AV#131 - Higher graduation rates? A word of caution before we celebrate

                June 10, 2015

In our state, the high school graduation statistics tell us little about what that degree means—in terms of a graduate’s knowledge and skills.  Last week’s 2014 Legislative Report on Remedial Education again makes that clear: (http://highered.colorado.gov/Publications/Reports/Remedial/FY2014/2014_Remedial_relJune03.pdf). Especially if you look at several high schools where the four-year graduation rate is impressive—but the (low) ACT scores and (high) remediation rates are not.

“… More than half of the states still have not made completing a college- and career-preparatory course of study, fully and verifiably aligned with state standards, a requirement for high school graduation. … It is not yet clear that most states will ultimately have a coherent and streamlined assessment system that both measures how well students are meeting state standards and lets high school students and postsecondary institutions know whether students are ready to enter and succeed in college courses without the need for remediation.”  (“Closing the Expectations Gap,” 2014 REPORT on the Alignment of State K–12 Policies & Practice with the Demands of College & Careers- http://www.achieve.org/files/Achieve- ClosingExpectGap2014%20Feb5.pdf)

This is another example of my on-going concern about the “honesty gap” in education, to borrow the oft-heard phrase of late. No accusations of lying here, but I bring together data here that should encourage the state and districts, at a minimum, to ask questions.  My hope is for more than that.  Shouldn’t we insist on clear expectations of what it means to be a high school graduate in Colorado?  Most states do a better job of this, as a recent national report shows (see box).  That report commends Colorado for moving in a positive direction, thanks to changes approved by our state board in 2013 “spelling out what Colorado students must do to earn a high school diploma.”  However, the current majority on the board seems skeptical of that plan (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28119140/colorado-board-education-leaves-graduation-standards-alone-now).  

Many of us worry the board will renege on expectations agreed to two years ago, leaving us in even worse shape when it comes to giving real meaning to a high school degree.

Follow students at high schools over three years:

1.       junior year – their scores on the ACT;

2.       senior year – their graduation rates, and then

3.       the next fall, remediation rates for those entering a Colorado college.

	2012 – ACT* juniors	2013 grad rate** % - seniors	2013 remediation rate *** % - entering college
8 metro area high schools
Hinkley H.S. (AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS)	16.9	57.3	33.8
Sheridan H.S. (SHERIDAN)	16.7	60	47.4
Gateway H.S. (AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS)	16.5	56.7	56
Westminster H.S. (WESTMINSTER)	16.3	74	52.3
Alameda International H.S. (JEFFERSON COUNTY)	16.3	86.1	73.2
Adams City High School (ADAMS 14)	15.6	67.8	62.3
Aurora Central H.S. (AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS)	14.9	42.2	61
Jefferson High School (JEFFERSON COUNTY)	14.8	66.7	69.7
STATE	20.0	76.9	34.2

COMMENT – It is curious to see Westminster High and Alameda International with ACT scores of 16.3 – or 3.7 points below the state average, and yet, a year later, the graduation rates for that same class near the state average (74% at Westminster High), or are well above the state average (86.1% at Alameda International).  Any surprise that most of their graduates who went on to college that fall required remedial classes?

DENVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS	2012 – ACT* juniors	2013 grad rate**  % - seniors	2013 remediation rate*** % - entering college
Denver School of Science & Technology-Stapleton	24.1	86.9	7.5
Denver School of the Arts	22.3	97.5	18.4
East	21.4	91.5	36.9
George Washington	19.9	81	39.6
Denver Center for International Studies	19.4	89.5	42.4
Thomas Jefferson	19.4	84	42
KIPP Denver Collegiate	18.5	82.4	45
John Kennedy	18.2	74.8	43.8
Martin Luther King Early College	17.4	83.8	48.9
Southwest Early College	17.3	52.7	16.7
South	16.1	78.1	64.5
Manual H.S.	16.1	62.1	-
Bruce Randolph H.S. (6-12)	16.0	91.4	59.3
Abraham Lincoln	15.5	64.8	63.2
North*	15.2	56.7	81.4
Montbello H.S. (phased out)	15.0	61.2	62.5
West H.S. (phasing out)	14.9	45.2	88.9
DPS Average	17.6	61.3	BOLD–5 schools over 60%
STATE	20.0	76.9	34.2

  *Figures from CDE web site:    http://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/coact-dataandresults

**Figures from Chalkbeat Colorado:  co.chalkbeat.org

***Figures from the just released 2014 Remedial Education report.  

ACT scores – now more important than ever     In passing HB-1323, legislators have left the ACT as the only state mandated test after 10th grade. It is debatable whether ACT scores show how our students meet Colorado standards, but the results matter to colleges—hence they will matter to most students too.

