A super-coalition of reform-minded education organizations, including Stand for Children Colorado, Democrats for Education Reform and A+ Denver, is about to launch. Called “One Chance Colorado,” its message will be this: “Every child has only one chance at a great K-12 education. That’s why we need to improve Colorado’s schools…
American schoolchildren don’t know Alaska from their elbow. That’s the news today from the NAEP, dubbed “The Nation’s Report Card:” Fewer than one-third of students tested proficient in geography in 2010. Education gurus blame a shrinking curriculum — but that could change in Colorado…
Ed Salem, who recently resigned as principal of North High School, has been hired as a teacher at a new school in central Denver aimed at helping struggling students graduate. Salem’s decision to leave North came just before the district asked state officials to investigate the school’s credit recovery program,…
One of the odd quirks of the social media explosion has been the proliferation of folks pretending to be someone else — a phenomenon that no doubt annoys the typically notable person being identity-jacked but can be entertaining for the rest of us. As an example, let us juxtapose the…
Three seats are up for grabs on the Denver Public Schools Board of Education this November — and the list of candidates vying for them is growing. As of today, seven candidates have announced that they’re running, including incumbent Arturo Jimenez, who represents northwest Denver. The election is an important…
Should a school notify parents when a teacher is arrested — a teacher such as Courtney Bowles, who was busted for getting naked with a student; Alex Tinsley, who police say asked a student if she wanted to join the Mile High Club; or Travis Masse, who police say had…
Two students from Denver’s George Washington High School are the best policy debaters in the National Forensic League, a super-competitive league whose champs usually hail from wealthy private prep schools. Sam Clark and Miles Owens, who graduated from GW this spring, are the first debaters from Colorado to win a…
Update below: A lawsuit filed this morning in Denver District Court challenges the legality of a Douglas County voucher program set to go into effect this fall partly on the grounds that it diverts public money to religious institutions. Yet plaintiffs include the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado and reps of…
Denver Public Schools has asked the Colorado Department of Education to investigate the credit recovery program at North High School, in light of concerns raised in the Westword cover story “Passing on Education,” DPS spokesman Mike Vaughn confirms. That move pleased Jennifer Draper Carson, chairwoman of North’s Collaborative School Committee,…
“Passing on Education,” a recent Westword cover story, questions whether North High students were allowed to cheat in online credit recovery courses designed to help them make up courses they’d failed and ultimately, graduate. Denver Public Schools has now responded with a long editorial posted on Education News Colorado that…
Even though Denver public schools are out for the summer and most graduation ceremonies are over, the debate over DPS’s increasing graduation rates continues. For more, read our feature, “Passing on Education.” Today, Education News Colorado contributor Alexander Ooms weighs in with an opinion piece that includes two helpful charts…
Four months after President Barack Obama shouted out Denver’s Bruce Randolph School in his State of the Union Address, lauding the fact that the formerly low-performing school graduated 97 percent of its seniors last year, education writer Diane Ravitch gave the school a different kind of shout-out in the New…
“Passing on Education,” this week’s cover story, examines rising graduation rates at North High School and questions whether part of the reason is because students were allowed to cheat in online credit recovery courses designed to help them make up classes they’d failed. In the wake of the story, Denver…
“Passing on Education,” this week’s cover story, questions whether students at North High School were allowed to cheat in online credit recovery courses in order to make up classes they’d failed — and ultimately, graduate. In the three years that North has used credit recovery, graduation rates have increased. And…
North High School has long suffered from abysmal graduation rates — so, in 2008, Denver Public Schools added credit recovery, which allows students to retake courses online. Since then, grad rates have skyrocketed. But some North teachers wonder whether the gains are legit, and whether credit recovery is doing more…
Maestro en Casa (Teacher at Home), a Denver Public Schools-funded radio series aimed at teaching English to Spanish-speaking parents, was launched last year. This week, 220 completed the program…
Earlier this year, Greeley-Evans school board member Brett Reese received Shmuck of the Week honors for being a gun-totin’ hater of Martin Luther King, Jr. But that’s only the tip of his shmuckiness according to his fellow board members, who’ve censured him after accusations arose that he touched a teacher…
North High school will have a new principal next year, its fourth in six years. Nicole Veltze, the current principal at nearby Skinner Middle School, will take over for Ed Salem, who has helmed North since the fall of 2008. Tomorrow, the North community will have the opportunity to meet…
Theron and Teague Harrison, Manual High School’s top debaters and the subjects of our recent feature, “Say What?”, were in New York City this past weekend for the Urban Debate National Championship, along with Thomas Jefferson High debaters Danite Reda and Talan Lousignont. So how did Denver’s debaters stack up?…
Theron and Teague Harrison, Manual High School’s top debaters and the subjects of our recent feature, “Say What?”, left Denver yesterday bound for New York City and the Urban Debate National Championship. Their coach, Charlie Smith, went with them, as did debaters Danite Reda and Talon Lousignont from Thomas Jefferson…
Last August, CU journalism school dean Paul Voakes insisted that reports about the impending death of the J-school were hysterical and premature. Not anymore. Yesterday, at the urging of CU prez Bruce Benson, regents voted for a shutdown by a 5-4 vote — one closer than anticipated, but no less…
Update below: Denver Public School board president Nate Easley has survived an attempt to recall him. Supporters of the effort failed to collect enough valid signatures to place the recall question on an upcoming ballot. They needed 5,363. They collected 5,899. But of those, the Denver Elections Division found that…
