Yes, Colorado Has Lots of Room to Improve How We Prepare Teachers for Job

by Eddie | 4:37 pm, January 24, 2013

It sure seems like Colorado education policies are getting graded quite a bit these days. Last week we earned a B from the Center for Education Reform for the quality of our charter school law, which placed us in the top 10 among states. Two weeks ago Students First looked at a whole range of [...]

Colorado Has Made Some Progress, But a C for Teacher Policy Isn’t Good Enough

by Eddie | 5:30 pm, January 30, 2012

Now that School Choice Week is over, and I’m able to relax a bit after my manic phase of hyperactivity, it’s back to the (fun) edublogging grind. Right out of the gate, it’s time to tackle an important education reform item that emerged last week but falls a little bit outside the school choice arena. [...]

Rick Hess’ Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings Point to My Indirect Influence

by Eddie | 4:45 pm, January 5, 2012

From time to time you’ll see me write about or reference the work of scholars who research the nitty gritty of education policy. These are the high falutin’ number-crunchers with big degrees who work at universities. Well, the venerable Rick Hess has revealed his 2012 Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings to measure more than 100 American [...]

Inquiring Minds: Is Major Education Reform About Ready to Give Iowa a Try?

by Eddie | 2:54 pm, October 4, 2011

In this musical play my grandma told me about, called The Music Man, there’s a song that strongly suggests people from Iowa are stubborn, and (kinda tongue-in-cheek) tells listeners that “you really ought to give Iowa a try.” Back in January, my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow noted how one-time Colorado education innovator Jason [...]

Rick Hess: Why Don’t Unions Stand Up for Effective Principals, Ed School Reform?

by Eddie | 2:23 pm, August 24, 2011

Time is of the essence today, so one of my Education Policy Center friends will simply take a quick moment and point you to a very insightful blog passage about the dynamics of education reform. Take it away, Dr. Rick Hess:
…it strikes me as ludicrous for the unions to sit quietly by and share the [...]

NCTQ Student Teacher Study Raises Valid Questions for Colorado K-12 Education

by Eddie | 12:48 pm, July 22, 2011

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I have a great deal of respect for the work of the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ). As I pointed out a few months ago, NCTQ has been spearheading an important review of the university programs that prepare teachers for K-12 schools [...]

Not the Time for Education Schools to Resist Transparent Review Process

by Eddie | 4:01 pm, April 21, 2011

A few days ago I told you about the recent Denver visit from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ)’s Sandi Jacobs, but I never really got to the interesting part: the main part of her presentation. She came to talk about the big project NCTQ and U.S. News and World Report have launched to [...]

Ben DeGrow’s Latest School Reform News Story Tackles Teacher Prep Report

by Eddie | 11:51 am, January 14, 2011

On a busy Friday, the easy and preferred course of action is for me to point you to the latest School Reform News article by my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow. The title of the story is “Teacher Training Overhaul Would Leave Ed Schools in Charge”:

Following a blue-ribbon panel’s lead, the nation’s largest accreditation [...]

The Ivory Tower May Be Cracking, But Education Professors Have a Ways to Go

by Eddie | 11:20 am, October 5, 2010

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about teachers and policies related to them. But what about those who teach teachers — at least those teachers who receive traditional certification from postsecondary schools of education?
Last week the Fordham Institute released the results of a survey of more than 700 education professors “to [...]

Featured Posts

• PPC Training for Activists

  UPDATE: Something apparently got messed up with the PayPal buttons during this past weekend’s database glitch – fixed now. Yes, it’s that time again — PPC will be conducting training classes for center-right activists on Saturday, April 20 and Saturday, April 27, at Independence Institute in Denver. The tentative class schedule is as follows: Saturday, [...]

• Holder’s First Letter to Paul Precipitates the Best Filibuster Ever
• The Lamest Twitter Argument Ever Offered?
• Return of the PPC Re-Education Camps – You Know You Want to Be There
• Supreme Courts Blesses Warrantless Surveillance of Citizens in a Kafkaesque Farce
• GOP Elite and the Ruling Class
• Do We Now Get to Call Joe Salazar a “Rapist”?