News

Blended Learning Transforms Teaching

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:06:00 GMT

Charter school leader James Cryan and advocate Myles Mendoza say education may finally be moving into the digital age with the growing blended learning movement.

Education in Colorado is getting ready to experience a dramatic revolution. In 10 years, every teacher will use technology tools to help deliver, assess and guide instruction. This week, Sal Khan of the Khan Academy is speaking at the University of Denver. Next week, a large educational-technology start-up weekend is happening in Boulder. Schools like Rocky Mountain Prep, the Odyssey School, Denver School of Science and Technology and Grant Middle School are incubating new models of education.

Teaching is one of the few professions that has not experienced a significant transformation since the 1800s. This differs dramatically from almost all other professions, which have largely capitalized on productivity gains from technology and specialization.

Hospitals have advanced medical equipment, integral to the evaluation, treatment and monitoring of patients. Police are equipped with advanced technology, providing officers the ability to access databases, view maps, issue amber alerts, collect and transfer witness statements, and much more.

Even the oft-maligned Post Office has a technological backbone which makes its services both efficient and amazingly reliable. In our own lives, most of us can’t last more than 4 hours without emailing or using a smartphone. Technology has become an integral part of nearly every society, with one glaring exception – education.

Most classrooms have yet to experience the transformative impact of technology. The Harvard Business Review recently reported that the education sector ranks last in effective use of technology.

In real time, this means teachers are asked to wear many hats: Data analyst, lunchroom monitor, phonics interventionist, customer service specialist and counselor.
However, there is a new “blended learning” (a combination of teacher-led and computer-learning) education movement taking place that holds an implicit belief that teacher’s specialized skills should be better appreciated and used in a more precise manner. A blended model couples digital/online learning with in-person instruction in a traditional school setting. Capitalizing on the irreplaceable role of the teacher, and the capacity of technology to individualize, teach and track student learning around core concepts, a blended model is education innovation at its best. The teacher’s role moves from primarily remediation and skill building to knowledge application, extension and debate. Student-teacher interaction is increasingly targeted and small-group based, offering more individualized instruction. What teacher wouldn’t love that?

None of these ideas would be worth pursuing if they didn’t lead to a more effective education for students. As the Harvard Business Review reported last month in the article “Rethinking Education,” the results are promising. Rocketship Education, a group of seven blended-learning schools, are the top-performing schools in their district of San Jose and their largely low-income students perform at the same level as the affluent Palo Alto school district. In New York City, the personalized, tech-heavy math learning program called School of One, students learned 60 percent more than their traditionally taught peers. Even more exciting is the potential blended learning is bringing to rural communities. In rural Arizona, the Carpe Diem School has ranked top in its county and in the top 10 percent of charters in Arizona. Taking advantage of great free programs, such as the Khan Academy, a group of 2,700 short online videos, these schools are able to make the teachers’ job more focused and more effective.

The need to improve education in Colorado is clear. Here in Denver approximately five out of 10 students don’t graduate from high-school and only one out of 10 will graduate from college. Now is the time to embrace bringing these ideas to bear here in Colorado. Hockey great Wayne Gretzky once said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” However, innovation has rarely come from the state, policy makers or school districts. Rather, It’s up to them to encourage innovative teachers and schools to rethink technology tools and get out of the way. We all need to skate in that direction.

Imagine removing technology from hospitals, law enforcement agencies, or our daily lives – quite unsettling, right? We must think of our schools in similar terms. Teaching and learning is limited by the absence of innovative technology in our schools. With such a broad base of blended learning proponents and recent innovations in education, the time to bring technology into our schools is now.

Read the original article from EdNewsColorado here.

University Prep Inspires Hope

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:09:00 GMT

Written by Ben Degrow, Independence Institute

Last Wednesday I was privileged with the opportunity to visit one of Denver’s new potential shining school stars: University Prep. Tucked between LoDo and Five Points, the first-year charter school serves a high-poverty, high-needs population of kindergarten and 1st grade students on its way to growing into a full-capacity elementary program.

Many readers will be familiar with Denver’s intensely focused, successful secondary school programs serving large shares of poor and minority students. Most notably, West Denver Prep and DSST have earned their share of plaudits. Neighborhood school success stories like Beach Court Elementary are few and far between. What would happen if we could greatly improve the results for the low-income student demographic coming through the earlier part of the educational pipeline?

Of the 10 guests who came to University Prep for the official April 25 visit, most were from other Colorado new or start-up charters looking to glean key insights. The school’s early results certainly indicate there is something worth learning. Frequent and focused assessments drive the school’s instructional program.

Last summer’s baseline testing found one in five incoming kindergarten students were “on track” with their academic skills. As of the March interim assessment, the figure had grown to 88%, just short of the school’s 90 percent proficiency goal. Working with the 1st graders they inherited has been more of an uphill climb for University Prep. Only 4 percent came in “on track” academically. While that number has improved to 29 percent, they are still well short of the ambitious goal of 70 percent with one round of testing to go.

Longer day. Longer year. Student uniforms. All set University Prep apart from many traditional urban elementary schools. Founder and Head of School David Singer repeatedly referred to the school’s 108 students as “scholars,” setting the tone of a school with the explicit vision that “college starts in kindergarten.”

Singer’s passion, energy and focus were unmistakably evident in his discussions with the school’s guests. And he did so, dealing with the unanticipated absence of his ill development director and a real-time student discipline issue. He readily admitted to no magic formula to the early successes achieved at University Prep, but emphasized the consistent need for hard work.

The attitude he seeks to foster among his eight full-time teachers — most of whom are Teach For America corps members or alumni — is to remain “hungry, humble and smart.” Regular observation and feedback are standard fare for teacher evaluations. Monthly goals tailored to each teacher’s professional needs are emphasized, with a video analysis of classroom performance included in conversations between instructor and evaluator.

The two sections of kindergarteners and two sections of first-graders all daily receive extended blocks of literacy instruction. I was able to observe the use of diverse and multiple strategies, including small group instruction, oral reading exercises, and students engaged with Destination Reading and DreamBox computer software. Notably, I could identify some consistent use of techniques and practices across classrooms. Beyond literacy, students receive nearly 90 minutes of math, in addition to time for writing, social studies, physical education, and extra interventions.

