Bluum

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Bluum is a nonprofit organization helping Idaho become a national model for how to maximize learning outcomes for children and families.

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Idaho’s Public Charter Schools Embrace a Culture of Prevention for Students with Behavioral Challenges

By Jennifer Ribordy
To address the challenges, several Idaho public charter schools are leading the way by intentionally working together on the prevention and management of crises level student behaviors. Since September of 2020, these partners have worked with Bluum to demonstrate their commitment to prioritizing student safety by investing time and financial resources into ongoing training focused on building a “culture of prevention” relative to intensive student behaviors.

74 Interview: From Public Trust to Preparing Students for Future Careers, Idaho’s New Schools Chief Has a Plan to Change ‘Literally Everything’

By Alan Gottlieb
Idaho has long been a state where the concept of local control of public education is sacrosanct, where parental choice is seen as a top value and where public charter schools have proliferated and thrived. How does Critchfield envision her new role, and the Idaho Department of Education’s place in the state’s education ecosystem? What lessons can Idaho teach the rest of the country? I recently interviewed Critchfield to get her perspective on these issues.

Introducing Idaho’s Charter Effort to House & Senate Ed Committees

It’s been 25 years since Idaho’s first charter schools opened their doors, yet misunderstandings of this model for public education still exist. This morning, our CEO, Terry Ryan, had the opportunity to share the history and impact of Idaho’s public charter schools on students and families with both the Senate and House Education Committees.

Choice Out West

A new multi-state report, “Choice Out West: Lessons and challenges from Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico,” finds that despite successful expansion and innovation efforts in Idaho’s charter school sector, our state’s rapid population growth is creating not only opportunities but complex challenges in providing quality public school choice seats for K-12 students.

Building For Success in Idaho

Idaho is one of the nation’s fastest growing states. Many of our schools are overcrowded, and our student demographics are changing rapidly. Over the past decade, our state’s overall K-12 enrollment has grown by about 55,000 students, almost 20 percent (10,422 students) of which has been in the state’s public charter schools. With all this growth in student enrollment, public schools in Idaho—both traditional school districts and charter schools—have struggled to keep up with the need for new and expanded school facilities.

To help illuminate the scale of the facility financing inequities in Idaho, and most importantly to offer up solutions, especially for public charter schools, Bluum partnered with the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd) to generate this policy brief, Building for Success in Idaho.

Key Takeaways for Idaho from the National Summit on Education

By Ray Crowell
One of the largest convenings of legislators, state superintendents, policymakers and thought leaders in the country, ExcelinEd’s annual National Summit on Education couldn’t have been timelier. The two-day event in Salt Lake City featured notable speakers and timely strategy sessions spanning a range of topics that included evolving laws, emerging trends, policy challenges and successes, and the latest innovations transforming education. With more than two dozen sessions at the conference several jumped out as most relevant for Idaho students.

NAEP Scores Hold Troubling and Good News in Both Traditional and Charter Schools

By Terry Ryan and Ray Crowell
The recent release of NAEP scores holds much troubling news for the nation’s students and some important lessons for us here in Idaho. NAEP is considered the “Gold Standard” in student performance over time across the nation’s schools. The 2022 results have triggered anguish and deep concern as our student performance, especially in math, has declined significantly since the last NAEP administration in 2019. Educators and policy makers were expecting to see a decline because of COVID-19 and the school closures it precipitated. In much of the country and for our neediest students these declines were worse than many had feared.