At the other end of the poverty – and fund-raising – spectrum is Johnson Elementary in southwest Denver, which reported fewer than $3,000 in private gifts in 2010-11.

If a donation of five or six figures came through the door of the school, where 96 percent of students are low-income, said Principal Robert Beam, “You’d be writing a story about a principal who is dancing in the streets all day long.”

The timing of the story is remarkable. Why? Yesterday substantial checks went out to 14 metro area public schools and 2 public charter management organizations (CMOs) serving high-poverty student populations, with awards totaling $500,000. And they didn’t just go out to schools based on need, but to schools with a proven record of serving their students well:

Award winners were selected based on a variety of factors, including academic performance and growth, percentage of students qualifying for the Federal free and reduced lunch benefit, school culture, leadership, and instructional effectiveness.

So states the media release from the benefactor Foundation For Great Schools, a coalition of five private Colorado foundations, including the Daniels Fund (which also helps support my Education Policy Center friends). When they cite “academic performance and growth,” they aren’t kidding. All 16 recipients earn an A or B from the new Colorado School Grades site:

• Montview Math and Science Elementary (Aurora)
• Tollgate Elementary (Aurora)
• South Elementary (Brighton)
• Ricardo Flores Magon Academy (Charter School Institute – Westminster)
• Community Leadership Academy middle school (Charter School Institute – Commerce City)
• Beach Court Elementary (Denver)
• Bryant Webster Dual Language K-8 middle school (Denver)
• Denver School of Science and Technology CMO (Denver)
• Girls Athletic Leadership School (Denver)
• Greenwood ECE-8 middle school (Denver)
• KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy (Denver)
• West Denver Prep CMO (Denver)
• Deane Elementary (Jeffco)
• Stein Elementary (Jeffco)
• East Elementary (Littleton)
• Valley View K-8 elementary school (Mapleton)

I haven’t seen any reports indicating increased street-dancing activity taking place near any of the above schools. Yet while various kinds of celebrations may take place at each of those centers of learning, I will study up on the definition of this great word philanthropy. Remember: You can find more information on Colorado schools and the open enrollment process at the fantastic, parent-friendly School Choice for Kids website.

Denver Public Schools students and parents have from now until January 31 to exercise their school choice, using a new process that allows families to list up to five schools in order of preference. The Denver Post opined recently that the new, streamlined system is fairer and ultimately will prove more user-friendly. Parents can learn more from DPS at meetings either tomorrow morning at East High School or Wednesday evening at George Washington High School.

The range of educational options is expanding within DPS, and sometimes coming directly to families as schools compete for students. Viva Colorado’s Roxana Soto reports (H/T Ed News Colorado) that leaders from the newest West Denver Prep school are going door-to-door in the city’s Montbello neighborhood to recruit fifth-graders into their highly successful program:

On this particular morning, the recruiting team, which includes the principals of the two new schools, hopes all this favorable information will help them persuade parents on the fence. All recruiters are equipped with marketing materials and Google maps showing where current fifth-graders live.

“It’s just a time for us to make sure that every fifth-grader knows there’s an awesome option in their neighborhood,” says [WDP enrollment manager Alicia] Lucero.

Yes, there’s no doubt the first four West Denver Prep middle schools have been “awesome,” and there’s every reason in the world to believe the new Montbello and Green Valley campuses will follow suit. But the success also may create a dilemma as the charter franchise reaches out to families in these neighborhoods. Does “West Denver Prep” create too much confusion among denizens of the city’s northeastern corridor and necessitate adjustment, or do all the successful schools retain the well-earned brand of distinction?

A minor issue, I guess. Whatever the name is, the beautiful, real-life chaos of school choice expands and thrives, bringing more opportunity along with it. And families in our state can find the information they need by visiting the incredible duo of fantastic informational sites, School Choice for Kids and Colorado School Grades.

Onward and upward for Colorado educational choice in 2012. In the meantime, don’t forget that now is an ideal time to exercise the right to search for a better learning option while the first round of open enrollment lasts. It will be over before you know it.

The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) is a four-year-old program (younger than me!) that has demonstrated successful results in increasing the number of students who pass Advanced Placement (AP) exams in math and science, particularly among underprivileged students. The Colorado Legacy Foundation has reported similar positive results here in our state for the seven schools who participated in a less-than-fully-vamped version of the program in 2010-11.

The news? The effective math and science program is expanding dramatically in Colorado:

But it’s still unclear how well the National Math and Science Initiative’s AP program could work in Colorado because some incentives — such as payments to students who get high scores — were dropped when Colorado didn’t get federal Race to the Top funds to fully implement the program in 2010-2011. Educators are waiting to hear whether grant money will be available to expand it in coming years.

