Will Flanders and Libby Sobic: In the latest chapter of the seemingly never-ending nightmare of school closures, Milwaukee Public Schools decided Sunday, Jan. 2 to return to virtual instruction for the first week of the spring semester, Jan. 3-7. This follows the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) making a similar decision to delay the start … Continue reading The long-term consequences of closed schools are profound →

David Blaska: Neighbors here on the SW side are outraged that the so-called safety coordinator for our public schools blows off police trying to track down kids showing off their illegal firearms in a stolen car a block away from Madison East high school. Doesn’t return their phone calls. Refuses to share photographic evidence with … Continue reading Notes on taxpayer supported Madison K-12 School District Crime and achievement governance →

Elizabeth Beyer: It’s a complaint echoed by parents across the district Monday, on a day most expected to see their children back at school, as they were elsewhere in Dane County (but not in the state’s largest district, Milwaukee, which also went back to online learning temporarily). Several parents said they didn’t object to the … Continue reading Parents vs taxpayer supported Madison K-12 school district administration →

Matt Taibbi: However, much like the Hillary Clinton quote about “deplorables,” conventional wisdom after the “gaffe” soon hardened around the idea that what McAuliffe said wasn’t wrong at all. In fact, people like Hannah-Jones are now doubling down and applying to education the same formula that Democrats brought with disastrous results to a whole range … Continue reading Commentary on the Democrat Party Education Axis →

Scott Girard: Seventeen months passed between the closure of schools in March 2020 and Gordon Allen’s return to learning inside East High School. The Madison Metropolitan School District student senate president and East senior, who opted to finish the 2020-21 school year virtually rather than return via the district’s phased-in return to buildings, said this … Continue reading “It’s a challenge to get back into a setting where you have strict deadlines again” →

Kali Holloway: That would explain why CBS News last month posted a tweet that asked, “How young is too young to teach kids about race?” The network had blatantly overlooked the experiences of Black and other nonwhite kids, who mostly learn about racism through firsthand experiences at disturbingly young ages—never at a time of their … Continue reading Where Are Black Parents’ Voices on Critical Race Theory? →

Alex Hammer: An error-filled letter from a Virginia teachers union president calling for increased protections against the coronavirus was mocked relentlessly on Twitter after an appalled parent took a correction pen to the piece and posted the revised version online. ‘Hey @VEA4Kids, are you going to send out more of these grammar worksheets over break?’ … Continue reading Virginia teachers union ERROR-RIDDLED LETTER (Grammar Worksheet) →

Laura McKenna: Are we going to shutdown society and schools again? There is enormous pressure from the top to not close schools. That’s why the CDC has shifted its recommendations for dealing with positive people. Now, positive people only have to isolate for five days. Fauci says that positive people are really only contagious two … Continue reading The Fallout From Remote Education: It’s a Fiasco for Kids, Families, and Democracy →

Here is the full press release announcement. Press conference tomorrow morning. https://t.co/BQWW4mAjyf pic.twitter.com/xi94AlnBe8 — Scott Girard (@sgirard9) December 30, 2021 Mandates, closed schools and Dane County Madison Public Health. The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic” 2017: West High … Continue reading Taxpayer supported Madison School District once again closes schools →

Libby Sobic and Will Flanders: Madison is ranked dead last when it comes to performance among disadvantaged students. Pre-pandemic, Madison’s overall student proficiency in English/Language Arts hovered around 35% while Milwaukee’s overall student proficiency was even worse at around 19%. Even after accounting for a huge number of students who opted out, proficiency rates plummeted … Continue reading Madison, Milwaukee school performance overrated by DPI →

Noah Diekemper: It’s little wonder that the American Enterprise Institute’s education research fellow Max Eden has denounced college requirements for preschool teachers as “regressive,” declaring that there is “ no evidence to support this will help with student outcomes .” Why, then, are lawmakers considering a federal law that would fund preschool programs only if lead teachers … Continue reading “the referenced study made no mention of the education of its educators as a variable” →

NY Post: “Follow the science,” it said about handling COVID. But for Team Biden, it was follow the teachers unions when it came to reopening schools. Emails between the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — provided to the watchdog group Americans for Public Trust via … Continue reading Fresh evidence the White House put teachers unions ahead of science on school COVID safety →

Jay Matthews: Now some schools are experimenting with easing homework and grading as a way to be fair and coax students back into the learning process. I had assumed educators would quickly realize this was a formula for disaster. But I have learned such take-it-easy policies are being seriously considered in what I have considered … Continue reading Abolishing grades on homework will hurt the neediest kids →

