Whenever Kimbal Musk visits an elementary school to talk to kids about their school garden, he usually winds up introducing at least one of them to a cherry tomato. “Never is there a time when at least one of the kids (doesn’t say), ‘What is that?’ And I have to say, ‘This is a cherry […]
K-12 education
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Colorado students are improving in literacy — possibly to the detriment of their math skills. That’s bad for the economy.
Colorado students have inched forward with progress in reading following a statewide focus on improving literacy, but their math skills aren’t moving in the same direction — or, really, in any direction. A report released by A+ Colorado this week highlights how stagnant math scores have been on the Colorado Measures of Academic Success assessments, […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Colorado students may shuffle school districts during coronavirus, leaving a financial mess in their wake
When Centennial School District R-1 resumes classes on Wednesday, the student population will have plummeted from where it was a year ago. The number of children enrolled in the San Luis Valley district was 122 as of Monday, down from 191 at the start of the last academic year. The 36% decrease is preliminary, Superintendent […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: A tidal wave is sweeping over our educational system
My mom is an inspiring, lifelong educator who has taught in Colorado, internationally and now leads a community-designed school in California. As she approaches the end of her career in education, I cannot imagine a tougher challenge than the one all educators face at this moment. Each week we connect, her context has changed and she […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
These Colorado school districts are welcoming students back for in-person learning this fall. Here’s why they feel it’s safe.
School district leaders in Holyoke fully anticipate having to shut down schools for a few weeks this fall in response to the coronavirus, but that’s not stopping them from opening classrooms up and starting the school year with in-person learning. It’s an increasingly rare approach to the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year as many […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Wealthy Colorado parents are hiring teachers for private learning pods, leaving low-income students behind
Coronavirus shutdowns and delays have created so many unknowns for Colorado parents with school-age kids just weeks before most classes are slated to start that some are creating their own certainties by starting “pods” of like-minded families and hiring private teachers. The flight from ambiguity — over when school will actually start, whether it will […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, Health, News
Colorado issues guidance on when coronavirus should prompt a school closure as governor calls in-person learning “reasonably safe”
Schools with coronavirus outbreaks in five or more classrooms will close for at least 10 days under new guidance released Thursday by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. The guidance, focused on how school districts can effectively respond to a COVID-19 outbreak, also recommends a school close if 10 or more students, teachers […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, Health, News
Students struggle to learn in the face of trauma. Colorado school districts’ first lesson for them this fall: how to cope.
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 […]
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 […]