Schools has had trouble educating the city’s poorest students. But two charter middle schools on the city’s west side have proved it can be done. The success of KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy and West Denver Preparatory Charter School is spurring a charter renaissance. At least a dozen charter schools are being planned for the city over the next decade based on high-performing models. The vast majority of parents know and care about their children’s educational needs and want the best for them. For these parents in Denver, the new charter schools can’t come soon enough. Yet, interestingly, the article also notes: “Critics of charters argue schools are successful because they cater to parents who are already engaged.” […]