Robert Pondisco: In some of his first public comments since being named New York City’s incoming schools chancellor, David Banks has drawn cheers from savvy education observers and literacy experts for remarks critical of “balanced literacy,” the city’s long-standing approach to teaching reading. “‘Balanced literacy’ has not worked for Black and Brown children. We’re going … Continue reading Read it and cheer: David Banks’ wise words about literacy instruction in NYC schools →

Will Flanders & Libby Sobic: Like an old IPod set on repeat, Milwaukee Public Schools’ attempts to attack and provide misleading data about the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is a song-and-dance that never stops. In their latest salvo against providing families with educational options, the district included information on the “cost” to Milwaukee residents … Continue reading Milwaukee’s taxpayer supported K-12 schools financial rhetoric →

Scott Girard: One City Schools received a $1 million donation from the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation to support the school as it expands to serve students in grades 4K-12. “The Frautschi family has a long history of investing in initiatives to make Madison a great city for everyone, dating back to their contributions to downtown … Continue reading Frautschi’s dónate $1m to Monona’s (Madison suburb) One City School →

Joseph Allen: The early evidence from outside the United States suggests that kids will remain low risk during the Omicron surge as well. The latest data from South Africa for the week ending Dec. 12 shows that school-age children (5-to-19-year-olds) had the lowest hospitalization of any age group, and even with the Omicron uptick, the hospitalization rate … Continue reading “The risk of severe outcomes to kids from coronavirus infection is low, and the risks to kids from being out of school are high.” →

Scott Girard: A Jefferson Middle School teacher is on administrative leave after planning a Colonial-era reenactment lesson that asked students “to assume stereotypical roles which brought racialized harm,” according to an email from the school’s principal. The incident comes 10 months after officials in the nearby Sun Prairie Area School District apologized to parents for … Continue reading Jefferson Middle School teacher on leave after planned reenactment lesson →

Alex Nester: Parents in Virginia’s largest school district collected enough signatures to recall a school board member who ignored parental concerns and kept schools closed during the pandemic. Open FCPS Coalition, a bipartisan group of parents, on Wednesday filed with a county circuit court a petition to recall school board member Laura Jane Cohen. The … Continue reading “For over 18 months, the Fairfax County School Board has focused on every political issue of the day,” O’Neal Jackson said. “In turn, [it] has not focused on what’s best for our students and families in Fairfax County.” →

Matt Taibbi: In preparation for today’s forthcoming story, A Culture War in Four Acts: Loudoun County, Virginia. Part Two: ‘The Incident,’ TK News sent Freedom of Information requests to the county on several questions. Concerned with the issue of when the controversial “Equity Collaborative” was hired, we asked for “procurement or purchasing process documents, stakeholder emails and communique … Continue reading Loudoun County paid at least $500,000 to be twice delivered suggestions about “social emotional learning.” →

The Economist: “A school district where one-quarter of students were black spent, on average, 10 more weeks in the classroom than one where three-quarters of students were black.” A recent working paper by a group of researchers led by Emily Oster, of Brown University and the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at the results of standardised … Continue reading Test results in American schools plummeted during the pandemic →

We need an education system that extolls the facts about our nation. We ARE undoubtedly the greatest nation on the planet and in the history of the world. Leaders need to make sure young people know that too. https://t.co/pGbZtXMnFf — Robin Vos (@repvos) December 17, 2021 The data clearly indicate that being able to read is … Continue reading Wisconsin K-12 Practice vs Governance Climate →

The Economist: hen amaury gomes began teaching history in Sobral in the mid-1990s, its schools were a mess. The city of 200,000 people lies in Ceará, a baking-hot north-eastern state that has one of Brazil’s highest rates of poverty. When local officials ordered tests in 2001 they found that 40% of Sobral’s eight-year-olds could not … Continue reading What a Brazilian state can teach the world about education →

Jonah Beleckis: They’re going to have to get away from the notion that we’re using this money to reward schools that were open for in-person instruction. Maybe we can use that $77 million for after-school programming, for tutoring, for learning loss. That’s what we need to do. Notes and links on Jill Underly. The data clearly … Continue reading Commentary from the Wisconsin DPI Superintendent →

VICTORIA THOMPSON, ELIZABETH WOLFSON, AND MANDY HOLLISTER: “Teaching reading is rocket science,” Louisa Moats is well known for saying. It is something we frequently referenced during our guided reading professional development for teachers. Sadly, until we started on our Science of Reading journey two-plus years ago, we had no idea how bereft our instruction was of the … Continue reading We’ve Been Teaching Reading Wrong for Decades. How a Massachusetts School’s Switch to Evidence-Based Instruction Changed Everything →

