In the fight for better schools, too often, we just don’t hear from those who are impacted the most: parents, teachers, school leaders and kids. We need your voices!
Colorado School Talk is the Rocky Mountain region’s blog for Education Post, a national nonprofit dedicated to elevating the voices of parents, teachers and students in the education conversation. CO School Talk is a safe place for parents, educators and students to have a say about their schools—having no special interest other than creating a great future for kids.
- Is your school doing a great job of helping kids learn?
- Have you seen first-hand how your school is closing the achievement gap between students?
- Has your family benefitted from Colorado’s state-wide school choice system? Or do you have thoughts on how to improve choice?
- Are you a teacher who wants to share what’s working or not working in your school?
- Do you have thoughts about how to provide more equitable schools for all kids?
If so, we want to hear from you! And, this is just a small sample of topics to write about. Your background, perspective and experience matter.
CO School Talk Blog Recommendations
Submit to: Chyrise Harris at [email protected] or to [email protected]
Length: 400-600 words
Audience: Parents, educators, ed policy wonks and education reform advocates
Topics: Writers for the Education Post national blog and its regional blogs like CO School Talk are passionate about engaging in real and respectful dialogue about the best ways to serve the educational needs of all students. Writers highlight successes within their schools and communities as well as call out challenges, injustices and opportunities for change. Our writers want to close the belief gap that exists for Black, Brown and low-income kids. They seek to end the notion that the circumstances of a child’s birth, zip code, or background will determine their future success in school and career. Bloggers touch on this through a variety of topics such as high standards and accountability, school choice, including the success of public charter schools and innovation schools, educational equity, college access, first-generation students, and other issues affecting student groups that have been traditionally underserved by the education system. Potential writers should look for the natural and personal points of alignment between their blog post and the topics above. The best blog posts reflect a personal experience or perspective and approach many of the challenges in education through a solutions-oriented lens.
Tone of Voice: Avoid jargon, and be conversational not formal. Put yourself into the post and make clear your standing on the issue, whether you’re writing as a parent, teacher, student or a passionate advocate. Our best posts are usually personal narratives, but don’t shy away from using a key data point or two to support the case you’re making (and don’t forget to hyperlink it).
Format: We use Google Docs to share and edit posts before publication, however if you prefer to send over a Word document that will work, just don’t send PDFs. If you have any photos to accompany the piece, please include them as an attachment in your email and make sure to send the highest resolution possible. You’re welcome to suggest a headline for your post when you send it over, but keep in mind that our digital team often rewrites the headline and may select an associated image without consulting the author. Just let us know, if you have any concerns about that.
We can’t wait to hear from you! Thanks for your elevating your voice in the education conversation.