Three-fourths of University Prep students come from the surrounding neighborhood. If the current trajectory of student learning success continues and word spreads, more parents may sacrifice to bring their kids in from different parts of the city. As Singer pointed out, though, early success generates its own challenges. Staff will have to focus on how to support 15 new kids entering second grade alongside the veteran “scholars.” They also will have to rework the first grade curriculum for a different cohort of students, most of whom will come in significantly ahead of this year’s class.

As I like to say, that’s a good kind of problem, evidence of a promising start for a new educational option available to Denver (area) students and families. How long University Prep can sustain its early success and to what extent such programs can be replicated are important education policy questions that rightly have received great attention.

Thanks to Get Smart Schools for sponsoring the visit.

Read the original article on EdNewsColorado here.

23,000 Parents Partake in Streamlined Denver school-choice Program

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:22:00 GMT

Written by Karen Auge, The Denver Post

Last winter, Denver Public Schools unveiled a new school-choice system and asked parents to do a little homework and then select the schools they preferred for their kids.
Nearly 23,000 of them did.

The district Wednesday revealed participation totals for its new, streamlined school-choice system.
Parents won't know for a few more weeks whether their kids got into their top school choices.
In previous years, parents had to fill out different forms for different schools, and navigate different deadlines and application windows.

Some schools, such as the Denver School of the Arts, still required separate application materials, such as auditions or essays this year. But otherwise, parents filled out a single form indicating up to five school choices, in order of preference. The choice process was available to all students but was especially designed to ease the selection of a kindergarten, middle or high school, said district spokeswoman Kristy Armstrong.

In the weeks and months leading up to the Jan. 31 deadline to turn in that form, parents were bombarded with multilingual information and reminders. The district even hosted an information session for all prospective middle and high school students, and provided bus service to the event from far-northeast Denver.

The effort produced a 94 percent participation rate among incoming sixth- and ninth-graders in far-northeast Denver, according to district estimates.
For the district as a whole, participation among families with students entering kindergarten, sixth or ninth grade — grades that involve moving into new schools — was 82 percent.

The district got help with its education and outreach effort from community groups and the nonprofit Get Smart Schools.

In 2009, a consultant studied DPS's previous choice process and found it cumbersome and confusing.

From there, the transition to this year's new system was made possible by bond money and grants, including one from the Walton Family Foundation.

The district expects that families will receive in the mail by the first week of March notification of at which school their child has been accepted. A second round of the school-choice process will begin next month.

Read original article here.

DPS' New Choice System Explained

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:26:00 GMT

DPS' New Choice System Explained

Written by EdNews Staff

For some Denver Public Schools parents and students, the transition years into elementary, middle and high school can be a stressful time as they try to find the best fit amid a plethora of choices.

This year, families may stress more than usual as they adapt to a radically new system, dubbed SchoolChoice, that district officials promise will be simpler and fairer.

In the past, families with a student entering kindergarten, sixth or ninth grade faced a daunting array of forms and processes. Each charter school had its own choice and enrollment process, and some selective admission and magnet schools required different forms and processes than traditional neighborhood schools.

This year, there is one four-page form. Every family in a transition grade fills out the same form, listing their top five school choices. All DPS-managed schools and the city’s 33 charter schools are participating.

Still, change ruffles feathers, and for some families, particularly the savvier families who had learned to “work” the old system, this particular change had proved vexing, according to Shannon Fitzgerald, DPS’ director of choice and enrollment.

“I think one of the things we might have underestimated a little bit was the amount of parent outreach that has been required,” Fitzgerald said. “Especially for those super-savvy parents who have perhaps been through the system before with an older sibling.”

DPS and its partners in this project, Get Smart Schools, will be holding an information session on the new choice program from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at George Washington High School, 655 S. Monaco Parkway.

Click here for a link to the original story and to listen to a podcast of the session.

DPS Continues Progress on School Choice Reform

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:32:00 GMT

Though Denver's new enrollment process will require some getting used to, it is a step in the right direction for the district.

By The Denver Post
Though they still have a long way to go, officials with Denver Public Schools have made great strides in recent years in embracing reforms that increase educational opportunities and outcomes for students. School choice is one of those areas of reform.

The district this year is rolling out a new choice process that will require some getting used to. It does not, however, warrant excessive hand-wringing that students could be bumped from their neighborhood schools if they apply and don't get in to others.

Parents who would like to enroll their kids in a DPS school other than the one that serves their neighborhood have until Jan. 31 to fill out a form on which they can select up to five schools, in order of preference.

The district — and local education groups that helped pay for the forms — deserve credit on at least three fronts in the new choice process.

First, for treating charters as equals and for giving all schools the same opportunity to draw students.

Second, for trying to create a fair process in which enrollment is largely centralized (though some schools still require auditions or have other enrollment criteria) rather than having schools with individualized, under-publicized processes.

And third, for producing forms in both English and Spanish, which recognizes that many students come from homes in which the primary language is not English.

(Future efforts would benefit from applications printed in Vietnamese, Somali and other languages that are well represented in the student body, we believe.)

The new choice process has prompted concerns from some parents that if a child is not accepted for enrollment at a school on his list of choices, he will lose his guaranteed seat at his neighborhood school.

District officials tell us that is not the case.

The only instance in which that might happen is if a student is selected for enrollment in a higher-preference choice school and then decides that he wants to attend his neighborhood school instead.

Parents who want to ensure a seat in their neighborhood school have at least three options:

1. Do nothing. If you don't turn in a school choice application or your child is already enrolled in your neighborhood school, enrollment is automatic.

2. Choose only your neighborhood school on the application. Unless you are enrolling for the first time, district officials tell us this isn't necessary. But if you want to choose it for peace of mind, go ahead.

3. Rank your neighborhood school appropriately. If there is only one school you'd choose over your local school, rank that school as your first choice and the neighborhood school as No. 2. You are alllowed to rank — but do not have to — up to five schools.

With questions surrounding neighborhood schools straightened out, we think the new choice process is a step in the right direction as DPS continues down the road to reform.

Click here for a link to the original article.

