Designing a useful teacher identifier
By Robert Reichardt and Alex Medler, EdNews, Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Commentary
At a speech in Vail last June, Gov. Bill Ritter outlined the straightforward goal for the teacher identifier enacted by the Legislature this year. “Every teacher in the state is going to have an identifier number,” Ritter said. “You can actually look at how kids do as they utilize that teacher going forward. We wanted to be able to use the data to ask the question ‘who works', ‘what's making a difference.'” If only it were so simple. A report released this week reveals the challenges and potential rewards of implementing the teacher identifier, an approach used to varying degrees in 21 states. The report, “
Teacher Identifiers and Improving Education Practice: Experiences in Colorado and the Nation,” was produced by the Center for Education Policy Analysis at the School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver, and the Colorado Children’s Campaign with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
http://ednewscolorado.org/page10405028.aspx
Executive Summary
Does Money Matter For Struggling Students?
State Bill Colorado - Todd Engdahl - Jul 28, 2009
A key presentation at Monday's meeting was made by Kelly Hupfeld and Mark Fermanich of the Denver for Education Policy Analysis at the University of Colorado Denver’s Center for Education Policy Analysis at the School of Public Affairs. They are completing a study on the implications of student-centered funding for Colorado. They noted that the current school finance system distributes state money – including some factors that provide extra funding for at-risk kids – to districts but that districts distribute funds to schools based significantly on staffing ratios, with little discretion allowed to individual schools. http://www.statebillnews.com/?p=1396
Transit issues snag school choice in Colorado
Denver Post - Jeremy P. Meyer - Jul 18, 2009
Many poor families say they would like to send their children to better schools but don't because of transportation hurdles, according to a study by the Center on Reinventing Public Education. The study, "Drivers of Choice: Parents, Transportation and School Choice," surveyed 600 low- to moderate-income families in Denver and Washington, D.C., to determine how transportation issues affected school choice. One-third of respondents said they considered enrolling in another school but "facing some transportation challenges, decided to enroll their child in the closest school," according to the authors, Paul Teske, Jody Fitzpatrick, and Tracey O'Brien. Transportation is a problem," said Teske, dean of the University of Colorado Denver's School of Public Affairs, who worked on the study. "A lot of people would be willing to let their kids travel farther than they do now to get to a better school."
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12863938
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2009/07/its_one_thing_to_choose.html