ASI's Esther Quintero : we need to correct misconceptions about the Science of Reading by improving how we understand and describe both the nature of the problem and its solutions. shankerinstitute.org/blog/reading-s…

Opposition to changing Colorado's school funding formula to make it more focused on students' needs and less on district cost-of-living is weakening. Hear why one legislator bucked her allies & switched her vote from no to yes @ 3:17:23 sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00327/Harmony/… #edcolo #edpolicy

Bill adds $500M in new funding over 6 yrs and 'changes how the state funds schools by first sending more money to schools based on the students they serve. Then it provides money for smaller and rural districts, and also factors in districts’ cost of living expenses.' #edpolicy

Overheard: 'I know our district gets an increase with this new formula, and we've been benefiting at the expense of districts with more students with higher needs, but there's no way we're going to let Colorado add $450M in K12 funding without us getting more of it.' #edcolo

'Traditionally, cost of living has accounted for a disproportionate share of school funding — $1.3 billion this school year, compared with just $482 million for students living in poverty. That’s out of roughly $9 billion in total state education funding.' chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/…

'The goal of humanity is freedom...Freedom comprehends the aim and direction of progress and the...education of [individuals]. Liberty is the right of all [people], but freedom is an individual acquirement... The means of acquiring freedom may be summed up in one word—education.'

Remarkable hearing today in Colorado House Education Committee on a failed bill to alter legal landscape for #charterschools . My colleagues CU Denver SPA and I have written about differences in combative vs. cooperative political contexts. #edpolicy #edcolo educationnext.org/bigger-slice-o…

The transition from delivering public education in a uniform way through a system of residential assignment to one that facilitates choice and differentiation involves great risks but also great opportunities.

Thank you The Center for Learner Equity & Gates Foundation for convening an inspiring & loving group of #charterschools educators, support orgs, authorizers, & researchers to explore how we #MoveTogether to help ALL learners thrive. The way forward is steep & both necessary & possible #edpolicy

ICYMI: Denver Public Schools' embrace of school choice and educator empowerment through innovation and charter schools w. unified enrollment led to dramatic improvements in student achievement and grad rates 2007-2019. #edpolicy youtu.be/GBUk44HEVZw?si…
tinyurl.com/CEPA-Denver

1928: 'The American Public School is one of our most valued institutions. It reaches every boy and every girl in the land. To it must go the sons and daughters of rich and poor alike. It is the most democratic of institutions, offering equal educational opportunities for all.'

District fragmentation has big implications for democratic governance and equitable access to educational opportunity but research & advocacy absent b/c it's a political 3rd rail

Florida has 67 districts for 3M students. New Jersey has ~600 districts for 1.3M students. #edpolicy

'Today’s obsession on the right with private-school choice and seeming obliviousness to whether kids actually learn anything in school is scarcely calculated to win the approbation or support of “all families.”' fordhaminstitute.org/national/comme…

Improvement is possible. All children can learn.

'For six years straight, Pueblo’s Minnequa Elementary received one of the two lowest ratings on the state’s school report card. Today it’s a green school – the top rating for schools.'

#edpolicy

Anne Schimke Chalkbeat Colorado: 'Is Denver screening students for dyslexia if no one uses that word?' Colorado's largest district was piloting a program w. family communication @ 5 elementary schools but now screens only for general reading problems #edpolicy chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/…

After reviewing report recommendations, & the minority reports outlining the opposition of some stakeholders to several, you might want to read this study from Amy Jo Schwartz @ DU about how powerful & privileged groups work to prevent change.
digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewconten… #edcolo #edu

Some #edpolicy leaders still say Colorado's growth-weighted accountability system is biased against communities w. low-income students, students of color, & multilingual learners - Despite evidence that demography ≠ destiny #edcolo cde.state.co.us/accountability… fordhaminstitute.org/national/comme…

School choice is neither a panacea nor a monolith. It can be used in ways that promote quality and equity and in ways that undermine them. Zero-sum rhetoric fuels reactionary policies, masks inequities in existing systems, & encourages defensiveness, complacency, and carelessness

“A lot of people don’t have that muscle — to just look someone in the eye and say, ‘I know this is devastating, but I’m looking at the district as a whole'...That’s a bold thing to do, and that’s what districts need right now.” #edpolicy #edcolo #suptchat the74million.org/article/acknow…

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers;
But error, wounded, writhes with pain,
And dies among his worshippers.

-'The Battlefield,' William Cullen Bryant, 1878

loc.gov/resource/gdcma…