State lawmakers on Monday introduced bipartisan legislation that would overhaul a statewide program that has failed to improve the reading deficiencies of young students despite costing the state more than $231 million over the past five years. Senate Bill 199 would add significant state oversight into how schools throughout Colorado teach kindergarten through third grade […]
education
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Children need to READ and it is their right: The READ Act Challenge
Schools know how to teach children to read, right? Every child learns to read, right? Well, “No,” according to recent data collected as a required component of the Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act. The READ Act was passed by the Colorado legislature in 2012 amid high acclaim and bipartisan support. The law […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
The Denver teacher strike is over. Now lawmakers are trying to solve Colorado’s chronic education funding problem.
Top legislators this week said they feared the teacher strike in Denver was a symptom of chronic underfunding for Colorado public schools and expressed concern that teachers in other districts will get restless if the state doesn’t tackle school financing. They pointed out that the state put a budget-balancing tool in place in 2009, in […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Denver teachers are heading back to class, but their strike revealed a national divide over bonus pay
By Colleen Slevin and Carolyn Thompson, The Associated Press Denver teachers went on strike to improve their pay, but the fight wasn’t that simple. Emboldened by teacher activism nationwide and struggling to live in a rapidly growing city, Denver educators challenged one of the nation’s oldest incentive pay systems, which was originally endorsed by the teachers union […]
Posted inEducation, News
How long will the Denver teachers strike last? Past strikes and present considerations offer clues.
By Philissa Cramer, Chalkbeat When teachers in Los Angeles went on strike last month, their leaders warned that they would be off the job for “as long as it takes” to reach a deal with the district. They were back in class after six school days. That timeline could offer a template for what happens in Denver as […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
“They need us”: Denver teachers are on strike Monday after failing to reach pay deal
By Colleen Slevin, Associated Press Denver teachers went on strike Monday after failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay in the latest example of educator discontent, following a wave of walkouts over the last year. Denver’s teachers started picketing before the start of the school day and students crossed through the picket lines on […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Colorado education officials failed state by botching $231 million reading-improvement program, whistleblower lawsuit claimed
Colorado education officials botched a reading-improvement program that cost the state $231 million over the past six years by caving in to political pressure from local school districts, a whistleblower lawsuit contended. Testimony in the case mirrors current criticism as reform of the Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act rises to the top of […]
Posted inEducation, Growth
Decades after redlining, Denver schools see choice contributing to racial imbalance
In 1938, members of the Home Owner’s Loan Corporation drew lines on a paper map of Denver. These determined which city residents would be approved or denied mortgages based on the racial makeup of the neighborhoods in which they lived. Predominantly African-American and Latino areas faced discrimination, with their communities labeled with the lowest of […]
Posted inEducation, News, Politics and Government
Nearly half of all young adults in Colorado owe money on a student loan, study examining state’s $26 billion ledger shows
Student loan debt in Colorado increased 176 percent in the decade stretching from 2007 to 2017, faster than the 152 percent rate of growth nationally for such debt during the same period, according to an analysis released by those who want Colorado to license student loan service providers. About 734,000 Colorado borrowers are paying off […]
Posted inEducation, Health, News, Politics and Government
New law to keep Colorado foster kids in their home schools is off to disappointing start
On school mornings, 19 kids who live in Mesa County foster homes are driven across the valley — to Fruita or Grand Junction or Palisade or beyond — so they can attend school with the same teachers and friends they had before they switched homes. They catch a ride on new school bus routes, with […]