November 30, 2011
"When Sean VanBerschot was hired as a corps member for Teach For America in New Mexico, he didn’t anticipate the lessons he would learn..."
Get to Know Get Smart Schools
With a mission to drive the development of schools that raise the academic achievement of a diverse group of students in Colorado's urban communities, Get Smart Schools is one of our closest partners in education reform in Colorado. Founded in 2008 as a collaboration between several local foundations, school leaders, and nonprofit organizations, Get Smart Schools has since facilitated the creation of 14 new schools and the transformation of two existing schools, all for children in low-income communities.
In addition to providing training and resources for schools and school leaders interested in dramatically improving the quality of education they provide, Get Smart Schools offers a fellowship program to prepare new school leaders for the challenges of creating high-performing autonomous schools. To ensure these new schools are successful, GSS offers technical support and provides assistance in the recruitment and formation of effective, qualified boards of directors.
By decade’s end, Get Smart Schools intends to prepare 85 new school leaders and support at least 50 autonomous schools across the state of Colorado. We look forward to continuing to work with them towards our shared goal of providing all of Colorado’s kids with the tools to achieve success in high school, college, and wherever their future takes them.
Region Timeline
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Colorado officially becomes the 38th state and Joseph Shattuck is named the first superintendent of public instruction.
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The first Colorado State Board of Education is elected with Mrs. Nettie S. Freed as its first Commissioner of Education.
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The Colorado General Assembly passes the standards-based education law, with the following rationale: 1.) All students can achieve high standards. 2.) Student achievement should be based on results. 3.) Uniform standards are needed across the state. 4.) The focus of education should be on what is learned rather than what is taught.
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The Innovative Schools Act is passed, giving district schools more freedom to design their own programs to improve student achievement.
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The Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids Bill passes. This four year plan for all grade levels is designed to raise the state content standards and require assessments in alignment with the Common Core standards
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The Alternative Teacher Certification Bill passes, giving the state board of education greater flexibility to approve alternative licensure programs which will enable the recruitment and preparation of more highly-qualified teachers to help fill needs in Colorado schools.
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The Colorado Growth Model creates unique identifiers for each student that allows teachers and administrators to track each student’s progress on state assessments over time.
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The Educator Identifier Bill passes to aid in the evaluation of teacher effectiveness, teacher training needs, and best instructional practices.To facilitate these assessments, the bill mandates the assignment of a unique ID number to every teacher and the creation of a data system that connects these numbers to each of their students.
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The Education Accountability Act makes substantial changes in the ways that student, school, and district performance are measured and reported, and in how underperforming schools are improved. The bill also expands the available information about school performance.
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Following Colorado State Senate President Peter Groff’s resignation, Michael Johnston (Mississippi Delta Corps ‘97) is appointed to fill his seat. Johnston runs on an education reform platform and is re-elected in 2010 to serve the remainder of Groff’s term.
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The Educator Effectiveness Bill establishes new requirements for evaluating teachers and principals.The law mandates that at least 50% of teacher and principal evaluations be determined by the academic growth of their students.
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Colorado officially adopts the Common Core Standards in math and English language arts.
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Thirteen Teach For America alumni receive Denver Public Schools Mile High Teacher awards.
Overheard
I am currently working on raising awareness of social justice issues with my students, like present-day segregation and the achievement gap. I see the beginnings of a great transformation in my students that will help them to succeed and give back to their communities
Colorado Corps 2009
Press
April 26, 2011
"Teach For America-Colorado will be receiving a big boost in funding with Tuesday's announcement that the Anschutz Foundation will contribute $4 million over four years to support the group’s work..."
April 11, 2011
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet reflects on his experience teaching a 6th grade math class of a Teach For America corps member for a day.
