Substitute Teacher Policies? No One Else Could Cover It Quite the Same

by Eddie | 5:00 pm, February 8, 2013

Truth be told, I tried to find someone else to fill in and do the blogging for me today — a substitute, if you will. It’s Friday, one of the more common days for teachers to get a classroom substitute, at least according to a Harvard study cited in a new Education Week piece by [...]

Denver’s Rocky Mountain Prep Opens Door to Cutting-Edge Learning Success

by Eddie | 11:13 am, December 20, 2012

Last week a couple of my Education Policy Center friends had the privilege of visiting an innovative Denver charter school that’s serving kids close to my age: Rocky Mountain Prep. This new school is following in the footsteps of successful forebears that serve high-need student populations — placing a foundational emphasis on high expectations with [...]

Colorado School Grades Website Returns to Inform Parents for Second Year

by Eddie | 5:13 pm, December 18, 2012

Can you believe it’s been a whole year since the launch of the Colorado School Grades website? My friends at the Independence Institute are proud to be one of the 18 sponsoring partners of this helpful resource.
The passing of 12 months means a whole new set of data, and a lot of curious parents searching [...]

Parent Trigger Concept Doesn’t Need Discrimination against For-Profit Operators

by Eddie | 9:31 am, October 23, 2012

A few weeks ago I shared with you about a “parent trigger” debate triggered by the release of the movie Won’t Back Down. In that discussion, New Schools for New Orleans’ Neerav Kingsland argued that “the best parent trigger is parent choice between non-governmental school operators.”
Yesterday another division erupted in the “parent trigger” discussion between [...]

Will Modern Skyview Campus, Choice Set Stage for Mapleton Academic Success?

by Eddie | 11:26 am, October 9, 2012

Yesterday I shared some thoughts about how a growing Brighton district with some crowded schools might find some creative solutions to its problem. While securing safe, functional and adequate facilities is a high priority for some school districts, others can bask gratefully in their new quarters and hopefully focus even more on the mission of [...]

Teachers or Union Politics? A (Brief) Colorado Tale of Two Recognitions

by Eddie | 12:24 pm, August 29, 2012

Have you ever played the “one of these things is not like the other” game with only two things? The results usually are neither too difficult nor surprising. But playing a quick game, like we’re about to do, can still be informative in its own way.
Okay, let’s go. The first item comes compliments of the [...]

State Board OKs Two More Falcon Innovation Schools; One Banishes Tenure

by Eddie | 10:25 am, August 10, 2012

When Colorado passed the first-of-its-kind Innovation Schools Act in 2008, observers knew that the law was primarily tailored to transform the most challenging campuses in Denver Public Schools (DPS). And so it largely has played out. No one else has matched the 24 DPS schools who have taken advantage of the Act’s process to transform [...]

Six Falcon 49 Schools Win Innovation Status as Board Nears Important Crossroads

by Eddie | 12:33 pm, June 14, 2012

About six weeks ago I shared with readers that the Falcon School District 49 innovation plan was nearing a crossroads. That crucial time may now be upon us. As reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado State Board of Education yesterday unanimously approved requests to give six District 49 schools official innovation status:
“Innovation is [...]

“True North” Report Calls on Denver Public Schools to Refocus, Raise the Bar

by Eddie | 10:46 am, May 23, 2012

A team of local education reform groups has partnered to release the new report True North: Goals for Denver Public Schools. It’s a quick, worthwhile read for anyone interested in improving the outcomes of American urban education. Denver Public Schools is often cited as a reform model for districts in other cities across the land, [...]

Adams 12 Teachers Fired for Alleged Theft Resurrects Tenure Reform Debate

by Eddie | 11:36 am, May 16, 2012

On Monday night, Denver CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger broke a story about Adams 12 dismissing two teachers for allegedly bilking thousands of dollars in PTO funds that were supposed to go for student trips. I never like to see such a story as the one featured in the 3-minute video. Interviewed by Sallinger, school board [...]

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  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, [...]

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