A new Independence Institute blog—The Good, The Bad, and The Shameful—was launched in February and is covering the Colorado public education system and school reform efforts.
The Independence Institute, a free-market think tank based in Golden, Colorado, developed the blog as part of an effort to hold schools accountable.
Pam Benigno, director of the group’s Education Policy Center, said she came up with the idea in November after seeing a resolution submitted by the Colorado Association of School Boards that she perceived to be explicitly against charter schools.
“I decided at that time we needed a Web site so the public can see what their elected officials are supporting,” Benigno said.
Benigno writes the blog, drawing from the research she does in following education reform in Colorado for the Independence Institute. The institute promotes the site by podcasting, e-mailing policymakers, and asking other blogs to link to it.
“Someone needs to say ‘shame on you’ when it’s appropriate, and someone needs to say, ‘that was a good action’ other times,” Benigno said. “Newspapers report just the facts. That’s what they’re supposed to do. But I wanted a site where I could say that was good, that was bad, or that was shameful.”
Jillian Melchior ([email protected]) writes from Michigan.
For more information …
The Good, The Bad, and The Shameful: http://www.gobash.org
