Before Alamosa School District, No. Re-11J can begin teaching its students this fall, its leaders, teachers and staff members have a lot of their own learning to do. They need to get to know the students they’ll instruct this next school year, understand what might concern them about returning to school and hear from families […]
Colorado education
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News, Technology
Online classes aren’t going anywhere, but thousands of Colorado students still don’t have internet access
Laura Martinez’s home sits on a two-block stretch of Commerce City where cell phone service doesn’t exist. Anyone in her community who doesn’t have access to the internet can’t make a phone call. “That’s how important internet is,” said Martinez, a mother of three. The urban technological headache is one shared by people in many […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Colorado teachers want a voice as schools plan for fall classes during coronavirus crisis
It’s the million-dollar question — or likely one worth much more than that — for districts across Colorado and the country: How should school play out this fall at a time the coronavirus may very well still pose a major threat to communities? Some of Colorado’s 178 school districts have nailed down preliminary back-to-school plans, […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, News
Denver’s Black students are raising their voices to redesign the curriculum, ensure their history is taught
Jenelle Nangah was in fifth grade when a white classmate called her the n-word. That moment, and how it was handled, has stuck with her, in part because of what followed — or didn’t. Jenelle said her teacher and an office administrator confronted the boy as part of a classroom discussion, telling the kids that […]
Posted inColoradans, Education, News
Denver Public Schools taking the plunge as districts plan to get kids back in the classroom
Colorado’s largest public school district will return to in-person classes this fall after transitioning to remote learning in the spring, but students’ school days will look a lot different with mandatory masks, health screenings upon entering schools and modified schedules that keep cohorts of kids together. Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova said at a […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News, Politics and Government
How much should the state spend to learn how far Colorado kids have fallen behind during the pandemic?
How do you measure the academic strides a student has made since last spring or clarify how much they’ve fallen behind? It’s a complicated question in a summer bookended by uncertainty, with the coronavirus having forced Colorado students into remote learning this spring and many districts still pinning down their instruction plans for the fall. […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News, Politics and Government
Colorado students need a back-to-school test to get back on course after coronavirus, advocates say
Just how much knowledge Colorado students gained, retained or lost during a school year disrupted by a pandemic — and how their knowledge base changes over summer — is one giant guessing game. Education advocates are determined to get answers. Education groups are urging the Colorado Department of Education to invest federal coronavirus relief money […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
As Colorado schools start plotting fall classes they have more questions than answers
The coronavirus is forcing Colorado school districts to get creative as they reimagine what classes could look like this fall. Among the options: hybrid classes with some students in schools and others learning from home; staggered and shortened school schedules; pushing desks 6 feet apart, spreading classes across multiple rooms and having teachers rotate between […]
Posted inEducation, News
When it comes to seclusion and restraint, Colorado schools “are investigating themselves”
Nearly every day, Brenna Wann saw staff members take young students, sometimes kicking and screaming, to the “quiet room” of her Colorado elementary school. “They get in there, and then they’re mad they’re in there,” said Wann, who left her job as a classroom aide for students with emotional disabilities in early February. “You watch […]
Posted inEducation, News
Colorado education board orders HOPE Online to close its elementary operations following low performance
In an about-face from last month, a majority of State Board of Education members on Thursday said they had no confidence that the HOPE Online elementary school model can or will ever work, and ordered it closed. “I do try and protect school choice whenever I can get to the conclusion that it’s a reasonable […]