The Assembly Committee on Education is holding a public hearing today on AB611, relating to the licensure requirements for teachers in regard to reading readiness. Similar to AB446 — a literacy bill vetoed by the Gov. — this bill seeks to boost WI’s dismal literacy rates. pic.twitter.com/XLUL9NVXBD — MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) December 14, 2021 Wisconsin … Continue reading Another attempt to address Wisconsin‘s long-term disastrous reading results: AB611 →

Scott Girard: Ananda Mirilli will not run for reelection to the Madison School Board next spring, meaning two of the three seats up for election will not have an incumbent among the candidates. Cris Carusi previously announced that she would not run for reelection, while board president Ali Muldrow is running for a second term. Carusi, Mirilli … Continue reading An update on the spring 2022 Madison School Board Election (3 seats) →

Denisha Merriweather, Dava Hankerson, Nathaniel Cunneen and Ron Matus: The shift to an increasingly choice-driven education landscape for Black students in Florida has been driven by Black parents, who have enrolled their children in choice programs in growing numbers and made it so they cannot be ignored politically. “Options make it so that I can … Continue reading Controlling the narrative: Parental choice, Black empowerment and lessons from Florida →

WMC Foundation PDF: When it comes to education funding in Wisconsin, both Republicans and Democrats have made it a priority. The most recent State Budget approved spending $14.2 billion in state tax dollars on K-12 education – roughly 36 percent of the general fund budget. s spending has continued to climb in recent years, educational … Continue reading Wisconsin Taxpayers Spend More On K-12 For Less over the past Decade →

Elizabeth Beyer: Madison School Board member calls for action on COVID-19 paid time off for teachers, staff A Madison School Board member is calling for the full board to address a lack of access to COVID-19 sick leave for district teachers and staff during the next board meeting. As district policy stands, teachers and staff … Continue reading Madison School Board member calls for action on COVID-19 paid time off for teachers, staff →

Chris Rickert: The mother of the victim, identified only as “Erin” in the WMTV-TV news report, said the school did not call police about the attack. LeMonds said that was accurate but that the school called the victim’s parents, who came to the school and called police themselves. He said the school would have called … Continue reading ‘That’s not going to happen’: Report says Madison East High leader objected to charging students after assault →

Wall Street Journal: The last few years have seen a proliferation of “open letters” by academics in politics and the humanities in favor of progressive causes. The hard sciences are different, and when mathematicians, physicists and engineers speak up to defend the integrity of their fields, Americans should pay attention. The latest example is a … Continue reading America’s top scientists warn about the political erosion of education standards. →

Owen Thompson: Racial segregation can occur across educational programs or classrooms within a given school, and there has been particular concern that gifted & talented programs may reduce integration within schools. This paper evaluates the contribution of gifted & talented education to racial segregation using data on the presence and racial composition of gifted & … Continue reading Gifted & Talented Programs and Racial Segregation →

Kvistad noted that MMSD completed a report similar to this one in 2011, but said it ended up “on a shelf.” This time, she said, the district has “got to do something different,”  12 Slide Presentation (PDF): Charge to the Task Force: 1. Reviewing and becoming familiar with the best evidence about the most effective … Continue reading Latest Madison Literacy Task Force Report, Slides, Commentary and links →

Ed Treleven: An 18-year-old La Follette High School student accused of bringing a loaded gun to the Madison school last week was charged Monday with two gun possession-related charges, and also faces six additional new unrelated criminal cases. The seven new cases against Marquan Webb, of Madison, brings to 11 the number of criminal cases … Continue reading Madison La Follette student charged with bringing loaded gun to school, jailed on $30,500 bail →

Emily Hamer: Janeway said they were “very ignited by” the posts. Janeway wants to protect trans children, including the third- and fourth-graders that they teach in two Madison schools through a UW-Madison arts program called Whoopensocker. “I go back to school on Tuesday and on Thursday, and I will be face to face with kids who … Continue reading Notes on 2022 Madison School Board Candidates →

David Blaska: Yet students of color continue to be disproportionately disciplined. “The simple fact is this: black boys do commit more violent offenses in public schools than other kids,” acknowledges John McWhorter, in his book Woke Racism. You want “equity”? According to MMSD data from 2017-18, 59% of disciplinary actions were taken against boys, even … Continue reading Madison schools’ war on discipline →

