Are great teachers just born that way, or is there a proven method to train many instructors to become much more effective?

In one of the most fascinating (and longest) education articles out there, Elizabeth Green wrote in the New York Times Sunday magazine about “Building a Better Teacher.” The experts she talked to suggest that the answer may be the latter, that there are specific methods and techniques (and a new vocabulary of teaching terms) that can be used more successfully train high-quality instructors.

However, over at Education Next, Harvard’s Paul Peterson says one of Green’s key conclusions is misguided:

…She says we will need millions of additional teachers to cover baby boom retirements, and wonders how we can find enough good ones.

The answer is that we can’t–not even with more effective education schools or elaborate merit pay programs or by ruthlessly dismissing ineffective teachers.

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Last Thursday my Education Policy Center friends hosted an event on 21st Century Learning with Randy DeHoff from the Colorado State Board of Education. He discussed whether the idea of 21st Century Learning (and skills) is a valid one and how it will affect Colorado’s new standards and (coming soon) assessments. The informative presentation was followed by a lively discussion, with some thoughtful questions that covered a range of topics.

But you missed it, you say? I don’t know what your excuse might be, unless you heard that I wasn’t coming (I had chores to do, and my mom and dad wouldn’t let me stay out late), and couldn’t bear the disappointment. Well, wipe away those tears. While you’ll have to wait for another time to meet me in person, you can go here to watch the official video of Randy DeHoff’s presentation.

Cyberschool mom Lori Cooney also has posted her take on the event, along with a couple more pictures, over at her blog. Thanks, Lori!

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or so it seems. The article in today’s Denver Post, headlined “Nearly one in three Colo. graduates needs remedial courses in college, study finds”, almost could have appeared the year before … or two years ago … or the year before that.

To be exact, the new report from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (PDF) finds that 29.3 percent of Colorado’s 2008 high school graduates who attended a Colorado two-year or four-year college needed formal remedial help in math, reading and/or writing.

Six years ago my Education Policy Center friend Marya DeGrow completed an issue paper on the same topic, titled Cutting Back on Catching Up (PDF). Using the same CCHE data, she noted that 26.6 percent of Colorado’s 2002 high school graduates needed remediation — at a cost of $18.9 million to the state of Colorado and $15.4 million to the college students themselves. Continue Reading »

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Being the cute little kid that I am and all, you’d probably think I’d be all on board for raising more federal dollars to fund the long-running, early childhood school readiness program known as Head Start. If not as a blogger, at least as a stage prop … right?

Wrong. I mean, it sure sounds like a nice idea on paper. But when you look at the long-awaited comprehensive research on Head Start that finally was released last month, you realize the billions of dollars spent every year is not accomplishing a whole lot of results beyond making us feel good about ourselves.

What do I mean? Check out the report by the Heritage Foundation’s David Muhlhausen and Dan Lips. In the dozens of measurements that made up the areas measured — cognitive development, social development, child health and parenting outcomes — virtually none showed a positive impact from Head Start. Their conclusion? Continue Reading »

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February is here, and that means my friends at the Education Policy Center have a special event right around the corner. Here is the information — I hope you can join us:

Randy DeHoff, Vice President of the State Board of Education will speak at our offices about 21st Century Learning. Is 21st Century Learning truly the wave of the future, or just another educational fad? Reception begins at 5:30 PM, followed by the program at 6:15 PM. Educators are invited to a private 5:00 PM meeting with Mr. DeHoff.

I’m not sure what’s such a big deal about the 21st Century — it’s the only one I’ve ever lived in. But 21st Century Learning is an issue on the minds of a lot of parents, teachers and other educators. Just how important and how relevant are “21st century skills” like problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and self-motivation, as opposed to the good, old-fashioned mastery of content? Where is the balance? What will it take for today’s students (like me) to succeed in a globally competitive economy?

I hope you can make it on February 11. RSVP online here.

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Did you miss me while I was gone for a couple weeks there? Okay, hopefully not too much. One of the articles I nearly missed right before Christmas makes the case for a type of reform that could be easily overlooked in the Race to the Top. From December 21 of last year (last decade even!), Cognitive First leaders Larry Hargrave and Mickey Elliott wrote in a Denver Post column about the need to focus on student “learning capacity”:

Discoveries in brain science and innovations in educational theory have recently converged and made it possible to cultivate learning capacity and enhance academic performance by addressing weak cognitive skills and strengthening giftedness.

Just as researchers in medicine work to understand physical disorders by their causes, cognitive skill development allows education to move beyond an academic and correlative model to a new understanding of learning that is foundational and prior to improving academic performance. Continue Reading »

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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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I’ve told you before about groups like ABCTE that are reaching out to top-notch professionals and making it easier for them to make an effective transition into classroom teaching. But where’s the proof this is a good idea for the bottom line of education?

In the new edition of Education Next, Daniel Nadler and Paul Peterson show that states with genuine alternative teacher certification programs (like Colorado) have experienced greater gains in math and reading scores, and especially among African-American students. Is it a coincidence, or cause-and-effect? Ultimately, it’s hard to say.

But as the authors conclude, the arguments against alternative certification have been eroded:

But the burden of proof would now seem to shift to the plaintiffs in the Renee v. Spellings case, who argue that traditional state certification is necessary to ensure teacher quality. Genuine alternative certification opens the door to more minority teachers, and student learning is more rapid in states where the reform has been introduced. Meanwhile, scientific evidence that alternative certification harms students remains somewhere between scant and nonexistent.

The Race to the Top push in Colorado has brought forth some good ideas, but a truly bold and visionary effort also would have included a stronger push to expanding the variety of certification routes that competent professionals can take to the classroom.

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Colorado is a great place to be for families seeking a free online public education. There are 18 different multi-district cyberschools in the state, in addition to single-district and other supplemental online programs.

Over the past several months I’ve introduced you to insights on the transformative power of online education through a podcast interview with Dr. Terry Moe, and helped give you a better glimpse of this fast-growing type of education with local cyberschool leaders and with Colorado’s Online Elementary Teacher of the Year.

Now you can hear the perspective of those who matter the most: some of the students. Sean, Shannon and Ashlyn Cooney have been enrolled in the Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA) (the state’s largest online charter school) for several years now. Click the play button below to listen to them talk about what cyberschool life is like on an iVoices podcast with my Education Policy Center friend Pam Benigno: Continue Reading »

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Learn an education policy reform idea from Ohio? Not possible, you say? Come on, it’s not as unlikely as all that. Well, my friends in the Education Policy Center ran across a new practice in the Buckeye State that could help Colorado revolutionize the way we deliver education.

In the somewhat obscure Middletown Journal, Ohio state representative Bill Coley writes about the new program created by his sponsored legislation: Continue Reading »

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