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

Dire Education Finance Decisions coming in May and June

Dire Education Finance Decisions coming in May and June As unemployment numbers grow in Colorado and across the nation, the forecasts for state and local tax revenue become increasingly dire. Current projected shortfalls are looking to be north of $3 billion (the state budget had been projected at about $13.4 billion with K-12 making up…

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Funding Our Schools in the Wake of COVID-19

Funding Our Schools in the Wake of COVID-19 The novel coronavirus is wreaking havoc on more than the health in our communities. No matter how you look at it, the current economic reality and forecast are bleak. Seventeen million Americans have filed for unemployment (2.2 million in Colorado) in the past three weeks, undercounting the…

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Nearing An Agreement Or A Strike?

By Lisa Berdie, Policy & Research Director, A+ Colorado DPS and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) are staring down a January 18th expiration of the current ProComp agreement, and, potentially, a strike if an agreement is not reached. Where DCTA and DPS will land on the system design and overall amount allocated to teacher…

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Denver’s 2018 SPF: Recognizing Our Gaps

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…

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Colorado’s ESSA Plan: An Incomplete Pass

Originally appeared in Education Post. Published online: April 14, 2017, as “Colorado’s ESSA Plan Doesn’t Quite Get All Kids Across the Goal Line.” As Colorado updates its accountability system to comply with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), we have the opportunity to rethink how it provides both accountability and transparency. Unfortunately, the ESSA State Plan…

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An (Un)Fair Share

We recently released a report on teacher pay in Denver.  After much deliberation we settled on the title “A Fair Share.” But after working on this report, I’m not convinced that teachers are really receiving just that—a fair share. Denver Public Schools has an operating budget of about $1 billion. Approximately one third of this…

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Out of Sight, Out of Mind: How Boulder and CDE are Sweeping Students Under the Rug

When I talk about the use of data in education (and specifically school accountability) I tend to get one of two reactions– it’s seen as either a pet project, at best peripheral to, and at worst a distraction from, school improvement strategies; or that I’m a cog in an (evil) technocratic takeover of public education.…

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Setting the Bar for Innovation

Aurora Public Schools will be approaching the State Board of Education in May with a proposed Innovation Zone to implement next year. Five* schools in the Aurora Central High School feeder pattern will make up the zone that will be organized around a theme of global leadership. We’ve been monitoring the process closely, and provided…

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Starting the Year Off Write(ing)

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? Though I generally prefer to think of life as a “continuous improvement plan,” I appreciate the social pressure to reflect and take stock of the past year, and set goals for the next one. Some things I’d like for myself in 2016: do more art, read more books,…

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My Holiday Wish List

Data-driven decision-making. It’s a term bandied about by many of us in education. Data should—and often does—inform policy. For example, data from the task force exploring the amount of instructional time spent on testing was instrumental at the state house last year with the passage of HB 15-1323. At the district level, Denver’s Facility Allocation…

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