Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #edcolo
Most recents (19)
Thread: At #Jeffco board meeting, Director Miller’s questions get to the truth about the current state of the scandal ridden $800m bond program…@wsj @The74 #copolitics #edcolo #k12 #edpolicy #edchat
(1) After net $19m in costs at schools receiving students from 16 closed ES, only $34m (!) is left from $118m in bond premium ($51m was spent on athletic facilities not disclosed to voters in 2018)…
(2) About $100m from original bond proceeds is currently allocated to projects that haven’t begun, including construction of 2 new ES (!!!). This includes $17m for projects now in design phase, and $83m that haven’t begun.
Thread: If a picture is worth 1,000 words, this 1Feb23 video of the teachers union presentation to the board of @JeffcoSchoolsCo (nation's 39th largest district) is worth a million. But first, some background... #edpolicy @FoxNews #edchat #suptchat #k12 #edcolo #jeffco @WSJ
Before the union presentation, the Jeffco board spent more than an hour discussing this affluent, educated suburban district's dismal student results, which have been declining for a decade... 
Last June, the 4 (out of 5) union backed board directors approved such a large comp increase for teachers that Jeffco was plunged into financial chaos. Faced with $130m of projected deficits and reserve drawdowns, 16 ES have been closed, with more MS and HS to follow...
I'm at the State Board of Ed meeting, where members expect to approve intensely debated social studies standards. We're off to a good start, with 3 Dems voting against the agenda after board chair Angelika Schroeder declined to add time to public comment. #edcolo #copolitics
There's a lot of technical problems with the livestream, but for folks who aren't here in person, the meeting is being recorded and will be available later.
There's a large group of community members here in "Restore the Cuts" t-shirts, hoping to see specific references to LGBTQ people and communities and to racial and ethnic groups put back into social studies standards.
Lots of people are sharing a Gazette editorial arguing Hitler was a socialist. The piece is a response to my reporting on State Board member Steve Durham's efforts to shape Holocaust education according to his own politics. #edcolo #copolitics co.chalkbeat.org/2022/10/12/233…
The Gazette editorial quotes Hitler hating on capitalism. He did speak against capitalism and link it to predatory Jews — something antisemites still do. He also railed against Marxists and communists and linked them to Jews — something antisemites still do.
I think one mistake the Gazette makes is treating Nazism as either/or. If it's not free-market capitalism, it's socialism. The core of Nazism was hatred for Jews, German racial superiority, and subjugation of other peoples. Everything else is just in pursuit of those ends.
Thread: Regarding @jeffcoschoolsco’s Capital Program, some have claimed, “our community is confused about what has been completed and what it has cost compared to the original scope and budget.” I disagree. There is no confusion; only discomfort with the truth #edcolo #copolitics
Some say that this “confusion” is due to people not realizing that the Flipbook distributed to Prop 5B voters in 2018 was nothing more than “marketing spin.” The evidence makes clear this wasn’t the case. Get you copy of it here: millerforjeffcostudents.com/resources/Jeff…
In Jeffco’s application for a national award for the Prop 5B public relations campaign, former district communications director Tammy Schiff wrote the following: The Flipbook "summarized what every school was going to receive in terms of renovations or new construction…
Thread: @JeffcoSchoolsCo is closing 16 elementary schools. More closures will be needed if we can't stem enrollment declines. Some believe these are due to falling birthrates. The data say this is only part of the story... #edcolo #Jeffco #copolitics #edpolicy #suptchat #k12
This slide shows changes in total enrollment in Jeffco schools (Neighborhood, Option, and Charter) since 2012. As you can see, the fall in Grd 1 enrollment (a proxy for birthrate declines) is much smaller than the fall due to other factors.
Let's look at enrollment changes in more detail. As you can see below, district-managed Option schools have added students since 2012.
Thread: My first take on #Jeffco's 2022 CMAS scores: Big change in demographics of test takers impart an upward bias to reported results. The real situation is worse. Read on. #edcolo #copolitics @JeffcoTranscrip @ChalkbeatCO @denverpost @ColoradoSun @boardhawk @JeffcoSchoolsCo
In 2019, before COVID arrived, 48% of Jeffco students in grades 3-8 did NOT meet state ELA standards. In 2022, that increased to 50%. The comparable numbers for math were 60% in 2019 to 63% in 2022. But the real results were likely much worse. Why?
