Parent Power in Colorado: Aiming to Join or Surpass the Dazzling Dozen

by Eddie | 11:47 am, April 10, 2013

Has it really been more than six whole months since the Hollywood movie Won’t Back Down hit the Denver and national scene. While not a blockbuster success, the parent power-themed, feature-length film certainly raised the profile of K-12 education reform. Two moms took charge and took on the bureaucracy and union opposition to change the [...]

New Digital Learning Report Card Charts Familiar Path for Colorado to Improve

by Eddie | 12:13 pm, March 22, 2013

It’s time to send Colorado home with another report card (figuratively, I mean — not sure how you would do that literally). Back in January I pointed out the release of 3 national education policy report cards. Colorado got a C from Student First for some key teacher and choice policies, a B from the [...]

Guess No “Vouchers” in SB 213, Really Not Much Backpack Funding, Choice at All

by Eddie | 12:14 pm, March 21, 2013

So some of you may have been missing me since a couple days ago when I asked a dozen questions regarding the major school finance bill, SB 213. Many of my questions remain unanswered, and the first committee vote on the bill itself isn’t slated until this afternoon. But a couple interesting conversations sprung up [...]

Big SB 213 School Finance Bill Hearing Keeps Me Watching, Brings Out Questions

by Eddie | 12:32 pm, March 19, 2013

When it comes to the world of K-12 education in Colorado — you know, what keeps my little eyes busy watching — today (this week!) is all consumed in the political debates over Senate Bill 213, the big school finance overhaul tied to a billion dollar tax increase. So I invite you to follow the [...]

Hip KIPP, Hooray! Major Research Shows Big Learning Gains for Challenged Students

by Eddie | 6:00 pm, February 27, 2013

A powerful research report released today from a big study confirms what anyone paying attention to the urban charter school movement already should have noticed. KIPP produces big gains for students: KIPP middle schoolers learn significantly more than comparison students, concludes a report by Mathematica Policy Research on 43 schools in 13 states plus the [...]

Rick Hess Slam Dunks for Colorado with Call for Cage-Busting Can-Do

by Eddie | 5:37 pm, February 11, 2013

Local education leaders want to transform a rigid, bureaucratic system — re-imagining the delivery of instruction, giving more freedom, flexibility, and accountability to teachers and principals at the school level. But then some interest groups or just plain old naysayers come along to protest, saying “We’ve never done it that way before.” Or maybe a [...]

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. [...]

National School Choice Week Simply Means More Reasons to Celebrate

by Eddie | 11:17 am, February 1, 2013

I’m sad to see a successful School Choice Week winding down. There are almost too many different options of what to blog about. Rather than exercise a choice and just do one of the items, I’ve decided instead to blitz you with a bunch of neat items to bring to your attention:

Of course, don’t forget [...]

On This Measure of Charter School Laws, Colorado Ranks 4th… Not Bad

by Eddie | 4:51 pm, January 30, 2013

Keep those education policy grades a-rollin’ in! Not even two weeks since I shared with you that the Center for Education Reform placed Colorado 10th nationally for the strength of its charter school law, here comes another rating. The ever-growing National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) has released its fourth annual ranking of state [...]

On This Measure of Charter School Laws, Colorado Ranks 4th… Not Bad

by Eddie | 10:09 am, January 30, 2013

Keep those education policy grades a-rollin’ in! Not even two weeks since I shared with you that the Center for Education Reform placed Colorado 10th nationally for the strength of its charter school law, here comes another rating. The ever-growing National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) has released its fourth annual ranking of state [...]

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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, [...]

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