Scholarship Tax Credits Could Help Denver, Aurora HS Students Overcome Challenges

by Eddie | 11:05 am, April 12, 2013

For those who long have rolled up their sleeves to try to improve student learning, the cause of urban high school reform remains one of the most daunting tasks. Even in areas where the most concentrated and sustained efforts at reform have taken place, the promising results have been very limited. Enter a brand new [...]

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 [...]

‘Bama Tax Credit Surprise: Status Quo Blindsided by Win for Needy Kids

by Eddie | 12:22 pm, March 5, 2013

A few years ago, a great movie called The Blind Side was released, portraying the real-life story of a poor, homeless young man who thrived on the football field under the care of an adopted family. Michael Oher went on to be a college All-American and last month a Super Bowl champion offensive tackle as [...]

Three Bens Could Lead Colorado K-12 to Three Million Benjamins in Savings

by Eddie | 4:20 pm, March 4, 2013

Recently, I raised the issue of how PERA reform could fit into the ongoing school finance reform debates. It certainly lessens the sense of a “grand bargain” — tying reforms to a billion-dollar tax increase — when such big issues are left off the table. But then I came across the information in a Friedman [...]

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 [...]

Let’s Figure Out How PERA Can Fit Into Colo. School Finance Reform Debates

by Eddie | 3:17 pm, February 21, 2013

The long-awaited draft of the big school finance reform bill (144 pages in all its glory) is finally here this week. You can rest assured I will have more to say in the coming days as my Education Policy Center friends dig more deeply into it. For now, I just have to say how glad [...]

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 [...]

Research Ought to Give Second Thoughts about Government Preschool Programming

by Eddie | 4:35 pm, February 14, 2013

It’s been almost two years since I last brought your attention to the overwhelming research findings that the nearly-50-year-old Head Start program has not made a real difference in education outcomes. But a new Wall Street Journal story by Stephanie Banchero points out that some federal officials appear intent on doubling down. In an article [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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• 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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