Much hay is being made over the lack of community participation in the DPS superintendent announcement. In my mind, this decision suffers primarily from its unfortunate timing downstream from the appointments of CO Secretary of State, and US Senator.
By far the weakest argument over exclusion is the selection of DPS superintendent. The other [...]
In case anyone had any doubt about how much politics drives education policy - especially at the federal level - I found this observation by Fordham’s (and former Bush education staffer) Michael Petrilli very illuminating:
I spent yesterday afternoon on Capitol Hill and it confirmed what I already suspected: Washington [...]
American Academy Charter School reminds me in many ways of Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station.
You could drive by the building ump-teen times and never know it was there. But once you enter the building you realize the imperative program which is hidden inside.
The Lone Tree facility American Academy is temporarily [...]
From whose blog have I lifted the following two excerpts? (Guesses only — Googling = cheating). I will post the answer tomorrow.
1. Much of what we call schooling forecloses or shuts down or walls off meaningful choice-making. Much of it is based on obedience and conformity, the hallmarks of every [...]
How drearily predictable. “Latino leaders” are squawking because Denver Public Schools went behind closed doors and decided to hire another white guy as superintendent.
It’s worth noting that the squawkers quoted in the Denver Post story are not exactly daily fixtures inside DPS schools. (Some members of the group may [...]
Coloradans are a competitive bunch - and we have a chance to win an impressive extreme ranking. Yes, being 50th in the nation for higher education support per capita or per student is well within our grasp, and something we can probably achieve with the coming round of state budget [...]
There is a piece published in yesterday’s Washington Post that suggests criticisms of Michelle Rhee’s approach to reform. It’s an interesting article that deserves attention, even though I think it’s a too-facile way to critique Rhee. What it does do for me is raise some questions, which I offer [...]
Denver Public Schools has just called a news conference for 6 to announce “its finalist” for the superintendent’s position recently vacated by Senator-to-be Michael Bennet.
The choice undoubtedly is Tom Boasberg, the district’s chief operating officer. The press release says “The board will announce the finalist and timeline for formal appointment [...]
After last year’s excitement, the 2009 version of the legislation session promises to lower the heart rate and blood pressure for the education lobbyists and other education policy junkies.
You probably heard Gov. Ritter’s speech to the assembled lawmakers. It’s the closest to a funeral oration for any State of [...]
The Teacher Leaders Network web site is a great way for you to gain some insight as to what teacher leaders are saying about education. It may surprise some of you who might believe that teachers speak with one voice through their unions. A particular blog by Nancy [...]
Media reports discuss the current “choice” for DPS superintendent, but that is a misnomer. There is no existing choice between qualified candidates. The alternative here is between a person and a process. There are two different paths. One of them is fraught with difficulty and potentially catastrophic. The other is not.
The [...]
The Denver Classroom Teachers Association is urging the Denver school board to launch a national search for a new DPS superintendent. Wrote Kim Ursetta to the board:
We believe a transparent process is critical to engaging the community and other district stakeholders. The Denver community has played a significant role in [...]
This is a must read for people interested in perception versus reality, the media, politics and urban school reform. Not everyone will like what it says. But it is vintage Peter Huidekoper.
[...]A couple weeks ago Ed News reported on the rise in Colorado teachers receiving National Board certification, fueled in part by new legislatively-approved salary incentives:
HB 08-1384, which established the stipends, specifies that Colorado’s board-certified teachers will receive $1600 a year. From 2008-2009 through 2010-2011, teachers who work in schools [...]
Three articles over the break caught my eye. They highlight what can be done at the state and district level to challenge some status quo thinking.
New Hampshire is looking at allowing students to get their high school degrees within two years and then test into 2 and 4 year [...]
I am reading a new book, “Learning by Leading,” by Stephen Priskill and Stephen D Brookfield. In it the authors show how social activist leaders “enjoy a capacity to be taught, to work collaboratively with followers, to listen and learn from people around them, and in many cases, to lead [...]
It’s shocking! It’s a wake-up call! We’re living on a planet where students in other countries are increasingly outscoring our kids on standardized tests! We here in the U.S.A. know it, we talk about it, and we feel increasing urgency as we try and figure out what on earth needs [...]
The Rocky Mountain News has just posted a newsflash that Denver Public Schools Supt. Michael Bennet will be named to the U.S. Senate tomorrow to finish out Ken Salazar’s term.
This is great news for Bennet, but what does it mean for DPS? There’s currently no clear number two person [...]
The mind tends towards division and opposition: heads v. tails, black v. white, defense v. offense, progressive v. conservative, Capulet v. Montague. This simplicity has its advantages, but considered and thoughtful debate is not one of them.
In education generally — and on this blog — this dualism is found in various [...]
OK, one last post. Here is the “Letter from the editor” that went out in my weekly newsletter yesterday. I thought posting it on the blog might prompt some discussion, even over the holidays:
We’ll be on holiday hiatus next week, so now is the time to look toward the new [...]
This blog will be on at least semi-hiatus until the new year. But I thought I’d leave you with this sobering but spot-on assessment of our nation’s current condition, courtesy of the NYT’s Tom Friedman. Only a bit of it relates indirectly with education:
My fellow Americans, we can’t continue [...]
Apparently not yet shamed by the series of reports (NYT, Daily News, NY Post) on New York City’s rubber rooms where, under union rules, roughly 700 teachers collect salaries for not teaching with an estimated annual cost of over $60M, Randi Weingarten wants to add some more bodies:
Randi Weingarten, [...]
