The Year in Education: 25 of our top stories about schools, students and learning

The 74
Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that public education lost 50,000 jobs between June and July.

Chalkbeat
As the school year begins, leaders at Denver’s Bluff Lake Nature Center are searching for a way to keep offering publicly funded enrichment classes that teach homeschooled students about water quality, wildlife tracking, shelter building, and foraging.

Boardhawk
Last week, with the release of the 2026 state testing CMAS results, we published longtime educator and education advocate van Schoales’ examination of Colorado’s recent boast, thanks to the magazine US News and World Report, that it is the number one state in the nation for education.

The 74
With new state-level programs quickly redrawing the map of school choice over the last few years, a central question may determine the movement’s continued success: Does greater familiarity with charter schools, vouchers, or education savings accounts actually make people view them more positively?

RMV
Douglas County has long been known as a community that values school choice, which is one reason a resolution recently advanced by the Douglas County School District (DCSD) Board of Education deserves much more attention than it has received.

Boardhawk
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, referring to a highly questionable national magazine rating, says in today’s state testing press release that Colorado is number one in education.