Between 2019 and 2022, the number of valid CMAS results fell by (5,566) for ELA and (5,512) for math. But these declines weren't evenly distributed across all student groups. In 2019, only 83% of students failed to meet the CMAS math standard, vs 50% for non-FRL students...
Thread: #Jeffco parents and voters: The district's Capital Improvement Program has spent about $173 million on cost overruns, scope changes, and projects not disclosed to Prop 5B voters in 2018. Let's look at the facts. #edcolo #copolitics #edchat #k12 #edpolicy
In 2018, Jeffco voters approved the issuance of $567 million in bonds to fund a $705 million Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The remaining $138 million was to be provided by the annual transfer of $23 million to the district’s Capital Fund from the General Fund for 6 years.
Of the 705, 56m went to charters, $563m was to be spent on projects at district run schools, and $86m was for "Program Contingency." Each project at a district run school included a 10% "project contingency" to cover cost-overruns and scope changes. If these were > 10% ...
The @DPSNewsNow school board last night pared down a controversial proposal that would limit some schools' autonomy in order to bolster teacher job protections ahead of a vote Thursday. Here's what is - and isn't - in the simplified proposal. 🧵 #edcolo
The simplified version of the proposal:
Strikes standardizing the school calendar. Opposition to this idea was widespread because schools tailor their calendars to their communities' needs. One example: a school that serves Muslim students taking Islamic holidays off.
Strikes standardizing the school calendar. Opposition to this idea was widespread because schools tailor their calendars to their communities' needs. One example: a school that serves Muslim students taking Islamic holidays off.
Strikes all references to compensation. The board decided to delay the conversation about compensation in part so it could include all employees. Board Vice President Tay Anderson said he’d like to raise pay for hourly workers to $20 an hour.
NEW: DougCO school board posts proposes timeline to hire a new superintendent by Feb. 24: bit.ly/3LCiCCf To get a sense of how speedy that is, DPS’ recent 6-mo. process involved a community survey with 3,000 responses, 37 meetings with community groups, parents....1/
..., students, staff and leadership, + 3 finalists doing 7 stakeholder interviews, some of which were broadcast live. superintendent.dpsk12.org/search-updates/ Discussion around DCSD’s timeline will take place at a proposed special board mtg 02/16. Who knew about the agenda of this meeting...2/
....prior to its being posted publicly is unclear. A 02/14 social media posting by former DCSD school board member Steve Peck urged people to sign up for public comment at the 02/16 meeting where "the topic will be the superintendent decision...3/
Thread: This afternoon #Jeffco Schools released two damning independent reports on the causes of poor achievement results and the out-of-control Capital Program. The district hid both from voters until after the election...#copolitics #edcolo #k12 #edchat
The first was @moss_adams' independent audit of Jeffco's Capital Improvement Program, which Moss finds is least $136 million over budget due to cost overruns and spending on projects not disclosed to voters:
go.boarddocs.com/co/jeffco/Boar…
go.boarddocs.com/co/jeffco/Boar…
After she was elected to the board in Nov 2019 @Miller4Students repeatedly questioned the mgmt and governance of the capital program. Until Tracy Dorland became Supe, Miller's calls for an outside audit were blocked by the union-backed board majority. This report vindicates her.
Denver! Are you filling out your ballot this weekend? Need some info on school board candidates? I've done a ton of coverage of the candidates + the race, and I'll thread the stories below. 🧵 #edcolo #copolitics #coloradovotes
First, the basics: There are 12 candidates running for 4 open seats on the Denver school board. (There will be 13 names on the ballot, but one candidate - Andrea Mosby - withdrew. Votes for Mosby won't count.)
We asked each of the 12 candidates 8 questions about their priorities for @DPSNewsNow.