Better Choices: Charter Incubation as a Strategy for Improving the Charter School Sector

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:07:00 GMT

The cities for Education Entrepreneurship Trust (CEE-Trust) released a policy brief in partnership with the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, authored by Joe Ableidinger and Julie Kowal of Public Impact, a national education policy and management consulting firm based in Chapel Hill, NC.

Public Impact is a team of researchers, thought leaders, tool- builders, and on-the-ground consultants who help education leaders and policymakers improve student learning in K-12 education. For more on CEE-Trust please visit www.ceetrust.org. For more on Public Impact, please visit: www.publicimpact.com.

Read the full policy brief here.

DPS SchoolChoice Plan Set to Go

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:27:00 GMT

Written by: Charlie Brennan, EdNewsColorado

The Denver Public Schools’ new streamlined “one form, one timeline, all schools” enrollment system now has the participation of every charter school in the district.

The system, which the district is branding as SchoolChoice, will replace what DPS said was a welter of more than 60 different enrollment and wait-list processes and is designed to eliminate confusion and ensure equity in district-wide enrollment.

“For too long, this process has been a cumbersome one for families,” Superintendent Tom Boasberg stated in his current newsletter. “We needed to do a better job of making the process of selecting a school simple, user-friendly and fair; SchoolChoice does just that by condensing the process down to one piece of paper and one timeline.”

DPS spokesman Mike Vaughn added, “A family’s first choice should always be the school in their neighborhood, but if that’s not the right fit, we want to create a simple and equitable support system to help those families find and enroll in the school that’s best for their child.”

Until recently it was uncertain whether all of the 35 charter schools in the DPS system would take part in SchoolChoice. The district now has a commitment from every charter to participate.

SchoolChoice is being implemented with outreach support led by the nonprofit Get Smart Schools, which is coordinating a coalition of community organizations that will assist in efforts to publicize the new enrollment program.

Under SchoolChoice, families of children in the transitional years – those entering kindergarten and those in fifth and eighth grades – will be asked to complete a form no later than Jan. 31, listing five schools in exact order of preference. The district will endeavor to place each student in his or her highest-listed preferred school, and every child will be guaranteed a seat at their neighborhood school.

DPS has revised its enrollment guides to include detailed profiles of every school and has translated them into Spanish, Vietnamese and Arabic. They are being distributed to every transition-grade student, with extra copies available at every school.
The outreach effort is seen as critical to introducing the new enrollment process to district parents, as there are 137 languages and dialects spoken in the district. The top seven are English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, Karen, Burmese and Somali.

SchoolChoice forms will be available on Dec. 1 at any DPS school or online. They can be turned in at any school or at the DPS administration building, 900 Grant St.

For the original story link click here.

Former President Bush Visits Denver to Tout Get Smart Schools Partnership

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:41:00 GMT

Former President Bush Visits Denver to Tout Get Smart Schools Partnership

Former President George W. Bush steered clear of politics and controversy during his visit to Denver early Thursday.

"Post-presidency is an interesting period," Bush said. "I'm out of politics . . . but I still have a great passion about educational excellence."
Bush declined to comment on Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy's death Thursday and even avoided discussing current legislative changes to his administration's landmark No Child Left Behind law.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who joined Bush at a closed roundtable discussion at the headquarters for Get Smart Schools, said the former president did talk about the importance of accountability and testing measures — the foundation of NCLB.
"It was perfect timing for me to have the opportunity to hear what led him to create that legislation," said Hancock, who has made fixing Denver Public Schools' problems a focus of his campaign and early administration.

In April, Get Smart Schools signed a contract with the Dallas-based George W. Bush Institute's Alliance to Reform Education Leadership to examine how principals are trained and evaluated.

The specifics of how the partnership will support local principal training through Get Smart Schools has not yet been worked out.

Bush left quickly after brief remarks, praising the work Get Smart Schools does and talking about the importance of good leaders in every school.

Later in the day, DPS school-board candidate Emily Sirota sent out a news release criticizing the mayor for praising No Child Left Behind. "Mayor Hancock has rightly decried divisiveness and dysfunction in our education system — but standing with George W. Bush during an election-timed visit is not the way to start fixing that problem," her statement read. "Nor are his comments today promoting the failed No Child Left Behind policy that has so harmed our schools."
Her spokesman, Kevin Paquette, said Sirota feels strongly about the negative effects of overstressing accountability as a result of the NCLB law.

Sirota joined former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh's legislative staff in 2002, a few months after NCLB was signed into law Jan. 8, 2002. Bayh, a Democrat from Indiana, voted for the law.

Paquette said Sirota worked with people who "suffered because of NCLB." Paquette said Sirota felt Hancock's praise of the law was inappropriate, especially on the heels of the mayor's involvement in the school-board races underway. Hancock has endorsed a slate of reform-minded candidates, including Ann Rowe, Sirota's opponent in the race to represent southeast Denver. He also endorsed at-large candidate Allegra "Happy" Haynes and Jennifer Draper Carson over incumbent Arturo Jimenez in northwest Denver.

George W. Bush Institute Announces Expanded Principal Leadership Program

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:54:00 GMT

AT&T Foundation extends support for Alliance to Reform Education Leadership

DALLAS—49.3 million American students attend public school every day—led by over 90,000 principals. Cultivating leaders who are able to set a strong vision and culture for schools is critical to creating effective learning environments and improving student achievement.

The George W. Bush Institute announced twelve new sites to the Alliance to Reform Education Leadership (AREL), a network of innovatorsaround the country that are changing the way school principals are chosen, trained, evaluated and empowered. AREL, a program that was announced by Mrs. Laura Bush in September, 2010, focuses on enhancing and empowering the performance of America’s school principals as a means to impact student achievement. AT&T contributed $1 million at the launch of the initiative in 2010, and this year, in support of the success of AREL, the AT&T Foundation has provided an additional $1 million to support the expansion of the program.

AREL has more than doubled the number of sites since it was launched. AREL sites include: Gwinnett County Public Schools, KIPP School leadership Programs, New Leaders for New Schools, New York City Leadership Academy, University of Illinois Chicago, Achievement First Residency Program for School Leadership (RPSL), ED-Entrepreneur Center, Get Smart Schools, Great Leaders for Great Schools, California State Polytechnic University, Long Beach Unified School District, Marian University, The Ryan Fellowship, Teach For America – Harvard – Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Leadership Collaborative, Chicago Public Schools, Houston Independent School District and the Louisiana Alliance to Reform Education Leadership.