The program, which originated in Dallas, aims to expand access to tough AP classes to lower-income students, Hispanics and African Americans, and to help them pass AP tests administered by the College Board. It uses a mix of teacher training, open enrollment in AP classes, and $100 for teachers and students for each passing score.

Sources assure me that $1.5 million has been raised from a number of generous private sources, ensuring a $15 million federal matching grant for the full-fledged program in 30 Colorado high schools representing 14 different districts–including Denver Public Schools, Mesa Valley 51 (Grand Junction), Cherry Creek, Littleton and Eagle County. Given the track records out there, this news is potentially a big thing.

Working very closely with NMSI is the nonprofit organization Laying the Foundation, which focuses on preparing middle and high school teachers to provide rigorous and engaging instruction that promotes student success in the AP program. This video from Ruston High School in Louisiana gives an example of the organization’s effective work. Also noteworthy: LTF’s chief executive officer is the same Dave Saba who once appeared in a former role on an iVoices podcast about alternative teacher licensure.

Small world, isn’t it? Just in case you’re concerned, I am resisting any and all urges to start singing the song that has made Disneyland famous. No need to cause a stir, when the news I’m sharing today should cause a much better kind of stir. Best wishes for success on the Advanced Placement Teacher Incentive Program to the Legacy Foundation, NMSI, LTF, and the Colorado teachers and students they reach.

Sometimes it’s easy for policy wonks like my friends in the Education Policy Center to focus on the abstract — the numbers and the philosophical debates. A story like Brundin’s, with interviews of students and parents, quickly reminds you that policy changes like expanded choice within DPS have ramifications sometimes not considered. Sure, it means various families have more educational options, but what does that look like in real life?

Choice can be empowering and liberating, but it’s also messy sometimes. The Public Radio story shines a light on the special distress that often accompanies the transition from elementary to middle school. (I’m not even close to being there yet, so don’t ask me what it’s all about.) Some families avoided the dilemma by enrolling students years before into one of the growing number of Colorado’s K-8 schools. But for those who need to make the transition, Denver now offers an unprecedented array of options — including, as the story points out, a (yucky) all-girls school.

Most interesting, though, is what Brundin captures about the process itself. She quotes one mom as saying:

When you have so many choices you start to feel almost like it’s your responsibility to have information and I think that’s the freak out is having the time to go and look through all the information on every school to make sure they’re getting the best they can get is hard. It’s a lot of responsibility.

I’m sure many parents can relate to this Denver mom. It’s valuable to note a few things, though. First is the fact that expanded choice helps to foster a greater sense of responsibility — and by extension, more direct family involvement in the educational experience, a healthy thing. Second, schools explicitly are finding ways to make themselves appealing to students and parents, including the thousands who showed up to the expo. Third, one source of information that helps to make things a little easier for parents is the fantastic School Choice for Kids website.

But then the reporter talked to a father and son newly moved from Baltimore. In this situation Denver comes across as a beacon of educational opportunity. While some parents seem stressed by the abundance of choices before them, Brundin concludes her story by noting what the plethora of options means to the newcomers:

So while the parents around them are freaking out, Craig and Marquise Williams seem calm, content with too many choices, rather than none at all.

The power of educational choice in real life. Chaotic, yes? But simply beautiful, too.

Just like families make different choices based on their students’ educational needs, so many of their fallback scenarios will be different. FOX 31 News highlights one Castle Rock family:

Two of Becky Barnes’ kids were enrolled in the voucher program. Now unable to pay their private school tuition she is working hard to get them enrolled in public schools. Her first grader will go back to the neighborhood school.

Her 7th grader will attend cyber school. Other families are choosing to stay at their private school and pay the tuition.

Becky Barnes is one of three parents whose emergency education plans were documented today in an article by Karin Piper. Another parent was Diana Oakley, mother of Nate Oakley, for whom things seem to be working out at least for now:

Humanex [Academy], she said, had been so gracious to her and her family.

When she spoke with them yesterday the school leaders had agreed with her that she had done what was right for Nathaniel. This, Humanex said, was their goal too. They had told Diana that they would honor their agreement with her and hope that the $4,500 the school would stand to possibly lose, would somehow work out too. Nobody has the details or firm solutions, but Nate would not be feeling the consequences.

Diana is so grateful to Humanex and will continue supporting Douglas County School Board in their quest to overturn last week’s verdict.