Dave Cieslewicz That one demonstrated some of the dysfunction of the district. Their spokesperson denied that anything had happened at the school because, technically, the incident, which involved students enrolled at West, occurred on a sidewalk that wasn’t part of school property. The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for … Continue reading “And third, I’d like to see a candidate who can actually win.” →

Ann Althouse: By “put them in a safe place,” I think Ross means put Ethan Crumbleyin custody. He apparently begged “help me.” It sounds as though he struggled with an uncontrollable impulse. I understand the school wanting to defend itself after the fact, but what’s more important is for schools to take action to protect the students who are … Continue reading “In the Michigan Shooting, What Is the School’s Responsibility?” →

WILL The News: Governor Tony Evers vetoed curriculum transparency legislation (SB 463/ AB 488), Friday, denying parents access to the classroom materials in our public schools. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) supported the legislation to require all public schools to publicly provide access to the material taught in our public-school classrooms. The Quotes: WILL Director of … Continue reading Governor Evers Vetoes Legislation to Provide Parents with Access to Classroom Materials →

Joanne Jacobs: The pandemic has accelerated a push to ease grading and homework policies, writes Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews. “Schools have stuck to an outdated system that relies heavily on students’ compliance — completing homework, behaving in class, meeting deadlines and correctly answering questions on a one-time test — as a proxy for learning, rather than measuring … Continue reading “The popularity of low-quality online credit recovery suggests that’s a realistic concern” →

Schools aren’t the problem. They never have been. One of the frustrating things about the pandemic has been our inability, even at this late date, to understand why surges occur. They hit communities with mask mandates, and communities without. Last year, we believed that the surge from October through February was caused by seasonal changes. … Continue reading We Opened the Schools and … It Was Fine: Many parents feared the worst, but so far, no widespread COVID crisis has come to America’s classrooms. →

Will Flanders: The News: The recent release of Wisconsin’s state report cards for individual districts and schools proved, once again, that the current composition of the report card is not doing enough to reveal the true state of education and academic performance in Wisconsin’s schools. A new policy brief from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) … Continue reading Commentary on Wisconsin’s “state k-12 report card” →

Will Flanders and Dan Lennington: Ask any public high school student: violent in-school fights are on the rise and discipline is on the decline. Just consider one public high school: Madison East in Madison, Wisconsin. In late September, local media reported a series of “disturbing” cell phone videos depicting vicious fights and beatings occurring in … Continue reading What’s Behind The Massive Spike In Violence Inside Public Schools Nationwide →

Michael Bloomberg: American public education is broken. Since the pandemic began, students have experienced severe learning loss because schools remained closed in 2020—and even in 2021 when vaccinations were available to teachers and it was clear schools could reopen safely. Many schools also failed to administer remote learning adequately. Before the pandemic, about two-thirds of … Continue reading Why I’m Backing Charter Schools: The public school system is failing. My philanthropy will give $750 million to a proven alternative. →

Johnny Kampis: Unions, he says, were more concerned about protecting the pensions of the old membership than in the future benefits for new members. “They weren’t fighting for the little guy. They were fighting for themselves.”  Among the proudest accomplishments in Act 10, Walker told us, was the fight for schoolchildren. Act 10 was about … Continue reading Act 10 at 10 →

Chris Rickert: 16-year-old charged in beating outside Madison West High School A 16-year-old boy was tentatively charged with substantial battery after he punched another boy in the head outside Madison West High School Monday, police said. Police said the mother of the victim called them just before 3:30 p.m. to report the attack, which the victim did … Continue reading “LeMonds said the victim’s parents called police while at the school, but “it is likely (Madison) West staff would have also.” →

Chris Rickert: “As a community, we should be extremely concerned over a 13-year-old driving a stolen car, during rush hour, while high on (marijuana),” Hanson wrote. “Everybody’s kind of numb, and we can’t be,” he added during the interview with the State Journal. The vehicle was reported stolen on Monday, police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said, … Continue reading Intoxicated 13-year-old arrested after crashing stolen car at a Madsion Beltline off-ramp, police say →

Madison365: Madison East High School principal Sean Leavy has been reassigned to a district administration position and assistant principal Mikki Smith will take over as principal for the remainder of the school year effective Wednesday, Madison Metropolitan School District officials announced. A Sean Levy serves on the Beloit Board of Education, according to their website. … Continue reading Madison East principal removed after tumultuous start to year →

Emily Hanford and Christopher Peak Mark Seidenberg, a cognitive scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies reading and language development, said this statement doesn’t square with what decades of scientific research has shown about how reading works. “If a child is reading ‘pony’ as ‘horse,’ these children haven’t been taught to read. And they’re … Continue reading Influential authors Fountas and Pinnell stand behind disproven reading theory →