“We know that a student’s learning each year is largely determined by the effectiveness of their teacher, and that the impact of a good teacher can fade out if that child is not taught by similarly effective teachers in subsequent years,” said Dr. Kerri Briggs, program director for education reform at the Bush Institute. “Principals are essential to that momentum. They set the vision and culture for the school, oversee all aspects of development, support and retention of their teaching team, and set the expectations necessary to improve student achievement.”

The Bush Institute’s education reform team develops programs to ensure every American student completes high school ready for college orprepared for a good career. This national network of innovative training sites will focus on creating an expanded and more rigorous selection process, improving principal training, and changing the management context in which principalsoperate, providing them more authority and increased access to data.

“Strong school leadership is critical to ensuring our students succeed in school and graduate ready for the future challenges of continuing education and the workforce,” said Beth Shiroishi, AT&T Foundation President. “We’re proud to support the expansion of AREL and help bring this successful program to more communities.”

AT&T is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. As part of its commitment, AT&T launched Aspire in April 2008, a four-year, $100 million commitment to education. AT&T Aspire is one of the largest-ever corporate commitments to addresshigh school success and workforce readiness.

###

About the George W. Bush Institute:

The George W. Bush Institute seeks to improve the human condition through human freedom, education reform, global health, and economic growth. In all its programming, the Institute integrates initiatives that empower women and military servicemen and kwomen. The Bush Institute is theinnovation policy arm of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which includes the Presidential library, located on the campus of SMU in Dallas. For more information, please visit www.bushcenter.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About AT&T:

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.

Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.

© 2011 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. Mobile broadband not available in all areas. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

About Philanthropy at AT&T: AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is committed to advancing education, strengthening communities and improving lives. Through its philanthropic initiatives and working with other organizations, AT&T has a long history of supporting projects that create learning opportunities; promote academic and economic achievement; and address community needs. In 2010, more than $148.2 million was contributed through corporate-, employee- and AT&T Foundation-giving programs.

Principal Sherman Goes to School 2

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:51:00 GMT

Principal Sherman Goes to School 2

As competition increases between schools to attract students, the pressure is on for principals to raise test scores and retain good teachers. Yesterday, we spent time with principal Peter Sherman as he got ready for the new school year. The 9-year principal is fresh off a training fellowship. Today, Colorado Public Radio’s education reporter Jenny Brundin follows Sherman around in his first week of school.

Sherman: Buenos dias!

Reporter Jenny Brundin: In many ways, Peter Sherman is the face of Valdez Elementary School, a dual immersion Spanish-English school in Denver’s Highland neighborhood. Today, he’s standing smack dab in the middle of the school’s busiest intersection, greeting parents and children on their first day of school.

Sherman: Bienvenidas, good morning guys!

Reporter:The bilingual Sherman has an easy rapport with students and parents alike. He knows most of their names, and many of their backgrounds. Like the kid who tells him how excited he is to be back at school because he had to say inside all summer long.

Sherman: Good morning fifth graders! Look how tall you are!

Reporter:He fields questions from concerned parents.

Parent: Please emphasize where the distinctions are for the playgrounds…Sherman: Great idea, Thanks. Parent: …because we have toddlers out here going over all the place.

Reporter: Sherman’s principal training from Get Smart Schools has helped him with the larger, over-arching issues in running a school: hiring the best teachers, effective budgeting and managing, and finding a good testing system. But at the beginning of the year, it’s the minutiae of being a principal that consumes his days. Just after the bell, Sherman begins his regular routine, dropping in on his teachers to see how things are going. We head into the first grade class – which today – has many hovering parents, one with tears in her eyes.

Mom: I ‘m like hangin’ out in the teacher’s classroom (laugh).

Reporter: Sherman politely nudges and the others out. Their kids have just spent three years with a Montessori teacher in a small classroom. Now, it’s a regular classroom, big in numbers, with brand new teachers. Sherman knew he had to hire right.

Sherman: One of the factors in hiring teachers was how are they going to be with parents, you know, are these going to be people they just exude enthusiasm and sell the program to parents, and I think, so far so good.

Reporter: Up until now, the school has been primarily Latino. Five years ago, Sherman pounded the pavements, posting fliers on Federal Blvd. storefronts, trying to attract families to the school. At the time, they were fleeing neighborhood schools. Sherman got some to stay, for pre-school, at least. And this year he managed to keep most of them, but he knows he has to keep convincing them it’s the right choice.

Mom: Then walk over and get your name tag [child crying].

Reporter7: But for now, one of the kids starting first grade doesn’t want to go inside. Not much progress is being made. Sherman has an idea. He gets two little pig-tailed girls to come out to guide Emma back into the classroom.

Sherman: Emma, I brought some of your classmates, Ella and Eva. They’re going to help you find your seat, ‘cause you’re sitting right near them.

Reporter8: It takes a few minute. Emma emits one last yell for good measure.

Emma: Mommy, mommy!

….as mom makes her escape, .and Emma dutifully follows her pig-tailed enforcers to her place at the table. One down. But, as Sherman heads up the steps, a group of parents is waiting for him.

Parent: There’s Peter. Should we gang up on him? (laugh)
Reporter: They’re worried about the size of the first grade class.

Parent: We were just saying that there’s a lot of people in the first grade and we just wanted to put a plug in for help.

Reporter: They ask if a paraprofessional can help out.

Sherman: It’s not something in our budget right now but we certainly have been talking about how we can shift some things around.

Reporter: He tries to reassure them.

Sherman: Take a deep breath (laugh).

Reporter: The parents look skeptical and worried, but they thank him.

Sherman: It’s fine, we’ll keep talking about it and I’ll keep you guys posted on what we can figure out.

Reporter : We move on to watch a new teacher in action, Julio Alas’ 4th grade class.

Teacher Alas: [Bell rings] Ojitos de nuevo.

Reporter: He has his class in rapt attention, reading a book about a wolf.