Including all of Denver’s larger high schools, we begin to see a correspondence, as we might expect, between the ACT scores of the junior class in 2012 and the graduation rate for that class the following spring, in 2013.  The remediation rates at these schools also reveal a similar pattern—lower the ACT scores, the higher the remediation rates.         

ACT scores 21 and above – close to 90% graduate.   

         Remediation rates low at DSST and DSA.

ACT scores between 18.5 and 21 – over 80% graduate. 

         Remediation rates at 45% or below.

NOTE high grad rates at MLK Early College & Bruce Randolph. 

ACT scores between 17.3 and 18.2 – in most cases, fewer than 80% graduate – except for Martin Luther King Early College.  Its high graduation rate of 83.8% rate is more consistent with schools where that class averaged one point higher on the ACT (see KIPP-18.5) or two points higher (see Thomas Jefferson-19.4).  Note that the average ACT score in the district was 17.6–similar to MLK’s average—and yet the district had a much lower graduation rate: over 22% points lower (61.3%) than MLK (83.8%).

ACT scores of 16.0 or 16.1 - fewer than 80% graduate in two cases (though the percent graduating at South was surprisingly high given such low ACT scores. The remediation rate for that class at South—64.5%—

is telling).  How odd, then, to see Bruce Randolph with an ACT average of only 16.0 for its juniors, and yet a year later, 91.4% of that class earned a degree. Not odd, though, that of the 27 Bruce Randolph graduates enrolled in higher education the next fall, 16 of them (59.3%) needed remedial classes.

A glance at the class of 2014

If these disparities from 2013 seem worth a closer look, consider ACT scores and graduation rates for the class of 2014.  They add to our doubts about the MLK and Bruce Randolph 2013 graduation rates, and they invite a question about the graduation rate at a third Denver high school, Abraham Lincoln.  They also give further reason to be skeptical of the graduation rate at Alameda High, as well as the “impressive” rates at Sheridan High and Adams City High—in spite of such low ACT results.

School	2013 - ACT Juniors*	2014 grad rate Seniors**	Remediation rate TBD by DHE report in spring of 2016
Mapleton Expeditionary Sch. Of the Arts (7-12) – (Mapleton)	17.6	67.6	?
Englewood H.S. (Englewood)	17.3	72.5	?
Hinkley H.S. (APS)	17.1	57.1	?
Martin Luther King Early College (DPS)	17.1	84.0	?
Gateway H.S.  (APS)	16.5	52	?
Sheridan H.S. (Sheridan)	16.4	82.7	?
North H.S. (DPS)	16.3	69.6	?
Adams City High School (Adams 14)	16.2	78.8	?
Alameda International H.S. (JeffCo)	16.1	89.9	?
Westminster H.S.(Westminster 50)	16.1	67.0	?
Manual H.S. (DPS)	15.7	57.1	?
Abraham Lincoln (DPS)	15.6	75.5	?
Bruce Randolph H.S. (6-12) – (DPS)	15.2	62.6	?
Jefferson H.S. (JeffCo)	15.1	65.1	?
West H.S. (DPS) – being phased out	15.0	55.6	?
Aurora Central H.S.  (APS)	15.0	46.2	?
Average from these schools	16.1	67.6
STATE AVERAGE	20.4***	77.3
NATION	20.9

* Figures from CDE web site:  http://www.cde.state.co.us/assessment/coact-dataandresults

** Figures from Chalkbeat Colorado: http://co.chalkbeat.org/2015/01/22/state-high-school-graduation-rate-rises-to-77-3-percent/#.VXhREPlVikq

***If the ACT is the only state mandated test for 11^th graders, we must be willing to take the results seriously.  As we see in Todd’s Engdahl’s excellent – if disheartening - analysis in 2013:  http://co.chalkbeat.org/2013/08/21/another-test-report-shows-flat-results/#.VXMrD89Viko.

Martin Luther King Early College - grad rate 2013 – 83.8% and 2014 - 84%

In tracking the graduating class of 2014 at MLK Early College, we see slightly lower ACT scores for them (17.1) than for the class of 2013 (17.4), but the graduation rate remained remarkably high – 84% - when compared to schools with similar ACT results (see Gateway, Hinkley, and North).  