“If half the kids can’t read without paying for outside tutors, you don’t have an ‘intervention problem’ – you have a core instruction problem.” An official told me that was “deep” My respnse: It’s really not. We just abandoned common sense to justify practices and outcomes. — Kareem Weaver (@KJWinEducation) November 27, 2021 The data clearly … Continue reading Commentary on taxpayer supported k-12 reading practices →

Shannon Whitworth: Ensure that kids can read, write, understand the fundamentals of math, science and history. But a lot of public schools appear to be more interested in pushing an ideological agenda than providing children with the skills they need to compete on a global scale. For the first time, many parents started to take … Continue reading “The first and most important job of public schools is: Teach the basics” →

Clint Cooper: “To a child who doesn’t read,” the nearly 50-year-old public service television advertisement intoned, “the world is a closed book. Drifting, dropping back, dropping out. Once you start a child reading, there’s no stopping them. If America is to grow up thinking, reading is fundamental.” The commercials were made on behalf of a … Continue reading Hamilton County’s 3rd-grade reading scores languishing in the tank →

Minneapolis, among the most segregated school districts in the country, with one of the widest racial academic gaps, is in the midst of a sweeping plan to overhaul and integrate its schools. And unlike previous desegregation efforts, which typically required children of color to travel to white schools, Minneapolis officials are asking white families to … Continue reading In a citywide overhaul, a beloved Black high school was rezoned to include white students from a richer neighborhood. →

Aaron Garth Smith: Nationwide, inflation-adjusted K-12 revenues grew by nearly 24%—or $3,005 per pupil—between 2002 and 2019. During this time, per-pupil revenues increased in all but two states and 23 states plus D.C. increased their education funding by at least 20%. Notably, education spending grew by nearly 68% in New York and more than 50% … Continue reading K-12 Education Spending Spotlight: An in-depth look at school finance data and trends: up 24% in real dollars 02-19 →

Ann Althouse: Evers is at fault and so is the leadership of Kenosha.  ALSO: More government responsibility for chaos in Wisconsin: “Milwaukee County DA admits it was a mistake to grant $1,000 bail to SUV-driving felon days before he smashed into Xmas parade: Darrell Brooks was freed after running over mother of his child and … Continue reading The government — in failing to maintain order in Kenosha — deserves blame for the Kyle Rittenhouse incident. (Reading?) →

Joanne Jacobs: Forging an identity around victimhood is a mistake, McWhorter argues. The woke world view infantilizes blacks, lowering standards for them and denying them agency. Jilani, who grew up in a Pakistani immigrant family in Georgia, sees religion as a force for good. “A firm belief that all humans carry souls bestowed by God … Continue reading “Society should get behind teaching everybody to read the right way; and we should make solid vocational training as easy to obtain as a college education.” →

Elizabeth Beyer: “Folks are ready to change, it’s to what extent that we’re discussing tonight,” board president Ali Muldrow said. A committee of community members charged with the task of renaming the high school brought their suggestion before a board committee at the beginning of November after a five-month deliberation process. The committee whittled a … Continue reading Renaming Madison Memorial High school to Vel Phillips →

The Economist: “Why are Catholic schools suddenly growing?…When Catholic schools reopened, most provided in-person learning. This appealed to families who struggled with remote learning—many of the new pupils are children whose parents cannot work from home.” The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you … Continue reading America’s Catholic schools are seeing a surprising rise in enrollment →

Mark Seidenberg: Fountas and Pinnell have written a series of blog posts defending their popular curriculum, which is being criticized as based on discredited ideas about how children learn to read. (See Emily Hanford’s post here; EdReports evaluation here, many comments in the blogosphere.) The question is why school systems should continue to invest in the F&P curriculum and … Continue reading Clarity about Fountas and Pinnell →

Madeline Fox: Students in Wisconsin had two years of disrupted learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s heightened concerns about Wisconsin’s low reading scores on national assessments — only about 36 percent of Wisconsin fourth graders scored at or above proficient in reading on the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress.  A bill to assess kids’ … Continue reading What do you think about how your children are learning to read? We want to talk with you. →

Mike Antonucci: What do all these outlets have in common? Smith quoted labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein: “But what may be even more significant is the cheerleading, the hope, and the expectation for a labor upsurge that has been manifest ever since scores of eager young journalists descended upon Bessemer, Alabama, last winter to cover the … Continue reading Commentary on Teacher Union Press Cheerleading →

