Is Jeffco Superintendent Cindy Stevenson a martyr or a failed CEO?
Or is she something much more mundane, just another CEO who resigned after her poor track record caused stakeholders to lose confidence in her leadership? While the martyr story strikes an emotional...
View ArticleYour Voice: Thinking critically about student achievement in Jeffco
As we head into what promises to be an interesting few month for Jeffco schools, I thought it would be useful to summarize the various arguments about the state of student achievement in our district....
View ArticleYour Voice: A guide for School Accountability Committees
With our children heading back to school, School Accountability Committees (SACs) will soon be seeking new members, holding their first meetings, and planning their agendas for this year. As such, it...
View ArticleYour Voice: Jeffco needs an independent District Accountability Committee
Dear Members of the Jeffco Board of Education, At this Thursday’s meeting (on August 27, 2015), you are scheduled to consider proposed revisions to the Bylaws for the District Strategic Planning...
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Your Voice: Thirty Percent of Jeffco Teachers are Absent More Than Ten Days...
Jeffco’s goal is to graduate students who are career and college ready. Taxpayers have invested heavily to achieve that goal: The most recent data show that Jeffco’s total revenue is about $11,000 per...
View ArticleYour Voice: Jeffco recall election raises timeless issues
I have spent my career working on organizational performance improvement challenges, which have consistently centered on the same three questions that are at the heart of the election to recall members...
View ArticleYour Voice: Why this Jeffco independent is voting against the recall
In this column, I’m going to lay out the reasoning behind my decision to vote against the Recall election – that is, why I’m voting to keep John Newkirk, Julie Williams, and Ken Witt on the Jeffco...
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Your Voice: An evidence-based approach to improve students’ college and...
How can we move beyond the ideological differences that characterize too many discussions about education today, and get on with the critical work of substantially improving Colorado’s student...
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Your Voice: Which Front Range school districts deliver the most student...
Front Range taxpayers spend billions of dollars each year on our schools, yet our children’s achievement results remain unimpressive, even as globalization and accelerating technology continue to raise...
View ArticleYour Voice: What’s the end game in Colorado?
People of a certain age can still remember when California looked a lot like Colorado does today, with many people and businesses attracted to the Golden State by its climate, scenery, lifestyle and...
View ArticleYour Voice: Sherlock Holmes: The curious case of the Jeffco facilities plan
As humans, we naturally look for evidence to help us understand what is going on. However, as Sherlock Holmes noted in “Silver Blaze”, it is sometimes the absence of evidence that provides the most...
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Your Voice: Is your student on track?
A recent bipartisan report from the National Conference of State Legislators concluded that “We cannot ignore the reality that most state education systems are falling dangerously behind the world,...
View ArticleWhy I’m Voting Against the Jeffco Mill Levy Increase
I have been the Chief Financial Officer of private and public companies, and for more than a decade have invested all my volunteer time in the cause of K12 performance improvement in Colorado, Alberta,...
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Dear Jeffco Board: Exaggerating Achievement Results is Delusional and Dangerous
October 19, 2016 Dear Members of the Jeffco Board of Education, The posted agenda for your meeting this Thursday evening says that you will be discussing Jeffco’s student achievement results. Your...
View ArticleIn Jeffco Schools, Governance and Management are Broken
All boards of directors have two fiduciary duties: to act in an organization’s best interest and not their own (the duty of loyalty), and to exercise prudent judgment (the duty of care). The latest...
View ArticleWhy Choice-In to Wheat Ridge High School?
We are once again at that time of the year when many parents feel overwhelmed by the challenge of deciding where to send their children to school. While Colorado offers parents a wide range of choice...
View ArticleMemo for Jeffco Superintendent Candidates
I’ve spent my career doing performance improvement for private sector organizations, as a consultant and corporate executive. I’m also a member of Jeffco’s District Accountability Committee, and have...
View ArticleThe evidence does not support the Jeffco Board’s justification for a teacher...
On March 14th, the Jeffco District Accountability Committee approved its budget recommendation to the Board of Education, which included this language: “The DAC supports the Board’s decision to improve...
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Incompetent management in Jeffco: The case of high school staffing
Jefferson County public schools is the nation’s 35th largest school district, responsible for educating almost 90,000 children, with annual revenue of about a billion dollars. I have previously noted...
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In Jeffco, Student Achievement Stinks
In recent months, I’ve had the same conversation with friends in Australia, Canada, England and here in the USA. All of us see how fast the world is changing and how uncertain and relentlessly...
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