Schools for Tomorrow Blog

For those who might get the baseball analogy, it looks like my last curveball froze Great Ed for a called strike. His failure to respond to my questions is not surprising, but you can judge for yourself by reading what he has to say (excerpted below):

It clearly offends Uncle Charley that we have focused on resources before creating a fool-proof method of expending them efficiently and wisely.  By the same token, we are equally dismayed at the notion that we have to sacrifice the best interests of today’s students, until the state sees the wisdom of adopting radical change and enacts worthy legislation.  (And let’s face it: education reform is going to happen through the very messy but battle-tested democratic process).

Nope, sorry, Ed. I don’t take any offense, I just find your approach misguided—including your misleading way of presenting the issue. I never called for a “fool-proof method,” just advocated a much…

In the world of school reform we keep hearing stories of schools where success proves that all children can learn; that poverty, race, family status are not insuperable barriers to learning and achievement.

Today’s Denver Post contains one such story, about Arrupe Jesuit High School in Northwest Denver. It’s an inspiring read. Denver now has two break-the-mold high schools, Arrupe and the Denver School of Science and Technology  — neither of them run by Denver Public Schools.

Nationally, the latest example of this encouraging, albeit still miniscule movement, is described by Neil Pierce in the Denver Post. 

Writing of the University Preparatory Academy in Detroit, he asks when will all schools meet the challenge they set themselves to graduate 90% of their students and send 90% on to post-secondary education?

University Preparatory Academy was founded by a former director of Michigan’s Department of Commerce and a former US undersecretary of housing and urban development. …