Bruce Randolph – grad rate 2013 – 91.4% - DROPS DRAMATICALLY to 2014 - 62.6%

A year later, note how the graduation rate at Bruce Randolph dropped nearly 30 points from 2013.  The ACT scores were even lower for this class of 2014: 15.2 in 2013 compared to 16.0 in 2012. The 62.6% graduation rate is more credible, in light of the typical graduation rates when a class has such low ACT results.  Doubts persist about the 2013 grad rates.

Abraham Lincoln - grad rate 2013 – 64% RISES 11 POINTS - to 2014 – 75.5%

Puzzling to see the graduation increase rise so much at Abraham Lincoln, even though the low ACT results for those two graduating classes hardly changed at all (15.5 in 2012, 15.6 in 2013).

Three other metro area high schools

Taking a wider look at other metro area high schools, we see three others had graduation rates far exceeding those of other schools with similarly low ACT scores.

Sheridan High, Adams City High, and Alameda International

All had ACT scores in 2013 of 16.4 or less, and yet a year later, each showed graduation rates of close to 80% or better. 

These schools deserve a closer look next year when we learn the percentage of graduates who required remedial work once they went on to college in last fall (the TBD column) .  Their districts and the state may find cause to investigate even sooner.  The public—and especially the students and their families—have a right to know if a high school degree from these schools truly stands for something.

Part of a pattern

For these six schools, above, it is not the first time their recent graduation rates look good, even stellar.  Nor is it the first time their ACT scores and remediation rates were much worse than the state average. Here are their remediation rates for 2012 and 2013. Bruce Randolph is an exception here; its 2014 grad rate is more consistent with the ACT scores for that class. In the other cases, is the “good news” a mirage?  

School	2012 – remediation rate	2013 – remediation rate	2014 grad rate seniors
DPS- overall			62.8
Abraham Lincoln	65.1	63.2	75.5
Bruce Randolph	62.5	59.3	62.6
Martin Luther King Early College (DPS)*	63.6	48.9	84.0
OTHER DISTRICTS
Sheridan H.S. (SHERIDAN)**	42.1	47.4	82.7
Adams City High School (ADAMS 14)	69.2	62.3	78.8
Alameda International H.S. (JEFFCO)	61.4	73.2	89.9
STATE AVERAGE	37***	34.2%***	77.3

**In 2013, 46 MLK seniors entered post-secondary institutions in Colorado.  Of those, 22 required remedial classes.

**In 2013, 42 Sheridan seniors graduated (CDE). 19 went on to college, and of those, 9 required remedial classes.

***Of course it should be noted that these six high schools serve a high percentage of students from low-income families, and that, as the DHE reports states, in Colorado in 2013, “51% of Free and Reduced Lunch participants were not college ready at the time of enrollment compared to 28% of non-FRL students.”

Case in point: Sheridan – higher graduation rate = “quality of learning”?

This winter we read good news about a graduation rate of over 80% at Sheridan High School in 2014. 

According to 2014 graduation data released last week by the state, 80 percent of seniors who attended Sheridan High School, just south of Denver, completed their high school coursework in four years. That’s up from 60 percent the previous year.

“These numbers are a testament to what is happening at our high school,” said Michael Clough, Sheridan’s superintendent. “It’s also evidence of the quality of the learning coming up through our entire system.”  (http://co.chalkbeat.org/2015/01/27/at-sheridan-high-school-an-all-in-approach-to-boost-graduation-rates/#.VXByls9Viko) (bold mine)

No, Mr. Clough, they do not.  Consider the pattern for Sheridan High students over three years:

2012	ACT – 16.7		2011	Average Cumulative GPA – of Sheridan High grads enrolling in a Colorado college – 2.50
2013	16.4		2012	2.46
2014	15.9		2013	2.38

*Colorado Department of High Education - http://highered.colorado.gov/Data/DistrictHSSummary.aspx

If I make a valid point regarding a handful of metro-area schools, I hope the state board realizes, sadly, that this is an issue for all of Colorado.  It is not just that remediation rates for the class of 2013 exceeded 60% in five DPS high schools; it is terribly high in Harrison (Sierra High– 54.3%) and in Pueblo (Central High-57.3%), at Sargent Jr.-Sr. High (73.7%) and at Monte Vista Sr. High (78.6%).   And across the state, again (and let’s recall, this figure does NOT include nearly half of the 2013 graduates who did NOT go on to college), the remediation rate is 34.2%.  The Denver Post’s headline cheered: “Fewer Colorado students take remedial classes to start college” (6/4/2015). My headline would be a simple: 34.2%!!!!!    

