Late-Night Louisiana House Advances School Choice, Tenure Reform Bills

by Eddie | 1:20 pm, March 26, 2012

A lot of big people were paying attention to Louisiana this weekend because of some big presidential primary election there. But I’m more interested in Bayou State developments from the world of K-12 education. And they look pretty big from here.
Last Thursday night Republicans and Democrats in the Louisiana House of Representatives came together to [...]

Independence Institute Shares Colorado’s Own Digital Learning Roadmap

by Eddie | 12:49 pm, March 21, 2012

Do you ever get lost, driving around a big city and missing your destination? Maybe you pass the same landmark two, three, or even four times, getting more frustrated along the way. Maybe your GPS is malfunctioning, or maybe you just wish you had a GPS! For me, the feeling comes as I search for [...]

Dougco School Board Approves Choice Program: Looking Back One Year Later

by Eddie | 11:55 am, March 15, 2012

Can you believe it was one year ago today that the Douglas County Board of Education voted to adopt the groundbreaking Pilot Choice Scholarship Program? (Can you also believe that I was 5 years old then and am still 5 years old now? I need to talk to my Education Policy Center friends about this.) [...]

Denver Mayor Hancock and Andre Agassi Discussed Education Reform: A Good Sign?

by Eddie | 3:49 pm, March 14, 2012

A couple weeks ago I excitedly tweeted about a great blog piece in which four of Colorado’s leading Democrats — Lt. Governor Joe Garcia, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, and State Senator Michael Johnston — explained why they support school choice.
Then today Todd Shepherd of Complete Colorado forwarded me an interesting [...]

School Reform News Bulletin: Can Bold Iowa Reform Plans Get Unstuck?

by Eddie | 12:19 pm, March 5, 2012

Hard to believe it was five months ago I asked the question: Is major education reform about ready to give Iowa a try? At the heart of the story is a local connection. Jason Glass, appointed the state’s education chief a little more than a year ago by incoming Governor Terry Branstad, has some notable [...]

New Fiscal Impact Study Reinforces Benefits of Dougco Choice Scholarship Program

by Eddie | 5:15 pm, March 1, 2012

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has released an interesting new study titled “The Fiscal Effects of School Choice Programs on Public School Districts.” Author Benjamin Scafidi took a state-by-state look at total per-pupil spending, breaking out the fixed costs from the variable costs.
Here’s the basic idea. Take a state’s K-12 “expenditures on capital, [...]

Comprehensive Milwaukee Voucher Study Shows Some Positive, No Harmful Results

by Eddie | 3:26 pm, February 28, 2012

The big news from the education reform world this week is the release of the School Choice Demonstration Project’s final reports evaluating five years of matched student comparisons between the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the Milwaukee Public Schools. What can we learn about vouchers from the results of this program?
The American Federation for Children [...]

“Education Justice League” Sums Up Research, Points to School Choice Future

by Eddie | 3:52 pm, February 22, 2012

Once in awhile an article comes along that makes you stand up and cheer. For me, the latest is a new Education Week column signed by “nine scholars and analysts” that lays out clearly what the research says about school choice. I was tempted to re-post the whole thing, but the big people in my [...]

Denver’s Northeast Academy Deserves Full 3 Years to Prove Itself During Turnaround

by Eddie | 5:48 pm, February 13, 2012

One of the strengths I’ve touted about the charter school model is the greater flexibility to close down poor performers. In fact, it’s pretty rare for a charter to enter the “turnaround” process instead of being shuttered. But that’s what happened in 2010 with Denver’s Northeast Academy, having suffered through a healthy share of turmoil. [...]

Colo.’s Parent Trigger II Survives First Test: Maybe HB 1149 Can Win Bipartisan Support

by Eddie | 5:01 pm, February 7, 2012

My Education Policy Center friends asked me to stop playing around in the snow long enough to give a quick update and comment on something I mentioned last week. As Ed News Colorado reports, Rep. Don Beezley’s “Parent Trigger II” successfully passed its first obstacle with a favorable 7-6 party line vote in the House [...]

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