Friday churn: A lot to do on ECE

Updated 3 p.m. – Gaps in early childhood developmental gains, school readiness and academic success will negatively affect the state’s economic health, leaders of the Colorado Early Childhood Leadership Commission told lawmakers and Gov. John Hickenlooper today.

The commission, created by the 2010 legislature, is studying ways to improve health and education outcomes for children 0-8 and specifically to recommend better ways to coordinate fragmented policies and programs.

“Often our efforts are not good enough,” said commissioner co-chair Anna Jo Haynes, citing statistics about childhood poverty and school readiness gaps. Pat Hamill, the other co-chair, said, “We really have no system in the state for early children education.” The group’s report notes there are six state agencies and more than 20 funding sources involved in the field. The commission next year will make recommendations about streamlining such services. Read the full report here.

The commission reported to a joint meeting of four legislative committee and Hickenlooper.

What’s churning:

Conversations about the work of the State Council on Educator Effectiveness tend to focus more on teachers than principals. But school leaders are front and center in today’s School Leadership Academy Advisory Board meeting.

The board was created by the 2008 legislature “to provide a statewide comprehensive leadership and professional development system that identifies, recruits, trains and inducts qualified persons for leadership positions in public schools.” But work didn’t get organized until last year because of funding issues. Members have been updating state principal standards and working with the educator effectiveness council, which is developing broader recommendations for teacher and principal effectiveness.

The leadership academy board meets from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the board room at the Department of Education, 201 E. Colfax Ave. On the agenda is a revision of Leadership Standards, based on feedback from the educator effectiveness council, and developing the Leadership Academy concept. The council will present the new Colorado standards for school principals at next month’s State Board of Education meeting.

To learn more about the leadership academy board, including a list of members, and to see the agenda, go here. The educator effectiveness council, meanwhile, meets again Monday. See more about that meeting here.

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