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 [...]

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 [...]

Well, Teachers Union Leaders Could Use a New Argument Against School Choice

by Eddie | 2:47 pm, April 3, 2013

Take your hats off to those teachers union officials, they sure know how to plan ahead sometimes. The Education Intelligence Agency’s Mike Antonucci brings our attention to a PBS Newshour clip in which NEA president Dennis Van Roekel tried to respond to a question about why private educational choice works at the college level but [...]

Change of Heart on Choice, Reform, Funding, and Unions: Time for Ed Is Playing!!

by Eddie | 12:18 pm, April 1, 2013

It’s been several days since I’ve had a chance to write here. The end of my spring break provided a lot of time for reflection on some issues that really have been bothering me. Now that I’ve had time to re-evaluate my well-known positions on some key education issues, I feel it is my obligation [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Transparency in DougCo School District: Toward a Happy Ending to the Story

by Eddie | 3:34 pm, March 18, 2013

Update, 3/25: Happy endings don’t usually come so quickly. But just one week later, Dougco has made and received confirmation on a number of online transparency improvements to now receive an A-minus grade. If you’ve followed little old Eddie for any length of time, you know I’m a fan of the following two things: open [...]

Court Upholds Teacher Removal: Adams 12 Board Vindicated, Taxpayers Pay

by Eddie | 1:56 pm, March 15, 2013

When Colorado and other states pass education reform laws, it’s important to pay attention to what problems are solved and what problems are not. As an example, Colorado’s SB 191, which passed three whole years ago, made some important changes. Effective teacher evaluations soon will be required before earning extra “due process” job protections. How [...]

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 [...]

Colorado House Bill 1257 and the Quest to Stifle Local Education Innovation

by Eddie | 4:44 pm, March 11, 2013

Every once in awhile you see a piece of K-12 education legislation appear, and you just scratch your head. (Okay, really, it’s more often than every once in awhile.) Colorado’s latest example is the short and sour House Bill 1257, which I think should be called the Stifling Innovation Act of 2013. HB 1257 as [...]

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