Alas: Hizo un esfuerzo, entonces, esfurerzo. Children: Esfuerzo. Que hizo el lobo, un? Children: Esfuerzo!

Reporter: Sherman carefully observes the teacher’s techniques.

Sherman: It’s great that in the first 2 hours of school he’s using these techniques to get kids to talk.

Reporter: For the rest of the day, Sherman makes sure classes have fans or AC, gives the district superintendent a tour, picks up the odd orange peel off the ground and confers with parents who haven’t yet registered their kids for school. But he seems to always make time for kids.

Sherman: What are some of the ones you guys came up with? Kids: No yelling at the teachers. No breaking the windows, no spitting. Sherman: I see all your rules say No. What are some of the things that you do want to do? Kid: I did something that you do want to do. Take turns. Sherman: Take turns. [fade down]

Reporter17: After school, he has to talk to a teacher who arrived late, on the first day of school. But all in all, the day goes smoothly. He gives high gives to the new teachers. Next week, he says, he’ll start observing them with a more critical eye.

Sherman: But all in all they looked good, and they looked tired. Hopefully they’ll all go home and have a nice meal and get a good night’s sleep and wake up and do it all over again.

Principal Sherman Goes to School I

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:43:00 GMT

Principal Sherman Goes to School I

By Jenny Brundin - Colorado Public Radio
As pressure builds for school reform, the spotlight is shining brightly on principals. A good one can raise test scores and retain families and good teachers. Today we’ll visit with one principal who has made great strides. But Peter Sherman’s not resting yet. Here is a transcript of Colorado Public Radio’s Education Reporter Jenny Brundin’s report.

Reporter Jenny Brundin: The job of principal is described as the linchpin in a very complex operation. One day, a principal is pitching in to help an overwhelmed teacher, fix a fan, or sell the sch ool to a prospective parent. The next, she’s scrutinizing the school’s budget or investigating why a child is coming to school with bruises. Principals are managers and mentors, social workers and psychologists, diplomats and detectives.

Superintendent Tom Boasberg: Being a principal is an enormously challenging job.

Reporter: Denver Public Schools Superintendent Tom Boasberg believes it boils down to this:

Boasberg: A great principal does a great job recruiting great teachers, developing them, distributing leadership with them, collaborating with them and really developing this shared sense of mission and ownership and shared culture, culture of success.

Reporter: Building that culture of success has been Peter Sherman’s mission for the past 5 years at Valdez Elementary School in Denver’s northwest.

Sherman: When I first came to Valdez, I was knocking on doors just to let people know there was a new program and to introduce myself.

Reporter: He had become principal to turn the school into a dual immersion Spanish-English program. Sherman posted fliers on Federal Boulevard storefronts, trying to attract families who were fleeing their neighborhood schools. He says families are much more aware that they have choices,

Sherman: That’s been good for our system, in that it’s spurred some competition and jockeying to make better schools and I think parents who are saavy are quite aware of that and know that they can spur a change for their kids.

Reporter: Over the past couple of years, Valdez’s state test scores or CSAPs have seen double digit jumps. But they number of children reading and doing math at grade level is still below 50 percent.

Sherman: so we acknowledge that the growth is nice, but the status, where the kids are not at all where we’d like them to be so we are going to keep pushing.

[sound of school hallway]

Reporter: And for Sherman, who is entering his 5th year as principal at Valdez, that meant continuing to push himself. He’s fresh off an intensive training fellowship from the Denver-based Get Smart Schools. It works principals in alternative public schools.

Sherman: I needed some outside stimulation and intellectual catalysts to help me think about the school in a different way.

Reporter: Its helped Sherman focus intently on two or three priorities. A major one: attracting and retaining good teachers. He came away with a plan to be more aggressive about getting good teachers. Sherman called up the coordinators from his favorite teacher college and said:

Sherman: OK now, tell me, who are the top five? I’m going to need some primary Spanish speakers who are they, who should I go look at this year. I was really aggressive this year and I think it paid off.

Reporter: The week prior to school is critical he says. Teachers spend a couple of hours a day with Sherman, focusing on the school’s priorities: building math and language skills. There are lots of activities where teachers share ideas and opinions. He doesn’t want them to feel isolated in their classrooms, but know they can reach out to each other for support. He sets clear and high expectations for teachers, and he wants their ideas too.

Teacher: Because if you don’t have parent support, especially when you are little, you can’t get it done. Sherman: So that’s one of the pitfalls about homework that you’re concerned about.

Reporter: Sherman puts teachers in charge of committees and lets them run most of the meetings. Another major goal of Sherman’s is to keep a close eye on where students are at academically. His team already knew by the second week of school what each child needed and had mapped out a plan of action. But it’s a constant struggle to keep the focus on these main goals – because there are so many distractions.

[ambience of driving]

Reporter: By the end of the week, the stress of getting ready for the school year also takes its toll on Sherman. He describes this into his tape-recorder as he drives home.

Sherman: I’ve been exhausted. I haven’t been sleeping very well and I tend to have dreams that manifest my anxieties and nervousness about [teachers] coming back.

[ambience driving fade down]

Reporter: He says there’s a lot of joy, though, in working with teachers. He says it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the things that aren’t getting done as a principal. But he reflects on how his recent training has helped him push away distractions.

Sherman: To just say my primary role is to the kids and the families at my school so what do I need to do to support them and the teachers of those kids, so I think that that’s helped me a lot.

Reporter: Tomorrow, we’ll watch Sherman put this into action on the first week of school.

34 Percent New Principals in DPS Schools

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:17:00 GMT

34 Percent New Principals in DPS Schools

Written by: Charlie Brennan, EdNews Colorado

Denver Public Schools opened its doors last month to more new principals than it has in at least six years.

Principals at 46 of the district’s 134 non-charter schools – or 34 percent - are new this year to their position, their school or both, according to district information.Sixteen of the new principals are moving into the position from that of assistant principal. If the 11 principals who simply moved laterally – jumping from the leadership of one Denver school to another – are not counted in the total, DPS still has 35 new principals.

Twelve of the principals are external hires, new to DPS. That’s the largest number of new DPS principals in any year going back to the 2006-07 school year, the earliest year for which totals were available. The previous high during that span was 28 in 2007-08.