Another good outcome in the short-term highlighted in Piper’s article appears to have worked out for Melissa Grissom and her son Ashton, who had found a great fit at Valor Christian:

Valor had sent out a letter telling the families they do not want anyone to feel like they have to leave. The pilot program had been a risk for the district, the families—and the private schools alike. While $4,500 multiplied by the significant number of students Valor has accepted with the scholarships is too much for Valor to absorb, they asked everyone to prayerfully consider contributing more. This is admittedly an offer that Valor cannot guarantee for every year, so there is still a level of risk involved.

Valor, like Humanex, does not want the children to leave.

As Head of School Kurt Unruh explained in his email to the school’s Choice Scholarship families, they are doing all they can to ensure these students can stay on board at Valor through the 2011-12 school year. After that, it’s up in the air.

While some scholarship families are finding relief and good outcomes in the wake of potentially devastating news from Denver District Court, that isn’t the case for all. A neat website called Mile High Mamas notes a couple examples of concern:

[Private school Woodlands Academy in Castle Rock] still has more than a week before classes begin, but students who must return to Douglas County schools will get a late start on an academic year that, at many schools, began Aug. 1.

What’s more, any student who gave up a spot in a charter school to participate in the voucher program may have trouble reclaiming that seat, as many have waiting lists.

On the other hand, Mile High Mamas also features the good news that the Institute for Justice will appeal the injunction ruling. There is some added reason for hope, given yesterday’s other good news that an Indiana judge denied an injunction request on a similar new program enacted by the state of Indiana. Concerned families still await the Douglas County School District’s decision on a possible appeal.

The public charter sector in Denver is brimming with activity and opportunity for greater growth. Highly successful West Denver Prep and KIPP Sunshine Peak were among those proposing expansions to the board. Other proposals were two all-boys (Yippee!) charter schools — Miller-McCoy Academy and Sims-Fayola International Academy.

Now I can only imagine what that lady Diane Ravitch might have to say about these new educational opportunities for Denver students. Given her recent rude remarks about charter schools, you would think they came from someone of my tender age, not from someone of such (ahem) maturity. But I hope she opts to say nothing about Denver’s new prospective charter schools — that is, if she can’t say anything nice.

But I digress. Also presented to the DPS board were ideas for three new grassroots “performance schools”:

• Creativity Challenge Community Performance School
• School of Life Performance Middle School
• Generation Performance Secondary School

All in all, I think this may indicate little Eddie once again will need to get busy providing you with some more glimpses at new schools in Colorado.

First and foremost, the group Stand for Children Colorado yesterday announced well-deserved recognition, along with giving out $1,000 each, to 10 superhero teachers across the state:

At Stand for Children, we’ve seen the impact a great teacher can make. And after reading nearly 100 nominations for outstanding teachers across the state, we know you have, too. Please join us in celebrating the ten teachers listed below who have won $1,000 to recognize and reward their commitment.

The list includes teachers from Evans to Grand Junction and all along the Front Range, teachers who represent the elementary and middle and high school levels, as well as six neighborhood schools, three charters and an alternative school. Congratulations to each and every one of them! Read the entries to see what their nominations had to say about them.

Now for something mostly different. Matt Ladner this morning has accepted — on behalf of Lindsey Burke as well — a prestigious Bunkum Award from the “NEA’s ‘academic’ mouthpiece” for their Heritage Foundation analysis of Florida’s success in closing the racial achievement gap. Rich with irony, Ladner explains how their Think Tank Project critic actually published a table undermining her critique and how she ignored some earlier work he had done with Dan Lips, then of the Heritage Foundation.

Some of us out here in the hinterlands confess to being a little envious, but send out kudos for the important honor. I also am glad he chose not to use his acceptance “speech” to ramble on and thank all the little people. I say that, despite so often being considered a little person myself. Mom says I still have a lot of growing to do, you know.

A couple weeks ago I told you about what’s going on in Falcon School District 49 near Colorado Springs, and the beginnings of their creative attempt to restructure the school district. Well, the Falcon board voted to move forward with the innovation plan — a decision Ben lauds and highlights in his Gazette op-ed.

You can find out more about Falcon’s innovation plan by listening to an iVoices podcast with school board member Chris Wright, or by visiting a new page created on the district’s website. A main tenet of the plan is moving greater autonomy from the central administrative office to the schools in the different innovation zones. To get there, the district plans to request Innovation status from the State Board of Education — a step empowered by the creation of Colorado’s 2008 Innovation Schools Act.

But what was the genesis of the groundbreaking piece of legislation? A high-need school with a bold principal (Kristin Waters, now helping to lead DPS superintendent Tom Boasberg’s efforts on innovation and reform) and dedicated teachers seeking freedom from state and local regulations to serve their students more effectively. Yes, I’m talking about the Bruce Randolph School — a 6th-to-12th grade school that President Obama highlighted by name as a success story during last night’s State of the Union address.