It’s that time of year again. No, I’m not referring to the impending arrival of our secular Christmas celebrations with all their ramifications for batteries, wrapping paper, and calories. Nor the arrival of the college football postseason with its over-commercialized duds like the Papa John’s Bowl, Meineke Car Care Bowl, [...]
A somewhat mixed review on traditional schools and charters (or new schools) sharing buildings, in the Sunday NYT. Worth a read for people about to embark on a similar adventure in Denver.
[...]Having just posted on the need to close bad charter schools, it’s good to end the week on a positive note. In Washington D.C., long one of the cities with the worst public education system in the nation, charters are showing some considerable gains (full article):
Students in the district’s [...]
I am about to blow the ending of the blockbuster movie hit Kung Fu Panda. If this film is on your must-see-list you should look away now.
The story is about a fat panda whose unlikely dream to become a kung fu hero comes true. His destiny and success does not [...]
After a national election where both candidates supported enhanced funding for charter schools, and the appointment of a Secretary of Education who has seen an expansion of charters in his Chicago district (47 over his term), it is hopefully time to move past the debate on if there should be charter schools [...]
I never thought I’d find the subject of pensions interesting, or highly relevant to school reform. But as those of us not lucky enough to work in the public sector watch our 401K balances melt away, I’ve become increasingly fascinated by defined benefit pension plans, now a feature almost exclusively [...]
Truthout.org has posted a very critical piece on Obama’s Ed choice Arne Duncan by Henry Giroux and Kenneth Saltman. The opinion-piece is more a critique on the attack on education by free marketeers, as in this quote:
Since the 1980s, but particularly under the Bush administration, certain elements of the [...]There’s no question that the problem of serious government revenue shortfalls changes the education policy debate at the State Capitol. But precisely how? And to what extent?
Representative (perhaps soon-to-be Senator) Kevin Lundberg is floating a new version of his educational property tax credit proposal. Last year he led the futile [...]
Alexander Russo writes:
Looking back at Duncan’s record, the specific moments that concern me the most include (a) last year year when Duncan went along with a cynical and failed Mayoral effort to link citywide gang violence with the school system — even though little of the violence was taking place [...]
You have to love Mike Klonsky’s consistency. While people across the spectrum are praising Barack Obama’s selection of Arne Duncan as next education secretary, here’s Mike’s opening salvo:
Well, you can’t win ‘em all. While I had no expectations that the Obama team would select the only progressive educator on [...]
With the Secretary of Education position now decided, one might think the game of guessing DPS’s new Superintendent in the new year would pass. Not so fast…
[...]Obama did it! He picked an education reformer that can work with both camps. I think this could be a game changer for the way Dems talk about education reform. Rumor is that there will be a press conference at Chicago charter school. How’s that for symbolism, if [...]
I’ve come to view Alfie Kohn as education’s Ralph Nader. Kohn’s critique of modern education is, in my mind, spot on. While I disagree with some of his characterizations of what an education reformer [link Ben's story here] really wants, I agree with his general point.
But just like with Nader, [...]
Few are the people who don’t like ice-cream. Perhaps I don’t remember meeting any anti-ice-cream-eaters because “weirdies” get filed in the black-hole of my memory.
This blog is for us “non-weirdies” who have appreciation for cold, sweet, drippy ice-cream.
Good schools are just like ice-cream. Traditional, magnets, and charters-they are all ice-cream-just [...]
Our school culture is like a grand eclectic family.
Whether it is the Griswolds, the Bradys or the big fat Greek family that come to mind, the bill fits.
Our immediate families are individual schools that we interestingly enough call our school homes. But the parable of the school family really comes [...]
Few educators probably have The New Yorker on their list of professional journals, but a current article by staff writer Malcolm Gladwell (also author of “The Tipping Point”) deserves a close read.
Gladwell poses the question “How do we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job?” and [...]
How would you answer Kim’s question? This comes off her blog:
I am continually amazed by the perceptions of the media in Colorado when talking about DCTA. Our recently retired Executive Director, Bruce Dickinson always told us that it’s hard to be a prophet in your own land.
Across the country, [...]
OK, so let’s imagine for a moment that Michael Bennet is D.C.-bound. It certainly looks like a distinct possibility. Who’s the next Denver superintendent?
I’ll put my money on someone already inside the system. The last thing DPS needs is to be whipsawed again. Just who the insider might be is [...]
The NEA finally found a reporter to toe the line!
[...]Greg Palast of the Huffington Post blasts Joel Klein (New York) and Arne Duncan (Chicago), two candidates floated by “reform” minded columnists for Secretary of Education. Palast argues that either of the two would result in a “Way-to-go-Brownie” moment for Obama. I must admit I am excited at the [...]
DCTA president Kim Ursetta’s full endorstatement on Michael Bennet was just posted by Alan, where she concludes:
Michael Bennet would bring new ideas and approaches to the U.S. Department of Education.
This press release was sent to the media on Tuesday, and neither posted on the DCTA site or sent to DCTA [...]
Earlier this week came the anticipated release of the School Accountability Reports, and we learned:
The annual December ratings, officially known as the School Accountability Reports, or SARs, are based on the already released results of state exams given the previous spring - and they’ve been flat for years.
That’s [...]
On May 21 of this year, The Denver Classroom Teachers Association issued a vote of no-confidence in Supt. Michael Bennet after negotiations over a new contract reached an ugly impasse.
This week, that same organization tossed bouquets Bennet’s way as word surfaced that he was being seriously considered by Barack [...]
The latest tangent from the speculation regarding Bennet’s potential as Secretary of Education, is a press release from the Denver teacher’s union supporting the choice:
“He is reform-minded and interested in new approaches,” wrote Kim Ursetta, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. “As a non-traditional superintendent, he thinks outside the [...]