Elizabeth Beyer: Travis Dobson, a parent of two East students and an assistant varsity football coach, said the school is out of control and the building administration is under an all-hands-on-deck situation constantly. He said he has another child who is nearing high school age but he is considering taking his children out of the … Continue reading Commentary on taxpayer supported Madison Schools Governance and Safety Climate →

What is happening in our public schools? Tonight I will again be speaking at an event hosted by @RightsParents. Topics include CRT, vaccines, @WILawLiberty‘s litigation & policy work, and lots of time for Q&A – 6PM. Lancaster City Hall, 206 S. Madison Street, Lancaster, WI pic.twitter.com/inSf0kKgDW — Dan Lennington (@DanLennington) November 16, 2021 Meanwhile, Ali … Continue reading Parents’ Rights in Education →

Jackie Mader: First grade in particular — “the reading year,” as Miller calls it — is pivotal for elementary students. Kindergarten focuses on easing children from a variety of educational backgrounds — or none at all — into formal schooling. In contrast, first grade concentrates on moving students from pre-reading skills and simple math, like … Continue reading Pandemic first graders are way behind in reading. Experts say they may take years to catch up. →

Jill Barshay, Hillary Flynn, Chelsea Sheasley, Talia Richman, Dahlia Bazzaz and Rebecca Griesbach: More than a dozen studies have documented that students, on average, made sluggish progress in reading during the pandemic. Estimates of just how sluggish vary. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company calculated that U.S. students had lost the equivalent of almost half a school year of … Continue reading America’s reading problem: Scores were dropping even before the pandemic
Remote classes made things worse →

Naomi Kowles: — Parents of students attending Madison East High School have organized over the past week to provide a visible support system for students in the wake of massive fights Monday and higher-than-normal behavioral incidents throughout the school year. It started with a Facebook post from Antoinette Kendricks following multiple fights Monday that resulted … Continue reading ‘It takes a village’: East High parents organize to support students daily over lunch hour, dismissal →

Elizabeth Beyer: Michael Johnson, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County, said the conflicts are likely driven by a combination of factors, including the city and school district’s move to pull police officers, known as school resource officers, or SROs, out of the high schools without a solid plan for … Continue reading Madison K-12 Governance amidst Fights at East High School →

Robin Lake: What happened during the past 20 months should have been entirely predictable for anyone who was advocating for students and families before the pandemic struck. A rigid system designed for sameness cracked under the pressure of a crisis. Despite the exhaustive work of many well-meaning people, schools and school systems were largely unable … Continue reading The COVID Crisis Cracked Our Education System. A New Reform Coalition Must Come Together to Fix It in the Interest of Children →

Alex Tabarrok: Matt Yglesias has an excellent post on schooling and politicsemphasizing three points. First, there is a lot of diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) nonsense which the schools are using to train teachers and administrators. Second, at the same time the school administrators/teacher’s unions are generally ignoring the very real cost to children and parents … Continue reading K-12 Governance and Politics →

Sarah Schwartz: Two of the nation’s most popular early literacy programs that have been at the center of a debate over how to best teach reading both faced more new critiques in the past few weeks, receiving bottom marks on an outside evaluation of their materials. EdReports—a nonprofit organization that reviews K-12 instructional materials in … Continue reading New Curriculum Review Gives Failing Marks to Two Popular Reading Programs
Fountas and Pinnell, Calkins’ Units of Study get low marks on EdReports →

Logan Rude, Brad Hamilton More than 600 students did not show up for classes on Tuesday, the district said, more than one-third of the total 1,717 students enrolled at East. As of noon, 277 were excused and 325 had not shown up and were not excused, though secretaries were still updating records at that time. … Continue reading One-third of students stay home following Monday fights at Madison East High School →

Matthew Yglesias: The last few years have seen a demagogic conservative push against the use of “critical race theory” in schools. This effort has featured some obvious villains, including policy entrepreneurs exploiting the issue for gain and racist parents getting mad about children learning the story of Ruby Bridges.  If you are so inclined (and many … Continue reading A dangerous attack on efforts to measure learning →

Wisconsin State Journal: But the open seat on the Madison School Board was created when the board president retired after being taunted in foul ways outside her private home. Can you blame her? A school board member in Beaver Dam similarly resigned this fall, citing safety concerns for his family. Madison’s schools were closed most … Continue reading Commentary on the 2022 Madison School Election →

Elizabeth Beyer: Police responded to an active fight involving dozens of students outside school property at around 11:37 a.m.More than 15 officers were dispatched to the scene and the incident remains an open and active investigation, Madison Police officer Ryan Kimberley said in a statement.  Interim Principal Mikki Smith declined to comment and instructed staff who were … Continue reading Watch now: Melee outside Madison East High draws heavy police response, pepper spray, ambulances →