In December 2007, back in the Dark Ages before I started blogging, Bruce Randolph’s quest for freedom and autonomy broke as a big story in Denver. One good way to get up to speed is to listen to this iVoices podcast from the archives with Alan Gottlieb, publisher of Education News Colorado. He and Ben DeGrow (who also penned a 2008 op-ed on the topic) discussed among other things the great story of how many groups and individuals came together to send congratulatory floral bouquets to Bruce Randolph School. When angry Denver teachers union officials saw that the Independence Institute was among those sending flowers, they ridiculously accused the fellow flower-sending Public Education and Business Coalition of being “anti-public education.” Ah, memories.

Anyway, in his edu-analysis of the President’s big speech, Eduwonk brings attention to Bruce Randolph and asks:

Overlooked story angle? A black swan? How many schools in CO have subsequently done this?

To answer briefly, the first two schools to follow Bruce Randolph in achieving greater autonomy by gaining approval under the Innovation Schools Act were Manual High School and Montclair Elementary in March 2009. Five months later came the Cole Arts and Science Academy. Another Denver school, Valdez Elementary, followed suit in June 2010. Two months later Wasson High School in Colorado Springs spread the trend outside the state’s largest city. And that doesn’t include the far northeast Denver zone of innovation, which is a whole other story. (So is the district-innovation schools conflict over implementation that was still being hashed out as recently as last fall.)

Now, to come full circle, the Falcon School District has innovation status in its sights. But it probably won’t become the first district to achieve the status. Tiny, rural Kit Carson School District on the Eastern Plains looks like it will be in line for that designation. (But that’s a story for another day.)

A couple observations, first about the school districts. As Ed News Colorado’s Nancy Mitchell explains and breaks down, there are five levels of rating districts can earn from the state’s Department of Education. Only 14 of 178 earned the highest (“Accredited with Distinction”), while 7 districts received the lowest (“Accredited with Turnaround”). Most districts fall somewhere in between.

Many times we’ve heard during the discussion about Douglas County’s groundbreaking private school choice proposals (which passed on to the superintendent in resolution form on Tuesday night) that the district doesn’t need choice because it’s the highest-performing district in the state. But a careful look at the list shows Douglas County isn’t anywhere in the top 14 “with distinction.” Maybe — just maybe — a whole slate of expanded choices and options for families will help the district compete and rise to the top. Hmmmm.

With the governor’s blessing today, the Colorado Department of Education also recognized 32 schools as “Centers of Excellence” for demonstrating the highest rates of student academic growth while serving at-risk student populations (75 percent or more). Included on the list are a number of Denver schools I have highlighted to you before, such as:

• Beach Court Elementary (neighborhood school)
• Cole Arts and Science Academy (K-8 innovation school)
• KIPP Sunshine Peak Academy (K-8 charter school)
• West Denver Prep — Federal campus (6-8 charter school)
• West Denver Prep — Harvey Park campus (6-8 charter school)

Congratulations to all 32 schools and 14 districts that received these highest honors. Now onward and upward to even greater things for Colorado students!

Pearson comes from a teaching family; both the maternal and paternal sides of her family had teachers in them, working in schools in the U.S. and Canada. She says her greatest accomplishments in education have not been what she’s done alone, but what students, families, colleagues and the community do together. Pearson believes standards are the key to teaching. She says in a true standards-based environment students should understand what they are learning, why they are learning it and be able to connect their work to their world.

Her belief in the importance of standards is exemplified by her recent service on the Colorado Department of Education’s social studies standards committee (along with my Education Policy Center friend Ben DeGrow).

The statewide award is not the first public honor for the Hulstrom Options Magnet School social studies and language arts teacher. A few years ago Denver’s 9News honored Pearson with the monthly 9Teacher Who Cares award:

Through Michelle’s curriculum, students see connections between their work in the classroom and how it relates to the betterment of the world outside their class. “It’s the kids that really are creating the cultural tapestry of what we will know as America.” Michelle said. “By allowing them some of these extra things that we’re doing, it makes history real to them.”

Michelle is known to have a very hands-on teaching style. “Put the learning in their hands, that’s really how I teach,” said Michelle. The kids love it.” It’s just really fun coming to her class because you got lots of hands-on activities like the artifacts she brings in,” said student Darius Ortega.

An important reminder that quality teaching matters a lot to the success of students. Congratulations to Michelle Pearson, Colorado’s 2011 Teacher of the Year.