Blog posts are the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of A+ Colorado.

Boasberg Rolls the Dice

test When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched towards Rome, a (likely) apocryphal story had him saying: Alea iacta est. The die is cast. The phrase has marked for centuries momentous turnings of fate and deep uncertainty about what would come next. In Denver this past week, Superintendent Tom Boasberg announced he was rolling the…

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A Note on DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg

DENVER — Yesterday on July 17th, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg announced he would be departing after almost 10 years of leading the district. Here at A+ Colorado we are deeply grateful for Superintendent Boasberg’s service and dedication to Denver’s students. During this time, student performance in the district moved from the bottom quartile…

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Stay Sharp Newsletter: June 2018

There has been a lot happening in education in Colorado since the end of school. Catch up on our updates as well as some of our reports from the past spring. We’ll be taking a break from our newsletter for the month of July. We’ll be back in August with some exciting updates! A+ Updates…

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The Relevant High School Diploma

By Guest Blogger: Elaine Menardi Are Students Ready for the Future? Rising graduation rates imply that high school educational achievement is the highest it has ever been in the United States. Educators at all levels have collectively concentrated their efforts to ensure as many graduates as possible earn the coveted credential that sets them on…

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A Broken Compact

  The decision of the DPS School Board to press “pause” on the School Performance Compact should cause concern and honest reflection from all education observers and advocates in the city. Community groups who engaged with the district on this policy over the last three years were taken by surprise by the sudden decision. This is…

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Denver: Past, Present and Future – Moving Forward and Building Bridges

Guest Blogger: Kristin Barnes I am the proud mama of three boys who attend our Northwest Denver neighborhood elementary school. When my oldest son started ECE there in the fall of 2012, I co-founded a PTO and immediately became more involved in the school. I later joined the Collaborative School Committee (CSC) and after that…

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Why Denver will not get an Amazon headquarters (and Pittsburgh might)

There has a been a good deal of discussion about whether it will be good or bad for Denver land the next headquarters for Amazon.    How will it impact our already congested roads and growing housing costs?   What will happen to the economy with a new big fish?   There has been a…

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Engagement Like Spinning Plates

DPS is promising more community engagement than ever before. Yet, by spinning this many plates at the same time, they create potential for overloading their ability to process the information and underwhelming community members with their inability to act on feedback or commitments.   Last week, over 100 education advocates attended our launch event for our…

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Stay Sharp Newsletter: May 2018

It’s almost summer and A+ Colorado is racing towards the finish line just like many students and educators as the school year winds down. Read on to find out what’s keeping us busy. A+ Updates Welcome to Laura Valle-Gutierrez, A+’s Newest Team Member We are thrilled to announce that we have hired Laura Valle-Gutierrez to…

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No Sunlight for Colorado Kids

Imagine this crazy story: every year, kids across Colorado take assessments to help us understand how much they’ve learned. Weeks of student, teacher, and district time go into making sure we really know how kids are doing. Families, education leaders, and civil rights groups ask the question – well, how are they doing? The State’s…

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