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School Strings Cut Plan Blasted by Lee Sensenbrenner, The Capital Times

Strings Plucked: Once again, District administrators attack elementary music and art to the tune of nearly $800,000, including total elimination of the elementary string progam. Their pitch is off and their song is out of tune. Keys and Carstensen have no plans to reach out to fine arts students and teachers for their support – […]

School Board Candidates Respond to Questions About TAG Programming

The following was passed along by Kristin Meyer who attended the Northside candidates forum. Kristin asked the candidates about their position on supporting TAG services/support during ongoing budgetary shortfalls, and summarizes below the responses from each candidate. She reports that there was also a statement related to how the TAG program has already taken cuts […]

Madison Times report on Donna Ford’s visit

“African American and Hispanic students are underrepresented by 50 percent in gifted programs,” Ford said. “I am determined that before I leave this place, I am going to desegregate gifted education.”

The Art of Education Success by Nick Rabkin and Robin Redmond

Rabkin and Redmond wrote in the Washington Post on January 8, 2005 that “…the arts are not just affective and expressive. They are also deeply cognitive.” Districts with music and art curriculum standards and benchmarks tied to other curriculum see improved test scores. The research is showing more and more that children’s learning directly benefits […]

At a Frontier of School Reform, Getting Millions, Seeking More

JACKSON, Ky., Dec. 3 – As New York City schools celebrate the findings by a court-appointed panel that could bring them $5.6 billion more every year, the schools under the sawed-off mountains here in the heart of coal country tell a hopeful but cautionary tale of what may lie ahead. Once the Kentucky Supreme Court […]

Visions Of Violins For Christmas – Shortage of String Instruments for Low Income Elementary Students

Leopold Elementary Needs Donations Of Violins, Violas And Cellos So That All Of The Students In Its Popular Strings Classes Can Take An Instrument Home To Practice. Read Sandy Cullen’s full article:

WSJ Opinion: Reading between the lines of rigidity

The WSJ Editorial page published a very useful editorial this morning on the Madison School District’s rejection of $2M in federal Reading First funds for reading improvement programs: Taxpayers have the right to ask why the Madison School District would turn its back on a $2 million grant. Read a number of other articles on […]

Life Way After Head Start – Innovative PreSchool Programs Have Decades Long Effects for Low Income and Minority Children

Madison’s preschool leaders are advocating for an innovative K-4 program that involves a public/private partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District, City of Madison and Madison preschools. There are proposed options that will build upon current preschool programs and entry into public school. As the article below states, innovative pre-school programs can have decades long […]

The Yin & Yang of Curriculum

Interesting timing, given Jeff’s post below about West’s intention to drop advanced biology. Doug Erickson on Madison Country Day School’s expansion announcement: Madison Country Day School broke ground Thursday on a $4.8 million expansion that will add a gymnasium, a performing arts stage and 13 classrooms. The addition, which will house the private school’s middle […]

Incomplete

Paul Burka takes an interesting look at the way the Texas Education Agency manages and calculates the dropout rate: WHEN MY DAUGHTER FINISHED HER FRESHMAN year at Johnston High School, in Austin, where she was a student in a liberal-arts magnet program, I paid a visit to the college adviser to find out her class […]

New York’s “Pseudo Charters”

Caroline Hendrie: How much slack should a big-city district cut its schools to maximize student performance? That�s the question that New York City school leaders want to explore with an experimental governance model they are calling the “autonomy zone.” Started this month with 30 secondary schools, the pilot project sets specific performance targets for schools […]

Call to Action for Teachers & Arts Advocates

I�ve just learned about the agenda for the Monday, September 20th School Board meeting that includes a proposal to transfer additional funds to the athletic afterschool budget from the educational contingency fund. On Monday night, September 20th the School Board will be holding a special Board meeting. There will be public appearances. I think the […]

Long Range Planning Committee Advisory Members

On August 30, the Long Range Planning Committee of the Madison School Board met with its advisory members for the first time. Advisory members in attendance were Dawn Crim, Joan Eggert, Jill Jokela, Lucy Mathiak, Pat Mooney, and Jan Sternbach. Teresa Tellez-Giron (nominated by Board member Juan Lopez) withdrew before our initial meeting. LRP Committee […]

The �No Child� Law�s Biggest Victims

There is overwhelming evidence that gifted students simply do not succeed on their own.

B Sharp Not Flat

In an effort to find funding for custodians and maintenance work, a Madison Board member proposed an unprecedented $460 fee for elementary strings, which is an academic curriculum subject in the Madison School District. No other fee, not even for extracurricular sports is as high. He noted as part of his explanation for the fee […]

MMSD Administration’s Cost Analysis of Elementary Strings is Out of Tune – A Critique

If the City of Madison is to have confidence in the School Board’s decisions, a fair and equitable budget process that is clear and understandable to the public is essential. In late April 2004, the District Administration responded to the Bill Keys’ question about the cost of the District’s elementary strings program. The following letter […]