I’m pretty partial (OK, I’m very partial) to the School Choice for Kids website (or Opcion Escolar Para Ninos, en espanol) as an invaluable source of information for parents in Colorado who want to exercise their educational options. But it’s not the only source out there.

Denver’s Piton Foundation and 9 News have teamed up to create the Colorado School Choice / Escuela Para Mis Hijos site. The site provides some different information than is available on SCFK — with special emphases on schools’ academic growth ratings and student demographics.

Click the play button below (or follow this link) to listen to my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno discuss the newer site with Van Schoales of the Piton Foundation on an informative 18-minute iVoices podcast: Continue Reading »

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In recent weeks I’ve told you about the recent successes Colorado has seen in the area of school financial transparency — namely, the detailed online financial databases created by two of the state’s three largest districts (Jeffco and Douglas County).

Yesterday the Denver Post’s Jeremy Meyer and Burt Hubbard reported some of what can be learned by having an easier peek behind the financial curtain:

Spending on items other than salaries and bonuses by the Jefferson County and Douglas County school districts totaled $106 million and $91 million, respectively, from July 2009 to mid-February this year.

And while the bulk of that money is spent on necessary supplies for maintenance of schools, and for direct classroom expenses (such as books, office supplies and other items), millions are spent annually on restaurants, travel and training.

Continue Reading »

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Ed News Colorado’s top-line story today details the “surprising findings” of a new National Association of Charter School Authorizers report that a majority of Denver Public Schools students attend schools that don’t meet district performance expectations:

“There are 20,000 elementary school students in the Denver Public Schools system who … don’t have a performing elementary school to go to,” said NACSA vice president William Haft. “That’s half the elementary-aged students in the system.”

Discouraging results? In some sense, yes. But we have known that a lot of hard work remains before us in improving educational outcomes for American students, especially poorer students in urban settings. And the fact that Denver actually has been serious about establishing and using a performance framework puts the district ahead of some of its peers. The report is fascinating, with a lot of detailed information, so it’s worth a read.

But one observation highlighted in the Ed News Colorado story caught my attention: Continue Reading »

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When it comes to changing the way teachers are paid, many people have heard of Denver’s ProComp. My Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow wrote an issue paper (PDF) about that performance pay plan and others in Colorado.

But clearly, as far as the extent of innovation goes, Denver has nothing on El Paso County’s Harrison School District. To get a strong sense of why this is, I recommend you click the play button below (or follow this link) to listen to a brand new 17-minute iVoices podcast interview with Harrison Superintendent Mike Miles:

Not only a lot of thought, but also a lot of time and hard work went into Harrison’s “Effectiveness and Results” (E and R) pay program. E and R is set to transition during the upcoming year until all teachers and other licensed employees will be paid based on performance and achievement in 2011-12.

Best of luck to Harrison! I hope other school districts, officials and education leaders are paying attention and taking close, careful notes. The proof will be in the pudding, so let’s study the E and R program to see how successfully and efficiently it helps improve student learning.

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Ed News Colorado’s Alan Gottlieb has excellent coverage of last night’s lottery event in which 170 mostly poor and Hispanic 5th grade students were vying for 130 slots to enroll into the new West Denver Prep charter school. The original West Denver Prep is the highest-performing middle school in Colorado’s largest city (as opposed to some Michigan school districts that paid money to deceive parents into thinking their schools were the best).

Alan posted a video that might be difficult to watch, if you have a hard time watching the disappointment of parents who recognize their children’s educational futures may be on the line. Here’s a poignant and powerful reminder of why we work so hard to expand school choice and promote other important education reforms: Continue Reading »

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Ed News Colorado reports on an attempt by Denver Public Schools leadership to help its struggling schools break out of their struggles:

[DPS superintendent Tom] Boasberg, in an email to principals Friday afternoon, said “it is our intention” not to place any unassigned teachers at year’s end into schools now on probation under the district’s school rating system.

He also said DPS “will seek to limit forced placements” in the district’s poorest schools, or those receiving Title 1 federal grant money based on student poverty rates.

