Monthly Archives: December 2012

Stop nagging me! Yes, it’s true I haven’t added much to the blog this week. Too much time making my Christmas list for Santa… up to 30 pages so far. Now it’s Friday and I’m tired. But I couldn’t retire into the weekend without at least a nod to something education-related here. National Public Radio did a cool little feature interviewing kids my age about a new proposal that would give needy students in Cleveland, Ohio, the token of college-bound hope: Every Cuyahoga County kindergartner would receive a $100 college savings account under a plan county Executive Ed FitzGerald says will create a “culture of college attendance” for children and their parents.

Not many students can say their principal has served in Congress and chairs the State Board of Education. Perhaps even fewer can say their principal also has been a great champion for parental choice and positive educational transformation. In fact, that’s probably a unique distinction that belongs to the chartered Liberty Common High School in Fort Collins, Colo., in its third year of operation under the direction of Bob Schaffer. Another distinctive source of pride for Liberty Common, its inaugural junior class (2011-12) earned the highest ACT average scores in the entire state of Colorado. To see firsthand the source of the school’s success, my Education Policy Center friends two days ago joined a small group from Jefferson County Students First on a morning tour. The academic rigor and emphasis on core character values were evident throughout the building. Fairly unique, Liberty Common High School students are initiated into one of five different “houses” with a character trait as theme. The system promotes camaraderie among different grades and helps the students embrace and convey the school’s core values that ought to serve them well later in life.

The concept of time is the topic of 100 proverbs and cliches. In the world of education reform, it definitely doesn’t feel like time is on our side. Every year of delay in debating, approving and implementing important policy changes — including expanded parental choice — is a year many students will not get back. But what about just making sure they are spending more time in school? Colorado is one of five states taking part in a three-year pilot program to keep thousands of students in school longer: Spending more time in the classroom, officials said, will give students access to a more well-rounded curriculum that includes arts and music, individualized help for students who fall behind and opportunities to reinforce critical math and science skills. “That extra time with their teachers or within a structured setting means all the world,” said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “It means it allows them to continue the momentum they had the day before. It means they don’t slip back over the summer. It allows them to really deliver.”