On Being More Like Ted Widerski

I’ve been convinced that a comment I made on another thread about Ted Widerski deserves to be shared as a post. –LAF
“I’ll miss him” only begins to capture it for me. Ted was HUGELY important to the student advocacy work I do in the District. I think I/we won’t know — fully — what we’ve lost until the school year begins to unfold.
People have said that Ted was a tireless and “courageous” advocate for TAG students, and that he was. I couldn’t agree more. At the same time, I can’t help but think “why should it require boundless courage and limitless persistence simply to get smart kids’ educational needs met?” Sigh.
On a more positive note, it has occurred to me that there are two things each of us could do to honor Ted’s memory. The first is to donate to the “Ted Widerski Mathfest Fund.” There is no better way to honor Ted than to insure that the mathfests he worked so hard to create, implement and protect KEEP HAPPENING. Send your check — appropriately marked “Ted Widerski Mathfests” — to the Foundation for Madison’s Public Schools, 455 Science Drive, Madison, WI, 53711.
The second thing each of us could do to honor Ted’s memory is to approach the coming school year with the happy intention of becoming more like him. So much of what we are up against in our advocacy work is a matter of misunderstanding, misinformation and misguided attitude. With a change in all of that – and few, if any, more dollars – the situation for our students could be profoundly different.
Practically speaking, what might it mean to “become more like Ted?” Well, here are a few beginning thoughts about that. I’m sure some of you will have many more.


If you are a parent …
… Make sure your student is being appropriately challenged and learning something at school. Don’t assume they will be fine, “no matter what.”
… If your own child’s needs are being well met at school, put your time and energy to the larger cause.
… Depending on your student’s age, advocate for their educational (and other) needs or support their learning how to advocate for themselves.
… Be on the lookout for other students in your child’s classroom who need additional challenge, but who may not have an adult to advocate for them.
… Remember that according to the new state law regarding “gifted and talented” identification, you are a key player!
… Join WATG (Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted) and donate to WCATY (Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth).
If you are a teacher …
… Don’t always make your bright students learn by themselves.
… Don’t assume your bright students will be “just fine,” no matter what.
… Don’t use your bright students as assistant teachers.
… Make sure your bright students have learning peers.
… Don’t be afraid to create ability-based groups.
… If you do “cooperative learning groups,” make sure that all students are pulling their own weight.
… When a parent expresses concern that their child is bored and under-challenged, take their concern seriously.
If you are an administrator …
… When a parent expresses concern that their child is bored and under-challenged, take their concern seriously.
… Let your teachers create ability-based groups.
… Make sure every academically talented student in your school is in a classroom with learning peers.
… Support the District’s efforts to implement early identification programs.
… Hire teachers with subject-specific certification (e.g., math and science).
… Familiarize yourself with the Wisconsin statutes on gifted students and gifted education.
If you are a School Board member …
… Familiarize yourself with the Wisconsin statutes on gifted students and gifted education.
… Get some of the District data Ted requested repeatedly. A good start would be several years’ worth of algebra data, broken down by letter grade, so that we can finally compare “C’s and above” with “D’s and below.” Ted was adamant in his belief that a “D” in algebra was not a passing grade, that a student who earned a “D” in algebra had not learned anything (had maybe even gotten the “D” rather than an “F” simply for showing up). He saw grouping the “D’s” with the higher grades as yet another thing the District did to look better in its own eyes, but at the expense of students’ genuine learning.
… Work to reverse the homogenization of high school curriculum that has occurred in some of the District’s high schools in recent years. In your heart of hearts, you know it’s not the answer to the problem.
… Insist on empirical support for curricular and structural changes in our schools, both before and after changes are made. Make sure you understand what the data are saying. Example: West High School’s English 10 curriculum was implemented in the fall of 2006 in the hopes that certain groups of students would take more rigorous, writing-intensive English electives as juniors and seniors. Do the data indicate that that has happened?
… Whichever side of the isthmus you live on, embrace the schools on the other side and stop this silly “east-side-versus-west-side” thing. (No more statements like “You West parents have nothing to complain about,” like I heard from one recently retired BOE member on multiple occasions.) We’re all in this together – period – and those of you who are on the School Board, especially, have an obligation to students and families from ALL corners of the District. (O.K., that’s me talking, not Ted – but I’m sure Ted would have agreed with me 100%.)
… Always — and I mean always — put our kids’ needs ahead of politics.
If you are a School Board member who talked a lot about the need for improved “gifted” identification in your campaign …
… Become the District’s resident expert on the new state law regarding the identification of “gifted and talented” students (http://dpi.wi.gov/cal/gifted.html ). To that end, keep abreast of complaints filed with the DPI by parent groups in other Wisconsin school districts over their district’s failure to comply with this and other “gifted and talented” statutes and rules.
… Become the MMSD’s champion of early identification efforts. Make sure there is financial and other support for efforts being developed to comply with the new state identification law – for example, plans for the universal assessment of all MMSD first graders (that’s every student!) in 2008-09. Help expand the effort to include third graders next year.
If you are a special education advocate …
… Become a member of the Council for Exceptional Children, a national organization that includes “talented and gifted” children in its special education mission.
If you are a parent who has withdrawn their child from the Madison schools because they were not being challenged …
… Write to the School Board and the new Superintendent and tell them your family’s story. Tell them why you “went private” or are homeschooling.
If you are a student …
… Familiarize yourself with the Gifted Children’s Bill of Rights.” (Just google it.)
… Fulfill your intellectual potential, insist that your school meet your educational needs, choose work that you love, live your life with integrity and love, and do not be afraid to “speak Truth to power.”
… In short, grow up to be like Ted!