An analysis by Education News Colorado showed few strong patterns in the assignments of principals when weighing the performance of the schools they were moving to and from as measured by DPS School Performance Framework 2010 data.

For example, of the 11 principals moving from one school to another this year: Five are moving from lower-performing schools to higher-performing schools. One is moving from a higher-performing school to a lower-performing school. One is moving from one low-performing school to another low-performing school.
Four are moving into brand-new schools.

And the 16 assistant principals moving up this year to the position of principal also revealed no strong trends. Five became principals at the school they worked in the previous year. Only three became principals at new schools.

One of the more notable findings is that, of the total 46 principals new to their job this year, there is nearly a 50-50 split between first-time principals (22) and those with prior experience as principals (24), either inside or outside DPS.

Numbers not a concern for district officials
District officials said they don’t see this year’s total as alarmingly high, nor do they believe it significant.

“I don’t think there is an ideal number” for new principals, Superintendent Tom Boasberg said. “I think it depends on the circumstances. I think sometimes you’ll see principal turnover is related to principals wanting to take on new challenges, either at new schools or other leadership positions.”

Boasberg said a slew of new schools in the district have added opportunities for aspiring principals. Also, he said, the district has “very high standards and a very high level of accountability, and there are instances where it’s important to make a change to bring in a stronger principal.”

DPS added 13 new schools this year; four of them are charters. Retirements created eight principal openings. And although the Far Northeast turnaround schools of McGlone Elementary and Green Valley Ranch Elementary are not new schools, they have mostly new staffs – including principals – due to their turnaround status.
The turnaround efforts in the Far Northeast triggered 10 of the new principal assignments, according to Patricia Slaughter, DPS assistant superintendent for elementary education. Changes planned for West High School, she said, resulted in another five, with principals transferred from two schools to start planning for the two new schools at West and a central administrator position created to oversee the project.

Principals who are new this year to the job – or at least are new to their current school – constitute a broad mix. Among them: Irene Jordan, principal at Fairmont Elementary, has come out of retirement for a second time, for a one-year assignment; a longtime veteran of DPS, she for 12 years was a principal at Rachel B. Noel Middle School, for three years a principal at West High School, and for three years was an area superintendent.

Suzanne Morey, principal at McGlone Elementary School; her most recent job was as executive director of strategic school support in the Human Resources department for DPS; previously, she was a principal for six years at Crawford Elementary and for five years at Murphy Creek K-8, both in Aurora.

Larry Irvin, principal at Montbello High School, most recently was principal at Edwin G. Foreman High School in Chicago, a position he’d held since 2007.

Laura Munro, principal at Centennial ECE-8; a first-time principal, she was most previously executive director of diverse learners for Jefferson County Schools, and worked as a district-level administrator for Jefferson County and Aurora schools for about 10 years.

Rhonda Juett, principal at Vista Academy, a multiple pathways learning center; a graduate of the Ritchie Program for School Leaders at the University of Denver, she had previously been an assistant principal at Martin Luther King Middle School since 2008, and spent last year as a planning year.

Major grant to bolster principal pipeline
DPS marked a significant step in bolstering its principal pipeline last month with its announcement of a $12 million, five-year Wallace Foundation grant. The new dollars will primarily target two efforts. One is the Ritchie program, in which DPS teams with DU to each year offer 15 principal interns on-the-job training and mentoring for a full academic year. The other is the district’s partnership with the non-profit Get Smart Schools, which sponsors a fellowship to develop future principals for innovation and charter schools.

DPS officials see the Wallace Grant as a significant validation of the DU/Ritchie partnership. About 80 current or past participants in the program were honored before the district board on Monday night.

The Ritchie program, which places its participants in DPS schools for a full year as interns under a principal mentor, has graduated 135 in its first eight years. Of those, 115 remain in DPS today, with 90 working as principals, assistant principals or holding another district-level position.

Julie Murgel, a Ritchie alum and current principal at Cole Arts & Science Academy, said the value of the Ritchie training is its blend of theory with real-world experience.
“I wouldn’t have been as well prepared without it,” Murgel said. “I think the idea of getting all the theory, and all the textbook stuff, and then applying it later is not the ideal situation.”

Principal turnover typically high, here and elsewhere
Principals as a rule don’t stay long in one job. A 10-year study of K-8 principals released in 2008 by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found 41.5 percent of the 594 principals participating in the survey had been in their current school less than four years.

“We have noticed over the years the district hasn’t been focused on attracting and retaining principals as much as we would like, but we don’t have any hard data on that,” said Kim Knous Dolan, associate director at the Donnell-Kay Foundation. “But from working closely with the district, we know they have lagged in those areas.
“With the Wallace grant, we’re hopeful that some of that will certainly change. It has been baffling to us why they haven’t prioritized the issue more.”

Principal turnover has historically proven to be an issue in large urban districts such as Denver. School board member Theresa Peña said an “unscientific” study she made of principal movement last year indicated that there has been roughly an 80 percent turnover during her two four-year terms.

“That is not a sustainable number,” said Peña, who will start as executive director of the Denver Education Compact under Mayor Michael Hancock Dec. 1, after her current term expires.

But Peña believes DPS benefits from having multiple principal pipelines – drawing from the Ritchie and Get Smart programs – as well as outside recruiting and talented educators coming up through the DPS ranks. “When I first came on the board, we were poor” in developing future school leaders. “In the past two years, we’ve been better but still not hitting a home run. I have great expectations that we’re going to be taking it up to being outstanding.”

Henry Roman, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, said the district should focus more on encouraging experienced teachers to enter its principal pipelines because he believes candidates with a strong background in instruction and curriculum development are needed.

He’s concerned the Ritchie program draws too much from a young, inexperienced pool of prospects. “I think there is good intention, but its cadre of participants should reflect more value for experienced educators,” said Roman. “I think you don’t see that right now. You see a lot of young individuals. They have a lot of potential, but it’s a lot of learning on the job. It’s a very tough assignment.”

It’s time, some say, for DPS to better anticipate and plan for the inevitable principal turnover.

“The data says it’s going to happen every year,” said Amy Slothower, executive director of Get Smart Schools, which focuses on increasing the number of high-quality schools serving low-income students. “It’s always going to be a big number,” she said, “and one of the things Get Smart has been advocating for is a full planning a year ahead of time to develop succession plans, for the big task of taking over a new school.”

