Blog posts are the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of A+ Colorado.
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…
My summer vacation took me to Berlin, Germany for several weeks to better understand the culture, art and history of this remarkable city in late August. While I was focused on taking a break from education, I couldn’t help but reflect on how Berlin has been shaped by education while I enjoyed the art, music…
What does it mean to be counted? Gathering and analyzing data on people and the number of things we want to know about people (demographics, performance, health, etc.) is not an out-of-touch, elitist exercise, but rather a way to meaningfully include people, and work to improve their everyday lives. Theory, data, or (worse) both, seem…
Many on the right and left believe that the Janus Supreme Court decision will have a significant impact on reducing the teacher union role in public education and union political power in general. The decision overrules a former Supreme Court decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, in 1977 that held that (primarily blue states) public…
“Choice, first and foremost, should be about having a great school in your neighborhood and making sure all of our schools serve all of our kids.” — Tom Boasberg NPR Ed, 2017 I’ve been an active observer of Denver Public Schools (DPS) for 20 years, through the vantage point of consultant, funder, researcher, charter school…