When Is Enough Enough?
The first item involves a report just out from the University of Washington’s Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) (Creepier than CREEP), the Center that awarded Denver Public Schools a bronze medal for being third best in the nation at implementing reform strategies. The study releasedtoday paints a very different picture as it cites Denver as the district with the largest achievement gap in reading and math based on socioeconomics out of ALL OF THE 50 URBAN DISTRICTS STUDIED for the past three years. That’s right. Denver Public Schools is dead last in closing the gap between children living in poverty and those not. Even the “reform” funded, “reform” supporting online newspaper, Chalkbeat Colorado, had a difficult time putting a positive spin on these findings.
“Of all the cities, Denver had the largest achievement gaps in both math and reading between students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and other students – 38 percent in reading and 30 percent in math over three years studied. The gap nationally was about 14 percent….The report… paints a largely discouraging picture of U.S. urban education, especially when it comes to hard-to-serve students.”
The CRPE report provides information that is extremely important for public education nationally. It is even more important to Denver voters at this time because there is a school board election rapidly approaching (All mail in ballot election. You must vote by 7 p.m., November 3, 2015. Ballots go out mid-October), and three candidates are strongly supporting continuing the direction this District is going. The current Board president and at-large candidate Allegra “Happy” Haynes, touted her work for the past four years, and cited the DPS strategic plan, Denver Plan 2020, with its focus on reducing the gap, as a reason to re-elect her. In a debate October 5, 2015 she said, “I believe this is the progress we’ve made under my leadership and that of my colleagues.” This gap has increased in all three academic areas for the past ten years of “reform” and this progress has landed this District at the very bottom of the heap regarding one of the five tenets of the Denver Plan 2020 – the newly named Opportunity Gap. Call it what you will – opportunity or achievement – the reality is the gap When Is Enough Enough? | Kaplan for Kids: