Let’s Not Allow Test Cheating Scandals to Lead to Faulty Conclusions

by Eddie | 1:41 pm, April 4, 2013

Let’s go over it again: Standardized tests are far from the be-all and end-all of education. But if we’re not going to put money in student backpacks and make schools directly accountable to parents, how can such assessments NOT be used as a key component of measuring student progress, teacher effectiveness, and school quality? If [...]

A Colorado Digital BOCES? Leave the Creative Ideas to Innovative Falcon 49

by Eddie | 11:12 am, March 13, 2013

Intriguing. The Colorado Springs Gazette today reports that some of the region’s leading education innovators have proposed a new idea to provide specialized oversight and support to online learning programs: The Falcon School District 49 school board is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal that would create a collaborative education organization that could charter [...]

Heartbroken by Choice Bill Defeats, Hoping for Some Scholarship Tax Credit Love

by Eddie | 12:56 pm, February 15, 2013

I tend not to get into all the icky Valentine’s Day stuff (flowers, pink hearts, greeting cards), except to the extent I can stuff my face with candy. Even so, some events that transpired yesterday at the Capitol nearly broke my heart. Ed News Colorado reports on the Thursday afternoon state senate committee hearing that [...]

Digital Learning Day Could Help Propel Colorado to Student Course Choice

by Eddie | 3:06 pm, February 6, 2013

It’s been a whole year since the last Digital Learning Day, and somehow I’m still 5… Go figure! There is so much going on with digital learning innovations in Colorado, but I just wanted to hone in on one of them. In December, my Education Policy Center friends visited Denver’s Rocky Mountain Prep charter school. [...]

How Long Can Colorado Stay in Top 10 for Strong Charter School Laws?

by Eddie | 5:02 pm, January 17, 2013

In the education reform world, you’ve got to be comfortable with the idea of assigning states grades and putting them on a scorecard. Why, it was just last week I highlighted Colorado’s top 10 finish — aided by the curve — on Student First’s inaugural State Policy Report Cards.
Well, once again Colorado has landed in [...]

Colorado, Be Wary of Reading Too Much into Cyberschool Critiques

by Eddie | 11:17 am, January 11, 2013

One of the education proposals giving me the 5-year-old equivalent of heartburn as Colorado’s legislative session gets rolling is the attempt to add regulations to the state’s full-time online schools. For those who have been following the scene for any length of time, that probably sounds like a broken record (“like a damaged MP3 file” [...]

Can We Get a Truly Comparable Picture of State Graduation Rates?

by Eddie | 1:38 pm, January 4, 2013

A Friday quickie for readers to chew on. Back in late November, the U.S. Department of Education released the first-ever data where we could truly compare the rates at which students in different states are graduating high school on time. Unfortunately, Colorado’s 74 percent graduation rate put us in the bottom third.
But now that we [...]

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 [...]

Ridgeview Classical Continues Exceptional Approach in Pursuit of Excellence

by Eddie | 12:13 pm, December 17, 2012

Recently I told you about my Education Policy Center friends’ visit to Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins — which principal just so happens to be outgoing State Board of Education chair Bob Schaffer (whose farewell dinner earned a nice tribute in the Colorado Statesman). Well, if you’re going to make the 2-hour round [...]

Eddie Picks Up Slack on Media Misses, Including Teacher Pension Costs

by Eddie | 4:20 pm, December 13, 2012

I love lists, I love education, and I love to tell people about things. So it should be no surprise that my attention was caught by yesterday’s news release from Stanford: “Hoover Institution Education Experts Identify News Media Hits and Misses in 2012 Education Coverage.” The Koret Task Force on Education named five stories that [...]

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