ACT results and remediation rates, I hope we agree, do tell us something important about the skills and knowledge of soon-to-graduate, and just-graduated, students.  But let’s admit it: in Colorado, in measuring the “quality of the learning,” our high school graduation rates say little.

AV#130 - The basis of a well-rounded liberal arts education for K-12: Colorado’s Academic Standards

                                                                                                                                           May 15, 2015

Have we talked ourselves to death about testing?  I hope so.  Time to remind ourselves what we test for, what assessments are supposed to reveal: how well students meet our standards. Yes, our standards. The Colorado Academic Standards. Not the federal government’s standards, not Barak Obama’s standards, not left-wing-America-should-be-ashamed-of-itself standards.

Our standards. Yes, fellow countrymen, I come—no irony intended—not to bury the standards, but to praise them.

Because after a legislative session fixated on what we’re against, let’s remember what we are for.

And because, as imperfect as they are, the Colorado Academic Standards—if we were truly committed to them—offer a flag around which most of us can rally.  Perhaps especially—and here is my main theme— for those who fear their discipline has been discounted by an accountability regimen focused on English and math.  Arts advocates, those eager to ensure civics are taught, everyone determined to see health and physical education get their due, anyone with a passion for economics, geography, or history—each can point to our standards and say: look.  We say this is what we expect for all students. So let’s do it.

Or to capture it all in three words, our standards tell us—if we are true to our word—we believe all Colorado students deserve a liberal arts education.

**

History of Colorado Academic Standards     Standards for student learning are not new in Colorado. Passed in 1993, House Bill 93-1313 initiated standards based education for all of Colorado. The statute required the state to create academic standards in reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, civics, geography, economics, art, music and physical education.      Why standards? State standards for student learning define what students should know and be able to do at the end of a grade level or grade span. Standards advance equity of outcomes for students by setting a bar for student performance, defining the floor but not the ceiling of student learning. http://futureforwardcolorado.org/higher-expectations/

Twenty-five years ago this month I received my Master of Arts (of all the impractical fields of study one can imagine!) in Liberal Education.  The next day I drove north from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and started a job at the Gates Family Foundation in Denver.  The previous September, our nation’s governors had gathered at Charlottesville, Virginia, for the Education Summit, which began the push across the country for academic standards.  That same month the Gates Family Foundation hosted an education conference at Keystone, where 225 Colorado leaders supported 19 public policy recommendations —including a call for standards that would articulate the skills and knowledge to expect of high school graduates[1].  During my six years at Gates, we saw Gov. Roy Romer sign the standards bill in 1993[2], and we connected with arts, economics, geography, and science groups as Coloradans wrote the first draft of our standards–then in 11 disciplines (see box).

Twenty-five years later, I believe we should still uphold the standards movement, and our standards. How we get there, the curriculum and lesson plans and instructional approach, will differ school to school—three cheers for choice and autonomy!—but the standards articulate, in broad terms, what we expect of K-12 public education.  At a minimum.  And to every school that can push for more, great!

And yes, I go a step further, and say, to everyone who insists that reading, writing and math must come first, to every recent rabid convert to STEM education, or to those who argue we test-too-much-and-so-no-need-for social studies assessments – OK, but can we at least all agree on this?: that a sound K-12 public education should offer every Colorado student a curriculum that meets the Colorado Academic Standards.  Which by definition means every student will have a broad-based education that addresses each of 10 standards, “for preschool through 12^th grade.”  

1. reading, writing, and communicating

2. mathematics
3. science
4. social studies
5. world languages
6. music
7. visual arts
8. drama and theatre arts
9. dance
10. comprehensive health and physical education 

Note that only #1 and #2 of the 10 standards include Common Core guidelines.  The broad-based nature of our standards has its roots in legislation over 20 years old, so there is no need to confuse concerns about the Common Core State Standards—a much more recent addition— with the larger point here.

