How to know when you are in a good school and how to choose a new one when you are not.

Leadership: Look for strong leadership from the school board and superintendant to the student council. How are decisions made? When it comes to the decision making, is it the principal alone, or are teachers, parents, and students at the table? This will become apparent when you ask about recent decisions on budgets, scheduling, and curriculum, and how those decisions were determined. Be cautious of accountability teams, councils, and parent groups that have authority in name only. Great schools look for every opportunity to promote leadership. This means that parents and students are part of the interview and selection process for hiring teachers. PTOs and PTAs not only raise school money but help decide how to spend it. Teachers are heard, honored, and supported. Students are treated as problem solvers and are included in addressing challenges from school discipline to selecting clubs, and enrichment programs will be offered after school.

Culture: A trained eye can assess the culture of a school by walking the halls. Things to look for: Are you welcomed by the office staff? Are the messages on the walls inspiring and empowering? Is there evidence of learning everywhere? Are the expressions on the faces of students and teachers animated and engaged? Do you see parent and citizen volunteers supporting children’s learning? Are the classrooms rich with resources – books, music, craft materials, science opportunities, real world learning challenges and excitement? Learning can look like action, color and collaboration but it is also restful and contemplative. Are students demonstrating their learning in a variety of different ways? Do they exhibit interest, curiosity, and enthusiasm?  Find out how much time children are provided to eat lunch and play outside at recess. Get a school menu.  Make sure that art, music, and PE are offered regularly.

Diversity:  Denver’s East High School motto is “Diversity is our strength.” Peter Teets, Don Cheadle, Sidney Sheldon are all graduates of East. One of the topics that never appear on state standards or district curriculums is ‘relationships.’ Yet our ability to maintain healthy productive relationships is central to our effectiveness personally and professionally. While it is important to master the 3 R’s, some of the most important lessons your child is gaining is how to relate, communicate, and collaborate with other people. A good education is not limited to career building but seeks to develop each individual student as citizens, parents, spouses, friends, and neighbors. A wide range of economic, cultural, and social diversity in your school ensures opportunities for your child to grow and stretch in their understanding of others.  Every day of their lives they will be connecting with different types of people. Great schools recognize this and seek to attract and celebrate a diverse body of students, teachers, and administrators. Great educators attend to a child’s social and emotional growth as well as to their intellectual development.

Accountability: The biggest mistake parents often make in selecting a school is associating high test scores with school quality. Scores such as the Colorado Student Assessment Program, CSAP, have no correlation to a student’s success after high-school. In fact linear, singular types of multiple questions are the opposite of the critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and collaborative skills required in the real world. Schools that have high test scores often do so because they have narrowed the curriculum and eliminated subjects and concepts that aren’t measured on state tests. As a literacy coach in an elementary school in Highlands Ranch, I watched first-hand how science and social studies were squeezed out in order to spend more time on drilling and test preparation for reading and mathematics. The number one correlating factor to high test scores is income. So take care not to confuse high test scores with quality teachers, purposeful curriculum, and high expectations. Schools that rely on a variety of success indicators will have a more rounded and relevant approach to teaching and learning.

Make joy central to your decision making when it comes to choosing your child’s school. They have very short childhoods. If they are happy in school, they will not only learn more but they will create positive associations with education and grow to love learning throughout their lives.

http://www.thanks2teachers.com/Home/MyFavorites/TheWorldofIdeas/tabid/74/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/157/A-Principals-Principles.aspx

Dear Representative Kerr and the HMP,

Although I was proud to serve the party in 2006 in my run for HD37, I have grown dissillusioned with Democratic Agenda for education. I believe public schooling to be the pillar of democracy and a free and intelligent society. I have watched the gradual destruction of our neighborhood schools through the Republican efforts to undermine locally elected boards and the No Child Left Behind Bill nationalizing our public schools under the control of the federal government. Owens 00SB186 - which graded schools according to tests and then John Andrews 04HB1141 creating alternative chartering authorities further diminished the perception and integrity of our neighborhood schools. Instead of addressing poverty and the inequities in education opportunity, the democrats have wasted a four year majority re-writing standards, revising tests, and now grading teachers according to a single measurement tool (10SB191). These initiatives have directed millions of dollars to the proven flawed process of high-stakes testing and building bigger and more complex bureaucracies resulting in the further neglect of basic education needs and the dire conditions of Colorado’s most vulnerable children. I can no longer in good conscience financially contribute to the Democratic agenda. However, I will be looking to support strong leaders who hold the line for public education and prioritize the needs of young children above commercial interests and political power struggles. Please remove me from any future communication from the HMP.