Get Smart has nine future principals in its current fellowship class. Slothower believes as many as six of them could be working in DPS schools next year.

Development and retention of principals, Slothower said, “maybe hasn’t been a high priority (for DPS) in the past,” adding, “It’s an area in flux right now, but I’m very optimistic about where the district is going.”

Click here to view the original post by EdNews Colorado.

"One Chance Colorado" to Help Ensure Every Child Has Access to Excellent K-12 Education

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:02:00 GMT

"One Chance Colorado" to Help Ensure Every Child Has Access to Excellent K-12 Education

Broad Coalition Seeks to Improve Colorado's Public Schools With Commonsense Solutions; Website Launches as TV Spot Hits the Air

DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - Jul 27, 2011) - A broad coalition of nonprofit organizations committed to bettering public education in Colorado announced today the launch of 'One Chance Colorado,' an effort to improve the quality of public schools for every child across the state by increasing public awareness about the issue. The coalition unveiled a website and television spot to formally kick off the effort.

"Every child has just one chance to get an excellent K-12 education -- in other words, each child only goes through the system once," said Former Colorado Lt. Governor Barbara O'Brien, a member of the coalition. "That means our children can't afford to wait for better schools. It's important that we, collectively, do everything we can to reform Colorado's public schools today. We all need to get involved and demand better schools for every child in this great state."

While Colorado has taken a number of important steps to improve public education in the past several years, many children still do not have access to high quality education. In Denver, for example, half of public school children are currently reading below grade level and nearly half of public high school students are not graduating on time.

"If we implement commonsense solutions today, we'll pave the way for our children to learn the skills they need for tomorrow's jobs," continued O'Brien. "That means a stronger and more competitive economy for Colorado."

"We have an opportunity at the start of the school year to shift the dialogue toward solutions that will significantly impact the quality of education our children get. If we work together -- and I urge all Coloradans to help by signing the One Chance pledge -- we can make sure that every child has a chance."

One Chance Colorado advocates for several key solutions to the state's education challenges:
Invest in teachers and principals. Great education begins with an excellent teacher in every classroom and a terrific principal at each school. Demand accountability. Teachers, principals, administrators, politicians and parents should all be held to high expectations. Support great public schools, period. Neighborhood, charter and innovation schools can all provide excellent options for Colorado's children. Most importantly, put children first.

One Chance Colorado includes several elements to support its core objective of ensuring that every child in Colorado has a chance at a high quality education.

The website, at www.OneChanceColorado.org, asks Coloradans to sign a pledge in support of that fundamental objective. The site also includes social action tools and more information on solutions to improve public schools. A Facebook page and Twitter profile are also helping to spread the word.
The TV spot that hits the air today features Jon'il, a Denver 6th grader, and his mother MiDian. In it, MiDian describes her son's experience in Denver public schools, highlighting the impact of Jon'il's teachers -- and what's expected of them -- on his educational success. The spot can be viewed at http://www.onechanceco.org/act/jonils-story.

The coalition is comprised primarily of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to improving the lives of Colorado's children, including Colorado Children's Campaign, Stand for Children Leadership Center, Education Reform Now, Colorado Succeeds, A+ Denver, Democrats for Education Reform - Colorado, Get Smart Schools, Byrne Urban Scholars, Common Good Colorado, Colorado "I Have A Dream" Foundation, Urban League of Metropolitan Denver, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver.

DPS OKs Teacher's Charter School

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:24:00 GMT

DPS OKs Teacher's Charter School

Written by: Yesenia Robles, The Denver Post

Improving Rishel Middle School students' reading scores during two years was not enough change, fast enough, for James Cryan. To help more students before they fell behind in middle school, Cryan decided to step right out of the classroom and into the role of founding leader of a charter school. "When I think about my impact on my students at Rishel, I'm not positive that I reshaped their lives," said Cryan, 27.

He recruited experienced board members and spent more than six months writing a 585-page charter school application, and then re-wrote it. He went door-to-door in southwest Denver with a group of volunteers, talking to parents about his plans for the next, best school. "Once people learn about us and they realize I'm not in it to make a buck, then most people see us as less of a threat," Cryan said. "Most parents are really open and excited to have better schools in their neighborhood."

On Thursday the Denver Public Schools board unanimously voted to approve six new charters — public schools that use public money but will be governed independently, with autonomy to experiment with curriculum, teacher contracts and special services.
Cryan's prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade Rocky Mountain Prep, to open in the fall of 2012, was among those approved. One application was rejected.

The approved schools will join 33 charters already operating in DPS.
Despite an ongoing national debate between charter school proponents and those who are committed to traditional public schools, DPS has approved and introduced more charter schools than any other district in the state.
Jefferson County has 16.

New-school applicants say the high numbers don't mean it doesn't take a lot of work.
"It takes planning, time and desire," said Naomi Lopez, a founding board member for Rocky Mountain Prep. "James eats, breathes and sleeps Rocky Mountain Prep, but it's work that's worth it." The applications approved Thursday include a high school, a prekindergarten through eighth grade, an elementary, two middle schools and a school for sixth through 12th grades.

In the year before they open, school leaders will work with DPS to find a building to house their school, draw a boundary for enrollment, recruit and enroll students and hire teachers and staff.

Lessons learned by teacher
Rocky Mountain Prep founder Cryan got into education as a teacher with Teach For America in 2007. He taught for two years at Rishel. Each year his students — mostly from low-income families — advanced their reading abilities by almost two grade levels within one school year. "I fundamentally believe the solution starts with the earliest age," he said he has learned. Cryan took his ideas to education leaders.
Tony Lewis, executive director of the Donnell-Kay Foundation, said he didn't turn him away as he did others, because he saw Cryan was ready. "He had the right perspective," Lewis said. "He doesn't come to the floor with all the skills, but in the end a lot of success comes down to the individual leading the school. You can hire around your weak areas, but you can't hire around not being able to set the tone and culture for success."