Joanne Jacobs: Shane Trotter was an eager beaver when he began teaching high school 10 years ago. He was working in what was considered the best school in a “destination district.” But his students were unprepared to take notes or write short responses on tests, he writes in Quillette. I’d spend entire classes explaining what I wanted to … Continue reading No-fail policy fails students, teachers →

Minneapolis parents have taken their frustrations with the school district’s level of illiteracy to the superintendent’s house pic.twitter.com/dSVOLyoUDa — Beth Hawkins (@beth_hawkins) November 7, 2021 Seth 2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results  Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous … Continue reading Protesting illiteracy in Minneapolis →

Amazing: teacher union president @rweingarten — who demands kids stay in masks all day at school including while outside — got caught partying with NY politicos in an *indoor* “packed room” all night in a Puerto Rico ballroom with no mask, and justifies it this way: pic.twitter.com/AJjEa1MLKb — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 6, 2021 James … Continue reading Mandates for the little people →

Assumption rot: the US supply chain has a basic level of security and there are people both ‘willing and able’ to make sure it does. https://t.co/CmkqQATJcF — John Robb (@johnrobb) November 6, 2021 One could apply the same analysis to our long term, disastrous reading results and the Governor’s teacher mulligans. 2017: West High Reading … Continue reading Civics: Assumption Rot →

Tyler Cowen: Among the big losers will be the American upper middle class, especially those with jobs connected to information technology and those who can work from home. They will face much more competition in the labor market than before. They may have some natural advantages of education and cultural fluency, but they are not … Continue reading The tyranny of our low expectations / long term, disastrous reading results and teacher mulligans →

McAuliffe’s mistake was thinking Randi Weingarten has as much influence with Virginia voters as she has with the CDC. pic.twitter.com/5N7ipOhE6I — Mike Antonucci (@UnionReport74) November 3, 2021 2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results  Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated … Continue reading K-12 Political Class Commentary →

Governor Evers: TO THE HONORABLE MEMBERS OF THE SENATE:I am vetoing Senate Bill 454 in its entirety. The bill would mandate school boards and independent charter schools to assess the early literacy skill of pupils in four-year-old kindergarten to second grade using repeated screening assessments throughout the year and to create a personal reading plan … Continue reading Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results →

Mike Antonucci: In a much-disputed action, the local’s board of directors voted 7-4 on Oct. 25 to approve a memorandum of understanding that gave the state union authority over most of its finances and operations. The story was first reported by Jared Foretek of InsideNoVa.com. “Specific concerns regarding the management and government of the PWEA have … Continue reading Amid Crucial State Elections, Virginia Education Association Places its Second-Largest Local Under Trusteeship →

Anya Kamenetz: Instead, the parents she talks to are upset that their children are still struggling, socially and emotionally as well as academically. She likens extended remote schooling to a form of “solitary confinement.” Fights are breaking out at school. Bus driver shortages have parents summoned to pick their kids up unpredictably. There are substitutes covering classes. … Continue reading Why education was a top voter priority this election (….) →

Scott Girard: Madison Metropolitan School District high school students got a higher percentage of A grades in the 2020-21 pandemic school year than they did during the 2018-19 school year, new data show. The data provide another measure of academic progress during one of the most challenging years in education in recent memory. It’s a … Continue reading More “A” grades in the Madison School District →

Here’s Youngkin’s riff on education got the biggest cheers. Watch it here: pic.twitter.com/T8D6xCKhMu — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) November 2, 2021 .@AFTunion President @rweingarten is speaking at McAuliffe’s rally now #vagov pic.twitter.com/Kj2C55Iw5X — Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) November 1, 2021 2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results  Madison’s taxpayer … Continue reading Notes on Virginia k-12 Governance →

James Hankins: In 2020 the American educational system was attacked by two viruses: Covid-19 and an unusually virulent strain of hyper-progressive ideology. Many parents and educators have been shocked and disoriented to find that institutions they trusted appear to have been taken over by zombie Marxists, filled with self-righteous anger. Unless they are from “URMs” … Continue reading We Shouldn’t Let the Education Crisis Go to Waste →

By Kadjata Bah, Josepha DaCosta and Moises Hernandez The Kohlenberg paper looks closely at school-to-prison pipelines and uses the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause to emphasize her case. She points out the Constitution “authorizes and mandates Congress to guarantee a meaningful floor of adequate functional literacy instruction nationwide.” During the past few years, federal courts have … Continue reading In support of Wisconsin AB446, urging Governor Evers signature →

