It’s hard to argue against the idea that more fresh blood is needed in our public education system. We could do with more school and district leaders who didn’t necessarily rise through the ranks of the teachers union or education bureaucracy who can bring valuable outside skills and perspectives to the challenges faced.

Education News Colorado today highlights such a success story in the Denver metropolitan area:

Aurora Public Schools raised more than a few eyebrows two years ago when the board of education selected John Barry, a retired U.S. Air Force major general, to take over as superintendent of the state’s third-largest school district.

“We were definitely taking a chance,” says Aurora school board chairman Matt Clark. “He was clearly a non-traditional candidate, coming from the military. But we were looking for someone who understood what it took to turn an institution around.”

And turn it did. Barry began introducing changes in the way Aurora educates its 32,000 students at a breakneck pace. New curricula. New strategic plan . New coaching method for teachers. New standardized tests . New summer school programs . The launch of a new pilot school — the first of several. New emphasis on truancy prevention.

“We have transformed this school district on an order of magnitude to rival any in the country,” Barry said.

With the release this week of the latest CSAP scores Barry, a onetime jet fighter pilot, may feel like he’s again speeding skyward. Aurora and Denver, neighboring urban school districts with many of the same socioeconomic challenges, were two bright spots in an otherwise largely flat year for student achievement growth statewide.

(One small erratum: Aurora is the state’s sixth-largest school district.)

Interestingly, Denver Public Schools - the other “bright spot” school district overcoming challenges is also headed by a non-traditional superintendent, Michael Bennet. Coincidence? Maybe. But more emphasis should be put on expanding our idea of what comprises successful school leadership rather than narrowing the focus to meet the narrowly-tailored ideas of certain education interest groups.

It goes without saying that John Barry probably has made some mistakes along the way. But the results show he’s largely getting the job done. Barry’s bold leadership and the fact he is less beholden to status quo interests have to account for much of the progress. Aurora Public Schools is to be commended for some visionary steps - first, in choosing the retired Air Force general to take the helm, and second, in giving him the rein to make needed and innovative changes.

Of course, changing the leadership model isn’t the only way to fix public schools. There are limits to the sort of “top-down” approach. More “bottom-up” reform that decentralizes authority and empowers parents with school choice and accountability is essential. But there’s also something to be said for school boards working to find more leaders like John Barry.

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CNN commentator Roland Martin hits the nail on the head today by proclaiming the need for more school vouchers, and highlighting the interest group politics that has blocked or slowed down the needed reform (H/T Mike Antonucci). His article is titled “McCain right, Obama wrong on school vouchers,” but the larger point is that it’s time to move school choice beyond partisan politics on a national scale.

Here’s some of what Martin has to say:

I fundamentally believe that vouchers are simply one part of the entire educational pie. There simply is no one sure-fire way to educate a child. We’ve seen public schools do a helluva job — I went to them from K through college — and so have private schools, home schooling, charter schools and even online initiatives. This is the kind of innovation we need, not more efforts to prevent a worthy idea from moving forward.

Obama’s opposition is right along the lines of the National Education Association, and the teachers union is a reliable and powerful Democratic ally. But this is one time where he should have opposed them and made it clear that vouchers can force school districts, administrators and teachers to shape up or see their students ship out.

It is unconscionable to ask a parent to watch as his child is stuck in a failing school or district, and ask him to bank on a politician coming up with more funds to improve the situation. Fine, call vouchers a short-term solution to a long-term problem, but I’d rather have a child getting the best education — now — rather than having to hope and pray down the line.

The current election may yet change the terms of the debate surrounding school choice. For years, acceptance of vouchers and tax credits has grown among minority communities, traditionally represented by the Democratic Party, many of whom have seen the failed schools and the hope provided by choice firsthand. Many in the Republican Party support expanding school choice because of their beliefs in competition or smaller government. But no matter how they come to the conclusion, the time for real and lasting positive change.

This really isn’t the simple partisan political issue some have made it out to be - nor should it be. And after this year, maybe more Americans of all political persuasions and affiliations will come to see we need to stop limiting possibilities and opportunities in education for American students.

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Lousy parenting is a typical scapegoat of those who resist public school accountability or who make excuses for poor performance. Not all parents fulfill their responsibilities, and certainly none are perfect. But the overwhelming number of parents want to see their kids reach their fullest education potential.

In that light, an idea like this one seems to make sense:

The Mile High Parent Campaign, set to begin on the first day of school this fall, is designed to track the time DPS parents spend furthering their kids’ education. The goal is 5,280 minutes a year, or 30 minutes a school day.

“I’m just hoping to bring a little more awareness of the importance of parent engagement and to celebrate things that we, as parents, do on a daily basis,” said Marlene DeLa Rosa, chairwoman of the Parent Empowerment Council.

Parents who enroll in the program will log their time online or complete a form that details how they assisted their children.

Suggested activities range from reading with a child, attending back-to-school night, helping with homework or taking a child to the museum.

It sure sounds nice on paper, and I wish it the best. The use of prizes and other positive incentives is the best way to promote participation - though it’s safe to assume the first ones who sign up will primarily be the parents who are already most engaged, and that many parents still won’t find any motivation to get involved. But if done right, this proposal has the potential to help many families work toward rearranging their priorities.

