Is DPS holding more teachers accountable? You do the math!

Miss P’s first-graders stood on the stage at Bromwell Elementary School, before a packed house. With their teacher standing in the wings, out of view of a parent’s camcorder, the children began to recite: On the far-away Island of Sala-ma-Sond, Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond. A nice…

“Educator effectiveness” grants: Nonprofits to invest $1 million

Colorado sure is serious about “educator effectiveness,” which is school-reform-speak for firing teachers whose students aren’t learning — a strategy endorsed by President Obama and central to his federal Race to the Top grant competition. To that end, the Colorado Department of Education has announced that two nonprofits plan to…

PETA: Denver is for (chicken) lovers

By now, you’ve no doubt heard that PETA wants to install a bloodied-and-bandaged 250-pound, five-and-a-half-foot chicken statue on the 16th Street Mall to protest the inhumane ways that McDonald’s turns chicken-shaped chickens into Shrek-shaped Chicken McNuggets. PETA has gotten tangled in some red tape, though; click here to see PDFs…

Carmelo Anthony’s birthday cake is flaming

What kind of birthday cake would you get if you were Nuggets superstar Carmelo Anthony? A badass one. Obviously. Today, Melo’s fiance, LaLa Vazquez, posted photos of his 26th birthday bash (his birthday is May 29) on her website, IamLaLa.com. If the cake is any indication, the party, which was…

Race to the Top: Colorado tries again

After not succeeding the first time, Colorado is try-trying again to win Race to the Top. The state submitted its application today for round two of the federal education-reform grant contest, in which it stands to win up to $175 million. Colorado came in fourteenth out of sixteen finalists in…

The Denver Roller Dolls want you to name … that … beeeeeeer!

The Denver Roller Dolls, one of Denver’s two badass roller derby leagues, will soon have its own beer, courtesy of the Wynkoop Brewing Company. According to the Dolls, the beer will be a “pre-Prohibition-style lager” that’s “smooth and elegant.” No word on exactly what it’ll taste like, but our guess…