“The average Black student in Mississippi performed about 1.5 grade levels ahead of the average Black student in Wisconsin. Just think about that for a moment.
Tim Daly:
Mississippi Can’t Possibly Have Good Schools
And yet it does. Are we ready to deal?
Underperforming states escape scrutiny. Our biases prevent us from asking, for instance, what’s going on in Oregon. Or Vermont. Or Maryland. There’s a case to be made that their instructional quality is among the weakest in the country based on their performance trends over the past decade. And yet, when’s the last time you heard them being pressed to defend their poor results.
Blue states are losing population. Estimates vary, but states Kamala Harris won in 2024 will probably surrender 12 congressional seats – and electoral votes – after the next census.
Given that reality, Democrats picked a terrible time to go AWOL on the issue of education. Harris barely mentioned schools during her campaign and did not put forth any plan to address the incredible academic losses of the COVID era. What was once a double-digit lead in voter trust on education has now become a dead heat or a slight advantage for Republicans.
There is a future where blue states are left behind electorally, through declining clout, and educationally, through stubborn refusal to accept that a number of red states are solving important problems and expanding opportunity for kids while wealthier, complacent Democratic strongholds phone it in. If Republicans start running – and winning – on their education track records, look out.
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School spending is way up, but teacher pay? Not so much. In Los Angeles, spending soared 108% while salaries rose only 5%. What are we really prioritizing: higher pay or more staff? Because we can’t have both.
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The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
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”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
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 reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?