(See the Colorado Department of Education – What content areas are included in the Colorado Academic Standards?   http://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/factsheetsandfaqs#standardsfaqs)      

    

% of students receiving arts education, by grade cluster:  Elementary – 98%    Middle – 71%    High - 54% In spite of the recession of 2008, “Colorado has ‘held the line’ on provision of arts education in our public schools” [since then].  However, “28,000 Colorado students attend schools that do not offer formal arts education [&] only half of our high school students are enrolled in arts classes.” From Colorado Visual and Performing Arts Education Survey Statistical Report, May 14, 2015 http://www.coloradocreativeindustries.org/sites/default/ files/media/cci_art_education_study_summary_2015_9.pdf

But, you remind me, these are GOALS.  Not many schools offer a rich curriculum in all ten disciplines.  Our “local control” state allows us to claim we’re committed to the standards, but we insist on very little.  Two examples:  ARTS:  The just-released survey on arts education in our state, the Colorado Visual and Performing Arts Education Survey Statistical Report (sponsored by Colorado Creative Industries) reveals that less than 60% of high school students took any arts class in 2013-14, and that roughly 30,000 K-12 students attended schools with no arts instruction (see box). PHYS ED:  Another recent report found that “only 46 percent of the Colorado’s high-schoolers take at least one physical education class each week.”[3]   

How can this be, if we are committed to the standards?

Similarly, a middle school will say supervised recess qualifies as meeting the standards in physical education. Civics and economics are often overlooked[4], even though they make up two the four specific sections in Colorado’s Social Studies Standards (along with history and geography). [5]  Afterschool electives, offered to a limited number, is too often “the best” a school can do to address one of these “other” disciplines.

What to do, to see that K-12 education truly commits to the full range of standards?

1.       Don’t whine.  Of course we don’t want to emaciate the K-12 curriculum and let it become a mere skeleton of its full measure.  And yet we do not serve our cause—our favorite discipline—by sounding like the spoiled kid in the playground: “That’s not fair!”  Or by repeating a variation of double negatives: “Don’t cut the __!” “Let’s not discount the value of __!” “We can’t take away __!”

2.       Instead, let’s hold high a larger vision of what a public education should be: one that provides a well-rounded, broad-based curriculum—which, without overstating the case, we can say reflects a belief in a liberal arts education for all.

This way, all of us advocating for the rightful place of the arts, civics, economics, geography, physical education, etc., in our schools can join forces and make a stronger case, together.  No righteous indignation on behalf of our single issue.  Our real cause is about the very purpose of a public education.

**

It should help to know we are not alone.  Here I gather a few of the voices now making the case for the liberal arts.[6]  They can help us affirm a more uplifting goal than “mastery of the 3 R’s,” a more inspiring vision than “proficiency on state exams.”  And sorry, but an appeal to the latest fuzzy buzzword, “21^st century learning,” won’t cut it. Let’s return to a concept with a rich history, one that unites many around a clear purpose: a sound liberal arts education.

1.       Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia spoke at the Microsoft YouthSpark Connections Breakfast last month.  The session could have focused exclusively on STEM, but he—and other speakers—reminded us of the big picture: “We don’t need just scientists and engineers,” he said, we need them with “a good liberal arts education.  What makes innovative students? The arts. The ability to communicate.”  And when Suma Nallapati, Colorado’s Secretary of Technology and the State Chief Information Officer, was asked what advice she would give high school students who wish to be ready for the job market, answered: “Focus on the liberal arts.  We don’t need to separate them from STEM.”  She then added, with a smile (obviously directed at this former English teacher): “I’m a big fan of Shakespeare!” 

2.       In Defense of a Liberal Education, the new book by Fareed Zakaria (2015).

Historian and author David McCullough was asked to give advice to students at Providence College who are pursuing a liberal arts education.  He responded:  “Pursue it with your whole heart and soul because you will never ever regret it.”    10/28/2013

“The liberal arts are under attack. The governors of Florida, Texas, and North Carolina have all pledged that they will not spend taxpayer money subsidizing the liberal arts, and they seem to have an unlikely ally in President Obama. While at a General Electric plant in early 2014, Obama remarked, ‘I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree.’ …

“Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts education …. He turns our leaders' vocational argument on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning—precisely the gifts of a liberal education.”

                http://books.wwnorton.com/books/In-Defense-of-a-Liberal-Education/

3.       “In defense of liberal arts education,” Jill Tiefenthaler, President of Colorado College.

