Blog posts are the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of A+ Colorado.
A version of this post originally appeared on the blog The Open System. As some readers know, I regularly publish podcasts on my website The Open System. The podcast and website explores themes of family engagement, feedback loops between systems and communities and ways to make our education system work for the communities they serve. This…
By Guest Blogger: John Youngquist, East High School Principal For over a quarter of a century I have served in Denver Public Schools, and beyond, as a teacher, principal, mentor and coach, area superintendent and chief academic officer. As a proud alumnus of a Denver Public School, I have experienced many successes that many of my fellow…
In spite of the largest blue wave to hit Colorado in many decades, voters turned down Amendment 73, the tax measure to increase funding to public education. How can this be? Many school districts across the state are clearly struggling for funds. Few have full-day kindergarten for all students. Colorado currently has one of the…
By Guest Blogger: Dan Lutz On October 30 at Bear Creek High School, several of us on the A+ Action Team attended the A+ report release and presentation regarding the status and progress of English language learners in schools and districts around Colorado. It was an impressive event about an arena that is important to me.…
Democracy & Distrust I recently attended a conference where I was fortunate to hear from individuals from across sectors, from all levels of government, and from different areas of study (health, education, etc.) on the way that data can benefit social change. We all, ostensibly, shared the same belief: data can be leveraged to drive…
October came in with a rush of winter weather and seasonal colors. With the early onset of winter weather, I always worry that the colors will disappear before I’ve had a chance to really enjoy the leaves. Like the fall leaves disappearing before we’ve had a chance to enjoy them, I also worry that here…
Recognizing Our Gaps Denver’s release of its School Performance Framework begs many questions about school quality in Denver and how to expand academic opportunity across the city. The SPF serves a great number of purposes to a great number of people. But there are a few things it is not. First, the SPF is not…
Outlier School Visits Last spring, A+ Colorado released our report Outliers that dived into district data across Colorado to see where districts are succeeding and thriving with students of all backgrounds. Coming out of the report, A+ was curious about the next set of questions: What is making these districts do better than their peers?…
Denver Public Schools (DPS) kept the promise made last winter to repair the mistakes made on the 2017 School Performance Framework (SPF) and to raise the bar for what makes a high quality school. We thank DPS for its leadership and willingness to make corrections to better reflect student learning across the district. DPS remedied…
By Guest Blogger: Jasmine Kabiri Good morning, my name is Jasmine Kabiri, and I’m a junior at Silver Creek High School in Longmont. I am also a member of the Colorado Youth Congress, which is an organization of young people taking action on issues we care about. Today I’d like to talk with you about…