Abbi Debelack: The latest data on testing and proficiency rates for Wisconsin’s children were recently released by the Department of Public Instruction and it is not pretty. Yet despite the alarmingly low test scores, there appears to be little to no outrage by the media and education establishment. Each year, Wisconsin students, in various grades, … Continue reading Deeper Dive: Wisconsin K12 Schools’ Abysmal Proficiency Rates →

Dave Cieslewicz: Removing police from Madison’s public high schools never made any sense. It was destined for disaster. Today’s news brings evidence that the disaster is upon us.  On Wednesday afternoon about 100 people brought an altercation that began inside East High School onto a street that borders the school. Ten Madison cops and a supervisor had to … Continue reading Get Cops Back in (Madison) Schools →

Scott Girard: The board added an addendum to the Behavior Education Plan for grades 4K-5 outlawing out-of-school suspensions beginning Tuesday. District officials and board members hope the change will keep more students in school, especially the Black students who have been disproportionately disciplined using suspensions. A presentation last month along with the proposal to eliminate the suspensions showed … Continue reading Madison School Board approves suspension moratorium for grades 4K-5 →

MD Kittle: The latest woeful proficiency numbers show what conservative lawmakers have been saying for a long time: It’s not about dumping more money on the problem. These are failing grades a long time in the making, and they have much to do with the failings of the “Education Governor.” Before winning election in 2018, … Continue reading More failing grades for the ‘Education Governor’ →

An unidentified DPI writer: We can improve children’s literacy through authentic family engagement, not increased assessment To create students who stay curious and inquisitive throughout their lives – active participants in democracy, critical consumers of information, creative contributors to our communities – we need to ensure our students are literate. When it comes to literacy … Continue reading Mission vs Organization: Wisconsin DPI punts on reading, again →

Elizabeth Blair: When The Electric Company debuted in October 1971, television hadn’t seen anything quite like it. Psychedelic graphics, wildly creative animation, mod outfits, over-the-top characters and sketch comedy all functioned to serve the same goal: teaching kids to read.  Brought to you by the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) — the same producers behind Sesame Street, which debuted … Continue reading 50 years ago, ‘The Electric Company’ used comedy to boost kids’ reading skills →

More can be said. For one, something much like engagement did work with Taiwan & South Korea, as they transitioned to democracy. And arguably the US prosperity of 90s-00s was based *in part* on China doing grueling hard work while America watched Friends. It wasn’t a gimme. pic.twitter.com/o6rvkWeEud — Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) October 26, 2021 … Continue reading The price of teacher mulligans →

Elizabeth Beyer: The total budget increases expenditures by 11.41% over the previous school year, which includes one-time federal and local COVID-19-related funding. The district expects a 4.5% increase in general state aid, or $40.2 million, even though the state provided no increase in the revenue limit. Enrollment, used to calculate the amount of state aid … Continue reading 8.9% (!) Madison School District Property Tax increase, amidst substantial spending growth… (results?) →

October 21 WisPolitics Event (about 41 minutes into the video clip). A followup questioner, at 47:10, mentioned that the response to my question was money and in fact the school districts that spend the most money (Milwaukee and Madison) have among the worst results. mp3 audio Transcript (Machine generated). Related: AB446. Ben Wikler and a … Continue reading My question to Ben Wikler & Paul Farrow on Our Disastrous Reading Results and the 2022 Wisconsin Governor Race →

Scott Girard: Other groups that have registered against the bill include the Association of Wisconsin School Administrators, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance and the Wisconsin State Reading Association. Those in support include the Wisconsin Reading Coalition, Decoding Dyslexia-WI and the Wisconsin Branch of The International Dyslexia Association. Dykstra, a … Continue reading Notes on addressing the politics and substance of Wisconsin’s long term, disastrous reading results →

Philip Hamburger: The public school system weighs on parents. It burdens them not simply with poor teaching and discipline, but with political bias, hostility toward religion, and now even sexual and racial indoctrination. Schools often seek openly to shape the very identity of children. What can parents do about it? “I don’t think parents should … Continue reading Is the Public School System Constitutional? →

Jeff Richgels: More than 10 police officers and a supervisor responded to fights amid a crowd of more than 100 students and parents outside East High School Wednesday afternoon, Madison police said. Police found no one with injuries from the incident, although several people left the scene shortly after police arrived, Officer Ryan Kimberley said in … Continue reading Madison East High School Fight among 100 →