Monthly Archives: May 2012

Do I write enough here about blended learning? Probably not. The fascinating and significant topic has many different manifestations, and developments change so fast that it’s hard to get a really solid grasp of what it is. The respected gurus at the Innosight Institute define blended learning as: a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home. That definition comes from the new report Classifying K-12 blended learning by Heather Staker and Michael Horn. Why come up with a new report? To improve the system of classifying different blended learning models. After consulting with many other education experts, they reduced the number of identifiable models from six to four (skipping right over my favorite number — five!):

“Before we can do anything to fix Colorado schools, we just need to give them more money. …Right?” Well, Colorado taxpayers can’t afford to dish out more any time soon. Especially since the per-pupil spending increases of the past decade didn’t significantly impact student learning, and Colorado brings in more than $10,000 in tax revenues per student. So begins a great new 2-minute video put together by my Independence Institute friends. It blends excerpts from a March 19 Colorado State Board of Education panel event here in Denver, “Making the Connections: School Finance Design and Student Achievement.” Two panelists in particular, national school finance experts, make a strong case that Colorado needs to think outside the box in designing a new system to fund learning success:

Today’s a good day for stepping back a bit. Yesterday it was exactly four years ago I started blogging as a 5-year-old. And here I am, still 5 years old. Hmmm…. While we’re in the spirit of commemoration, let’s be reminded that this week is both Teacher Appreciation Week and National Charter Schools Week. It’s a veritable double dose of education appreciation. The least I can do is help bring them both to your attention.

Phew! There are only a few days left in Colorado’s legislative session, but there are still education bills left that deserve our attention. My new grown-up friends at Parent Led Reform today have their sights set on stopping Senate Bill 172, one of the shortest pieces of legislation you may ever lay eyes on: The bill directs the state to join as a governing board member a consortium of states that is developing a common set of assessments. For assessments in reading, writing, and mathematics, the state board will rely upon assessments developed by the consortium. What’s the big deal, you say? I thought you’d never ask. There’s a reason why the State Board of Education voted 4-3 to oppose the legislation. The majority is committed to Colorado developing its own tests and maintaining control within the state rather than from outside agencies.

I write here about a lot of different issues related to education and education policy. But this one may be a first for me: How early should school start? When it comes to the bigger kids, middle school and high school students, new research by Finley Edwards featured at Education Next suggests it may actually be better to let them sleep in a little longer, especially the underperforming students. After looking at schools and student results in Wake County, North Carolina, he concludes:

To all my fellow education policy geeks out there, it appears that national TV executives have heard our cries and given us what we wanted. I’m not talking about the recent two-hour NBC Education Nation teacher town hall in Denver. However, you really ought to listen to the podcast interview with Branson Online elementary teacher Christina Narayan, as she explained her perspective from attending the event. Nor am I talking about the fact that my family’s favorite Friday night show The Devil’s Advocate last week featured a conversation with Tim Farmer from the Professional Association of Colorado Educators about House Bill 1333, the “options for teachers” legislation. Yes, that’s great, too. But I am thinking about something that could be potentially bigger and feed my video-watching appetite for a long time to come. Choice Media TV’s Bob Bowdon has unveiled the new series Reform School: A Public Forum on Changing American Education. The inaugural episode features a lively discussion on the federal role in education policy with Democrats for Education Reform‘s Joe Williams and Dr. Jay Greene of the University of Arkansas. Two clips have been released on the Choice Media site:

School district “Innovation” through site-level autonomy can be a promising path to pursue, but doesn’t necessarily move forward smoothly or quickly. Local politics, leadership challenges, and the limits of imagination all can slow progress. Yet the spark unleashed remains to be ignited into action, where there is a will to yield productive, student-centered change. Such is the case in Falcon School District 49 outside Colorado Springs, where more than 15 months ago the Board of Education boldly seized the mantel. Within weeks, leaders in the district’s zones of innovation separately began to convene with parents and staff to flesh out plans that would free them from specific district policies and state laws to achieve something greater. District leaders made some tough decisions to streamline functions and administrative personnel. One local election and various delays later, numerous school innovation proposals yesterday reached the Falcon Board of Education for an important vote. (Pictures from the meeting are on the district’s Facebook page.) Despite objections, the Board was able to squeeze out three votes to approve innovation proposals affecting nine schools.