And of course, the best form of parent empowerment is school choice. The more a mom and dad is directly involved in their children’s education, the more they can see firsthand whether their child is being well-served at their current school, or whether another option is needed that better suits his or her needs.

It’s only logical then that Denver Public Schools should count the time a parent and child spend together on the School Choice for Kids website toward the 5,280 minutes a year.

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It’s Friday, it’s hot, and I don’t want to make my Education Policy Center friends work too hard. But before I take a weekend break, here’s a story from the Rocky Mountain News that caught my attention:

Summer slides occur in more than just water.

During summer months, poor children fall behind academically more than wealthy children do.

In fact, two-thirds of the learning gap between rich and poor can be attributed to unequal summer learning activities, research shows.

Education activists call this the “summer slide” for students in Denver Public Schools.

The story goes on to highlight calls for more federal funding of a special summer school program. I’m still young enough to believe this kind of stuff, but do these grown-ups really think a new government program is the best way to address the problem?

What about the idea of year-round school? Or maybe at least summer school programs that aren’t dictated by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.?

Okay, that’s enough. If you’ll excuse me now, I think that water slide idea sounds really good.

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A few weeks ago I told you about the D.C. voucher program that was threatened by Congress. Well, the 1,900 kids who have found hope and educational opportunity through the publicly-funded scholarships to attend private schools were relieved to learn that Congress decided to continue funding for at least one more year.

In today’s Washington Post, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings makes the case that the program’s success calls for more than just putting it on temporary maintenance. The kids benefiting from the program have found their way out of a bad situation:

Whether the children were failing school or the schools were failing the children, the District of Columbia’s leaders finally became fed up with institutionalized failure. They designed a unique “three-sector” strategy that provided new funding for public schools and public charter schools and new educational options for needy children.

Working with the District, Congress and the Bush administration then implemented the D.C. School Choice Incentive Act in 2004, giving birth to D.C. opportunity scholarships.

The program has clearly filled a need. Evidence does not just appear on a chart. It is visible in the long lines of parents waiting to participate. More than 7,000 students have applied for scholarships. Eligible applicants represent nearly one in eight low-income District students.

Margaret Spellings urges Congress to commit support for the program beyond just the next year, and to expand scholarships to meet the demand of those on the waiting list. If you want to see testimonials from real families affected by the D.C. opportunity scholarships, check out the Voices of School Choice website.

While school choice and opportunity for struggling D.C. kids has dodged a major bullet, there’s certainly far more room to improve the support provided. And Colorado lawmakers might learn a lesson or two from the program’s success.

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Are our schools and officials doing enough to ensure that enough skilled and effective candidates are getting into classrooms to teach kids like me? A recent Wall Street Journal article suggests the answer is still No, but a successful program is showing there’s hope for more change:

Unions keep saying the best people won’t go into teaching unless we pay them what doctors and lawyers and CEOs make. Not only are Teach for America salaries significantly lower than what J.P. Morgan might offer, but these individuals go to some very rough classrooms. What’s going on?

It seems that Teach for America offers smart young people something even better than money – the chance to avoid the vast education bureaucracy. Participants need only pass academic muster and attend the summer training before entering a classroom. If they took the traditional route into teaching, they would have to endure years of “education” courses to be certified.

The American Federation of Teachers commonly derides Teach for America as a “band-aid.” One of its arguments is that the program only lasts two years, barely enough time, they say, to get a handle on managing a classroom. However, it turns out that two-thirds of its grads stay in the education field, sometimes as teachers, but also as principals or policy makers.

The article goes on to point out some of the positive outcomes from a new study on the effectiveness of Teach for America. Brooke Dollens Terry, a friend of the Education Policy Center who does similar work in Texas, followed up with a letter to the Journal that hit the nail on the head:

If America wants to increase learning and help its students compete with other countries, states should examine the Teach for America model closely and evaluate if their state certification policies encourage or deter the brightest individuals from entering the classroom.

Colorado is doing well in some areas of teacher quality, but we certainly can do better.

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I recently found this disturbing story about a threat to school choice for needy kids way across the country in the District of Columbia:

On Monday, the Washington Post reported that the future of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program is in doubt. This program—which is currently helping 1,900 disadvantaged kids attend private schools—is set to expire next year if Congress doesn’t extend it. The Post reports that D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is championing an effort to kill the program.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program gives low-income students scholarships worth up to $7,500 to attend a private school in the nation’s capital. It has proven widely popular with parents. Since 2004, approximately 7,200 students have applied for scholarships through the program—about 4 applications for each scholarship.

D.C. parent Maritza White tells what school choice has meant to her son

This piece from Dan Lips at the Heritage Foundation documents the success of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, and offers recommendations for improving the program through expanded school choice.

But the best proof that Congress should take its hands off D.C. parents’ educational opportunities comes from a terrific website that lets parents whose kids have benefited from the program tell their own stories. What kind of elected official would want to take away opportunity from these families she is supposed to represent?

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