Good day, CharterFolk.
Today we’re pleased to share a WonkyFolk recording with Parker Baxter, Scholar in Residence and Director of the Center for Education Policy Analysis at the University of Colorado Denver.
Aside from cracking us up with education policy observations sprinkled with obscure Grateful Dead lyrics, Parker helped us walk through both the historic sweep and the advocacy nuance that has defined reform efforts in Denver over the past quarter century.
Here is a link to the podcast and a transcript of the conversation on the CharterFolk website.
You can also access the discussion here on Youtube.
You can find us on on Spotify here.
And on iTunes here.
An archive of all past recordings is available on our website.
It was a truly fascinating conversation. We began by tracing Parker’s background working in education reform roles across the country before coming to CU Denver, where he has made Denver’s reform efforts one of his primary subjects of inquiry. Throughout, he demonstrated why he has become such a credible voice, carefully earning his claims when describing Denver’s reforms as “historic,” while offering the nuance necessary to round out our understanding of what has unfolded.
An especially striking part of the story is the extraordinary effort Parker was required to make simply to overcome resistance from those who sought to block his access to the data needed to inform his research. When one considers that some of the most important research on urban educational progress in the United States came within a single vote at the Colorado State Board of Education of never happening at all, it lays bare just how dysfunctional many of the dynamics surrounding public education in this country have become.
I came away not only with a deeper appreciation for the progress made in the city where I grew up, but also with a stronger conviction that the work cannot be left only partway done. I hope you find the conversation illuminating, not just for what it reveals about Denver specifically, but for its implications for our work in cities across the country.
Contacts
- Center for Education Policy Analysis at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs
- Education Systems Leadership and Policy Institute
Key Research Studies:
- Student-Level Study – 2024 – Study Summary – Technical Report – Slide Deck – Bennet-Boasberg-Essay. “Systemwide and Intervention-Specific Effects of Denver Public Schools’ Portfolio District Strategy on Individual Student Achievement” with Anna Nicotera, Erik Fuller, Jakob Panzer, Todd Ely, and Paul Teske
- District-Level Study – 2022 – Study Summary – Technical Report. “The System-Level Effects of Denver’s Portfolio Strategy on Student Academic Outcomes” with Anna Nicotera, David Stuit, Margot Plotz, Todd Ely, and Paul Teske
Related Articles and Essays:
- “Dismantling Denver” – Education Next, Spring 2022, by Alan Gottlieb
- “Redesigning Denver’s Schools: The Rise and Fall Of Superintendent Tom Boasberg” – Education Next, Spring 2019, by Todd Ely and Paul Teske
- “Mastering Change: When Charter Schools and School Districts Embrace Strategic Partnership” – 2012, by Elizabeth Cooley Nelson, in CRPE
- “Denver Education Research Going Forward but Not Without a Fight”– Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat, July 13, 2023
- “Closing Struggling Schools Helped Student Achievement in Denver, Study Finds” – Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat, September 27, 2024
- “Denver Public Schools’ Controversial Reform Strategy Led to Significant Learning Gains for Students” – Jenny Brundin, Colorado Public Radio, September 24, 2024
- “The Inconvenient Success of New Orleans Schools” – Ravi Gupta, The74Million, August 25, 2025
- “How Denver’s School Reforms Raised Grad Rate, Got Kids Years of Extra Learning” – The74Million, February 23, 2025
- “Education Scarcity: A Picture Worth a Thousand Words – The Five Points of a North Star” – Jed Wallace, CharterFolk, September 14, 2025