“… these politicians are making the all too common mistake of confusing education with training. The idea that universities should simply be factories for producing graduates focused exclusively in STEM … fields is incredibly shortsighted. While getting a job that leads toward a fulfilling career is a great reason for going to college, it certainly isn't the only one. A liberal arts education (including, for example, philosophy, art and sociology) educates the whole person and prepares students to excel in a range of careers and, even more importantly, live a life rich with meaning and purpose.” The Denver Post, Guest Commentary, 10/24/2011.                       http://www.denverpost.com/ci_19167366

4.       Wall Street Journal op-ed, “Conservatives, Please Stop Trashing the Liberal Arts,” by Christopher J. Scalia of the University of Virginia, March 27, 2015. 

“Thomas Jefferson recognized that a broad education could ensure the survival of the new democracy. He recognized that ‘even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.’ To defend against this threat, Jefferson wanted ‘to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth, that, possessed thereby of the experience of other ages and countries, they may be enabled to know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt to exert their natural powers to defeat its purpose.’”

“The liberal arts, Jefferson recognized, have a practical value that has nothing to do with direct economic benefits: They are linked to the vitality of a commonwealth and the survival of a free people.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/christopher-scalia-conservatives-please-stop-trashing-the-liberal-arts-1427494073

5.       Education Week commentary, “The Humanities Keep Us Human,” by Fred Zilian, Portsmouth Abbey, Rhode Island, Jan. 7, 2015.  STEM is in vogue, and Zilian acknowledges his own appreciation for the sciences. But he urges caution: 
           “… a caution against imbalance. We take a risk in shifting resources to STEM from the humanities,   the mix of subjects that includes the language arts, history, philosophy, religion, and the visual and performing arts. …                       http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/01/07/the-humanities-keep-us-human.html

I taught one summer at Zilian’s school, Portsmouth Abbey.  Like all my most rewarding teaching experiences, I was in a school with deep convictions about the importance of the liberal arts.  Lt. Gov. Garcia and President Tiefenthaler of Colorado College notwithstanding, I am discouraged we have so few Colorado leaders stand up to the current zeitgeist of “education as training for the workforce.” I have tried to make this case in various ways of late (AV#115 – “Sorry, Governor(s), but the purpose of education is not ... a job”; #118 – “Balance – Part 1: Let them talk”; #119 – “Balance – Part 2: Civic Education”), and I will keep at it.  It is up to school people, I believe, to articulate our higher purpose.

I reflect on the 25 years since I drove north from St. John’s College, to a new state, a new job.  In that time, two themes have been central to K-12 public schools: choice and standards.  Even after a quarter century of legislation, reforms, and resistance, both remain central to what we say we want of public education. 

I hope we can renew the standards discussion in a way that takes us forward, to a broader and shared understanding of what we owe our students: a liberal arts education for all.

Another View, a newsletter by Peter Huidekoper, represents his own opinion and is not intended to represent the

view of any organization he is associated with.  Comments are welcome. 303-757-1225 / peterhdkpr@gmail.com

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[1] “Establish National Standards for High School Graduates.  The teachers of this nation deserve an answer to their question, ‘What is it that the United States needs and wants? Give us specifics.  Provide us with a clear set of goals and empower our principals and us to reach those goals and we will do it.’” From the Keystone Conference, “A Shift in the Breeze,” Sept. 1989.

[2] The legislative declaration for HB 1313 called on the state “to develop content standards, programs of instruction, and assessments that reflect the highest possible expectations.”

[3]  “Overall, Colorado ranks 24^th among states when it comes to daily physical activity among school-aged children. In contrast, adults and senior citizens rank first and second respectively…. The report …  also cites major disparities … Only about 58 percent of kids with family incomes under the federal poverty level got at least 20 minutes of exercise four or more days a week, compared to 74 percent of kids living in the wealthiest homes.” Chalkbeat Colorado, by Ann Schimke.

http://co.chalkbeat.org/2015/04/06/report-colorado-kids-arent-getting-enough-exercise/#.VSPo5vnF9qVReport

[4] See yesterday’s Wall Street Journal: “Teaching Better Civics for Better Citizens,” Sandra Day O’Connor & John Glenn, 5/13/15.

[5] CIVICS: Our standards present from 2-3 pages of Grade Level Expectations for civics for each grade, K-8.  So at least we say this is our intention for every K-8 classroom across the state. And yet, as I showed in AV#119 – Civic Education – Colorado’s expectations for civics instruction are modest, at best, compared to most states.

[6] My alma mater, of course, never stops making the case. Last fall St. John’s College hosted a national conference titled, “What is Liberal Education For?”  Details at http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/santa-fe/50th-anniversary-conference/.