Read their answers in their own words. ⬇️ co.chalkbeat.org/2021/10/13/227…
Read their answers in their own words. ⬇️ co.chalkbeat.org/2021/10/13/227…
These two tweets speak volumes. I'll be they prove prophetic. Here's why... @RbnLake @MargueriteRoza @EdunomicsLab @rickhess99 @Kress_Sandy @MichaelPetrilli @MatthewAKraft @EdWriters @BizRoundtable @USCCFeducation #edcolo #copolitics @CSInstituteCO @ColoConcern
It is not that district managers & boards lack access to excellent research on how to evaluate research on achievement improvement. Matthew Kraft's excellent research has taken care of that...
scholar.harvard.edu/mkraft/publica…
scholar.harvard.edu/mkraft/publica…
And it is not that district managers and boards lack access to high quality, comparative meta-analytic research that shows the effect sizes and cost/benefit ratios of different achievement improvement initiatives. @WAPublicPolicy has produced it...
k12accountability.org/resources/COVI…
k12accountability.org/resources/COVI…
Don’t sweat the SATs? Colorado colleges support push to deemphasize test results in admissions
dpo.st/3lx9AtL via @denverpost #EdColo #HigherEd
There are some stats I want to show you in this story that are significant.
dpo.st/3lx9AtL via @denverpost #EdColo #HigherEd
There are some stats I want to show you in this story that are significant.
@denverpost To determine how much impact socioeconomic background has on SAT scores, @coschoolofmines did a study sorting CO scores by local zip codes.
They found SAT scores may be more predictive of a student's socioeconomic background than their ability to thrive in college.
They found SAT scores may be more predictive of a student's socioeconomic background than their ability to thrive in college.
When the zip codes were sorted by the highest % of families living at or below poverty line, only 3 zip codes in the top 50 of that list had 1/2 of their students score an 1100 or higher out of a maximum 1600. Gaubatz said an SAT score of 1060 is considered “college eligible.”
Don’t sweat the SATs? Colorado colleges support push to deemphasize test results in admissions
dpo.st/3lx9AtL via @denverpost #EdColo #HigherEd
There are some stats I want to show you in this story that are significant.
dpo.st/3lx9AtL via @denverpost #EdColo #HigherEd
There are some stats I want to show you in this story that are significant.
@denverpost To determine how much impact socioeconomic background has on SAT scores, @coschoolofmines did a study sorting CO scores by local zip codes.
They found SAT scores may be more predictive of a student's socioeconomic background than their ability to thrive in college.
They found SAT scores may be more predictive of a student's socioeconomic background than their ability to thrive in college.
When the zip codes were sorted by the highest % of families living at or below poverty line, only 3 zip codes in the top 50 of that list had 1/2 of their students score an 1100 or higher out of a maximum 1600. Gaubatz said an SAT score of 1060 is considered “college eligible.”
More from @DPSNewsNow presser: Weigh against the real epidemiological data (of spread) We need to come together as a community (to get this under control).
the conversations are every week. hope is that Level 3 restrictions will drive cases down
keeping younger students in school: Incredibly challenging for younger students who haven't develop reading foundational "blocks" to make on-line reading successful.
@DPSNewsNow Super Cordova delivers tough "painful' return to remote learning rationale for most Denver students.
using "frequent" surveys to improve remote learning and meet family needs
Berman ' Case rates have increased' "Community transmission is quite active"
I've been working on a story about how school districts are trying to bridge Colorado's wide digital divide — and why their best efforts may still be falling short. I wanted to introduce you to some of the families we spoke with. #edcolo co.chalkbeat.org/2020/8/28/2140…
Tamika Aumiller has been waiting for an internet hotspot from her daughter's school since March. Three days before classes were set to start online, she made a decision that will temporarily separate her from her daughter.
Aumiller registered 6-year-old Addy for school in the county where her grandparents live, 45 minutes away, because classes there are being held in person. Without internet access, Addy couldn't do school at home: “My biggest worry is that she’s going to get behind."
Thread: #coleg's Joint Budget Committee is seeing the consequences of the sad withering of #Colorado's once dynamic economic model. #copolitics @coloradobrt @DenChamber @ColoradoChamber @TeacherPension @biggsag
Many causes are now interacting in a non-linear way, including poor/stagnant #edcolo performance and uncoordinated, competing #CTE programs that leave frustrated employers with many unfilled middle skilled jobs...
As fewer people are equipped to compete in the 21st century economy, social safety net spending is skyrocketing. And with PERA only 41% funded (per the Fed), more pension crises are on the way when the economy and markets inevitably turn down...
