Commentary
If you’re like me and following the debate on proposed changes to the way schools are measured in Denver, you too may have concluded the color-coded school report cards – known as the School Performance Framework or SPF – do not necessarily reflect the culture of a school, or how satisfied a learner your child might be – even at a highly rated school. Color me disappointed with the SPF’s efficacy informing parents.
“Pandemic pods” have the potential to widen already gaping opportunity gaps. But there are ways to minimize the negative collective impacts.
Mike Miles, CEO of First Future Schools, has deftly threaded the needle in a letter to his staff about reopening school next month. Read the full letter here.
Yes, education needs to change fundamentally. For now, though, we need to set aside our differences to get through the next year.
A member of the DPS Budget Advisory Committee reflects on how its processes and outcomes could have been improved.
A deal cut last week between Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association blew a big hole through the plan to give the biggest raises to the lowest-paid workers.
A powerful column excerpted here places the debate about neighborhood schools within the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. A provocative read, especially for progressives.
Gather your allies and your strength now while our minds and hearts truly feel the injustices borne by our students every day. Plan bold steps that go beyond addressing symptoms and that finally cut to the heart of what we know is unjust with our system.
Let’s, for argument’s sake, give these individuals and groups that want to eliminate accountability and measurement their way. Let’s stop measuring anything and just trust that teachers will get it right. Then let’s come back together in five years and see what our graduation, dropout, and remediation rates look like, not to mention our achievement gaps.
DPS employee associations are pushing for budget cuts that don’t touch negotiated teacher pay raises. That’s a tough case to make, given the $61 million in cuts that are looming.
Is Denver Public Schools capable of producing the next Gladys West?
What struck me most in reading about Dr. Gladys West’s life was not only her brilliance, but her perseverance. A deep love of geometry sparked a career that unfolded in the face of profound racial and gender discrimination, in an era when Black women were systematically excluded from advanced mathematics and scientific fields. Her story raises an uncomfortable question closer to home. Are Denver’s public schools systematically cultivating the next generation of Gladys Wests, or are they leaving that talent unrealized?