Over the course of more than a year, Lewis made Cryan rethink his school model. "He had some thoughts about incorporating a super rigorous curriculum with a lot of outdoor activities," Lewis said. "He realized there may not be money to do both, and had to go back a few times and really ask himself what was more important." Having an early-education component in his school plan was definitely important, but it made funding more complicated.

Cryan hit the floor running
Colorado's interpretation of a federal finance law governing federal startup funds prohibits kindergarten seats from being guaranteed to students enrolled in the school's prekindergarten. But Cryan maneuvered through the logistics by planning two separate lotteries for the kindergarten seats. Cryan then joined the local Get Smart Schools Principal Fellowship program to earn principal licensure and a Masters of Business Administration in school leadership from the University of Denver. He also participated in seminars with other school leaders, and visited schools across the country to study more models.

Through those seminars Cryan learned to write a school budget, which was required as part of the charter school application. One budget is mandated, but Cryan submitted two. One a worst-case scenario, with little funding. The other is based on successful fundraising. "We would like to have a para in every classroom," Cryan said. "If our fundraising is good, we can do that. Our other plan, if fundraising is not there, we will have them in every literacy class, at least."

New-school applications were turned into DPS April 15.

Students at Rocky Mountain Prep will have English and literacy classes for two hours a day, starting in prekindergarten. Teachers will receive extensive, and ongoing coaching. Students will be assessed every six weeks so teachers can regroup intervention classes based on need and progress. School days will be 90 minutes longer, and the school year will have an extra 17 days.
"What I'm striving for is a simple, but very solid, plan that's easy to execute," Cryan said. "I see a lot of schools get overly complicated." The submitted final plan includes a lot more details — but was still not perfect enough.

A review team from DPS' Office of School Reform and Innovation reads every new school application in six weeks' time — including charter school and district-run school applications. Once every team member has read every application, they discuss them and make recommendations to the school board.
Through the process, DPS asked Cryan to re-write part of his application to clarify his plans for teaching English-language learners. Alyssa Whitehead-Bust, who oversees the office, said it's the most common area where charter school applications have gaps.

"We have a very high bar because of the population we serve," she said.
Before the DPS office recommends approval of a charter school, applications must include policies for handling finances, measuring student performance, and a governance structure similar to a school board that can provide oversight for any changes.

The applications are graded on a rubric adopted in 2008, based on criteria under five headings: school leadership, governance or leadership team, a research-based educational model that can serve special populations, community need and support, and finances.

To measure community support, applicants submit signed letters from parents who say they would enroll their children in the school.
Cryan had more than 300 of those letters from parents in southwest Denver.
Leann Martinez, a mother of a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old about to start kindergarten, was one of them. "I realized when you're looking for a quality kindergarten for the first time, you have a lot of questions and concerns, and it's hard," Martinez said.
She said she especially likes Rocky Mountain Prep's plans for extended literacy classes, daily physical education, and lots of parent involvement. "That gets me motivated," she said.

DPS leaders say the all-inclusive review process has been highly acclaimed across the country, with other districts trying to model it. Angela Engel, an education researcher, and anti-charter activist, said that, as private entities managing public money, charters can be dangerous without proper accountability. They don't have to play by the same rules as public schools," Engel said. "In fact they don't have to hire, reward, or retain trained, licensed, and experienced educators." "Criteria originally in Colorado was that they had to create innovative alternative education opportunities," she said
.
Rules for new schools
Now she says the majority of new schools she researches are not much different from schools already in place. Following state rules for charters, Cryan will not require his teachers to be licensed by the state. Cryan's plan also calls for using a different curriculum than DPS, but he will use other school services offered by the district.
In DPS, charter schools receive more per-student funding to cover such fixed costs as food and janitorial services. Charter schools have flexibility to contract with either DPS or outside services and then spend any remaining money how they deem appropriate. At traditional public schools, DPS central offices control those costs, so schools don't see that money.

In its first year, Rocky Mountain Prep hopes to enroll about 150 in prekindergarten, kindergarten and first grade. Additional grades will be added each year.

When the school opens, DPS's Office of School Reform and Innovation will be back in its life, doing classroom observations and interviews with parents and board members.
"At that point, they have to justify their existence," Whitehead-Bust said. "And we expect them to work with the district to share best practices and lessons learned." Cryan and his team said they are ready. "I think from here on out it'll be fun just seeing it through," board member Lopez said.

Click here to view the original article by The Denver Post.

Get Smart Schools Approved by the Colorado Department of Education to offer Alternative Licensure to CO principals

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:14:00 GMT

Get Smart Schools Approved by the Colorado Department of Education to offer Alternative Licensure to CO principals

June 9, 2011 Denver, CO—Get Smart Schools (GSS) today became one of the first organizations in the state approved by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to offer principal licensure to GSS fellows who graduate from the rigorous leader training program developed by GSS.

"GSS is honored that CDE has determined that our principal preparation program meets the State’s high standards. We look forward to working with emerging leaders and school districts across the state to prepare visionary educators to create and lead high quality autonomous schools," said Amy Slothower, Executive Director of Get Smart Schools.

The competitive fellowship has evolved and grown over the past several years to become a rigorous principal preparation program that identifies and selects emerging school leaders 24 months before they open the doors of the school they will lead. The Fellowship targets candidates who will open new or turnaround autonomous (Charter, Innovation or Pilot) schools. The fellowship program seeks to increase the number of high quality schools that are preparing low-income students for college.

During a rigorous application process, Get Smart Schools’ program was scrutinized by peer reviewers that included school leaders from around the state, CDE Staff and members of the State Board of Education.

Get Smart Schools prepares leaders to open high-performing autonomous schools throughout the state through an intensive 12-month fellowship program that incorporates real-world deliverables, 12 week residencies, individual learning plans, a summer institute series, monthly workshops, university courses, executive coaching, national school site visits and mentorship after the school has opened. Key partners of GSS are Teach for America and Denver Public Schools.

About Get Smart Schools
Get Smart Schools believes that all students should receive a K-12 education that prepares them for success in college and beyond. Our mission is to drive the development of schools that raise the academic achievement of a diverse group of students in Colorado’s urban communities. To meet this goal, Get Smart Schools prepares and supports talented leaders to open and manage high-performing autonomous schools and works to create conditions for these schools to thrive.