Angela Engel

         In 2008, Governor Ritter’s first attempt at education reform came under the bill, CAP4K. The bill brought standards and standardized testing to pre-school through 2nd grade. Politicians were demanding more of our four-year-olds and finger painting weren’t the kind of measurements they were looking for. In 2009, the price tag of $80 million dollars was assigned to the bill. In 2010, with $260 million dollars in cuts to our neighborhood schools, the CAP4K bill was put on hold due to a lack of funding. Below was my 2008 letter to the Appropriations Committee. Now Colorado has passed SB 191, so ask yourself, where will that money be coming from?                

                                                                 April 4, 2008

Dear  Representative Ferrandino,

In the next couple of weeks the Appropriations Committee will be charged with attaching a fiscal note to SB212, CAP4K. Over the past decade Colorado’s educators and school administrators have been working to comply with a host of government mandates, the majority unfunded. While I applaud the Governor’s good intentions I am asking that your committee not underestimate the costs associated with his “Revolutionary Reform” initiative.

When I was teaching in Douglas County, it took us three years to realign our curriculum and our district standards with state standards, the Colorado Student Assessment Program, and later School Accountability Reports. With no new money and declining budgets we had to purchase new curriculum in phases. Text books can cost in the millions for large districts. One year we replaced our language curriculum with McGraw Hill literature books then two years later we purchased Everyday Mathematics to align with the state assessment. In the district where my children attend school, Littleton, they recently allocated a large portion of our school budget for the same math curriculum. Everyday Mathematics is published by the Wright Group which is also owned by McGraw Hill. My point is that it has taken districts a decade to realign every subject, every grade level, every assessment, and four areas of curriculum with CSAP and state standards. In fact, Pueblo just last month completed the process of realigning their text books and assessment with the revised state standards.

The false assumption in CAP4K is that schools aren’t already preparing children for college. “College Readiness” is not a revolutionary concept. Cherry Creek, Douglas County, Littleton all have over 90% of their graduates going on to secondary education. The difference between these districts and Denver, Pueblo, and Alamosa is not that they have better teachers or higher expectations for students. The difference is in the resources. For example, Arapahoe High School requires each band student to raise $3,000 dollars in order to be a member of the band including the trip to perform in England. The entire band budget for all of Lincoln high school is $3,000.

Students of higher economic status prepare for college because they can afford a degree. Children who are asked to prepare for college yet cannot afford the costs associated with tuition, books, transportation, housing, and the wages they will have to forgo while studying instead of earning a living will find schools a waste of time under the Governor’s vision for their education. Not to mention that less than a quarter of American jobs require a college degree or higher. Under CAP4K schools will now prepare 100% of students for 21% of the jobs. I hope that the fiscal note takes into consideration not only the costs of preparing every young person for college but assuring they can get there once they are prepared. I can’t imagine the costs of such a feat. I can imagine the disappointment of a young woman who has dedicated herself to preparing for college only to find that is an opportunity not afforded to her.

Our educational system, has weathered the noble goals of Governor Romer with standardization and accreditation; they have endured the plans of Governor Owens high-stakes testing and school accountability ratings; they have even accepted the vision of President Bush and Congress for proficiency on standardized tests. Our teachers and our children are not short on educational goals, plans, and visions. What they are short on are the resources; the people, the dollars, the time to accomplish high standards, proficient test scores, excellent school ratings, and now “college readiness.” So please in your financial estimations do not deliver another promise that will not carry with it the resources to serve our children and our highest ideals.

Appreciatively,

Angela Engel