Whether the teachers are poor performers, or they just aren’t warm to the school’s culture and its program to achieve excellence (presuming an effective one is in action), it does more harm than good to force teacher placements — at least as a policy on paper. If the current approach is the best we can do to deal with the “dance of the lemons,” then we might as well give up on urban school reform.

But I’m too young to give up, and you should be, too! Writing at the Ed News blog, Alexander Ooms lauds what DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg is trying to do: “Changing the lemon dance to a game of musical chairs is a good first step, but far better would be to turn the music off entirely.”

If the district effectively can stop forced teacher placements to its neediest schools, it would be a good step for DPS and urban education reform.

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While Colorado’s governor and state officials have created a 15-member Council on Educator Effectiveness and Denver Public Schools has received a $10 million Gates Foundation grant to study and develop a new teacher evaluation system, Harrison School District in Colorado Springs is moving forward on a truly bold merit-pay reform.

So reports Nancy Mitchell in today’s edition of Education News Colorado:

Incentives play no part in the plan created by Miles, the superintendent here since 2006. There are no bonuses for teaching in struggling schools. Teachers don’t pocket a couple thousand bucks more if their students do better than expected on state tests.

Instead, teachers in Harrison will soon have their entire salaries based on a combination of their annual evaluations and their students’ academic progress.

No longer will teachers get annual raises for another year on the job or for taking more college classes – the way most districts in Colorado and across the country pay their instructors.

These changes are made easier by the fact that Harrison teachers do not have collective bargaining rights. Continue Reading »

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My mom and dad like to listen to Colorado’s Morning News on AM 850 KOA in Denver. So how excited I was on Thursday to tune into the show and hear the “Your Health / Your Kids” segment with Robbyn Hart. Why? Because she was interviewing my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno.

Follow this link to listen to the informative 1-minute soundbite about the fantastic School Choice for Kids website.

Ms. Hart is correct: It is open enrollment time! So don’t waste a moment, Colorado students and parents. Head on over to School Choice for Kids right now for a free visit to learn about the education options near you and how to take advantage of them!

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Today’s Denver Post has an excellent story about a generous Christmas deed performed at a truly inspirational school:

Millionaire businessman Tom Gamel stood before a classroom of sixth-graders at Cole Arts & Science Academy on Wednesday, about to blow their minds with a nifty gift, but first, he wanted to impart some wisdom.

“I am a very lucky person,” said Gamel, who owns Timpte Trailers and has made wise investments. “The reason I am able to buy you each a present is because of education. I want to urge you, if you want to grow up and be successful, get an education.” … Continue Reading »

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Christmas is right around the corner (I can hardly wait). And while it’s very easy for me to be obsessed with expanding my own Lego collection, it’s also very important to remember to give those who are in need.

I like basketball a lot, and the Denver Nuggets are my pro team. That’s why I was totally stoked to see Chris “Birdman” Andersen playing Santa Claus to raise money for the Alliance for Choice in Education (ACE). As explained on our School Choice for Kids website:

Families living in Colorado that are eligible for free or reduced lunch may apply for an ACE scholarship. The scholarship provides as much as 50 percent of a school’s tuition, with maximum payments of $2,000 per year for grades K-8 and $3,000 per year for grades 9-12. ACE commits to paying for four years of tuition. ACE provides more than 775 scholarships annually and has more than 150 partner schools. For more information see the ACE Web site.

Now, in the eyes of teachers unions, the fact that ACE supports school choice somehow makes them “Too Extreme for Colorado”. But would they dare go after the “Birdman” and call him “anti-public education”? Would they say that this local basketball star who has gone out of his way to help raise money to help poor kids find better schools somehow hates teachers? I hope not, because that would be a sure way to make this 5-year-old cry.

I’m glad I got that out of my system … So anyway, if you’ve already made your end-of-the-year contribution to help my friends at the Independence Institute, I hope you also can find a way to support ACE Scholarships and help increase school choice opportunities here in the Denver area.

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