Amy Hetzner: The School District’s virtual high school has delivered its first financial surplus to the school system more than a year after it faced an uncertain future amid budgetary losses. The district received about $65,000 more than it spent on the 3-year-old school, called iQ Academies at Wisconsin, for 2006-’07 in the first year … Continue reading Waukesha Virtual School Generates a Cash Surplus
Robert Rothman: As the unprecedented push to improve American education enters the midpoint of its third decade, reformers can claim some success. Yet no one would argue that the job is done, particularly in the nation’s cities. Even the most successful urban school districts, the winners of the Broad Prize for Urban Education, would acknowledge … Continue reading Building ‘Smart Education Systems’
Indianapolis Star-Tribune Editorial: At the beginning of the 2005-06 school year, there were 969 seniors left in Indianapolis Public Schools’ graduating class. By the end of the school year, nearly 1,300 seniors collected diplomas from the district. Yes, you read that correctly. IPS had 33 percent more graduates than seniors who began the year, the … Continue reading Let’s get real about Indiana school data
Oh, that every one of our high schools had a “AAA” (“African American Achievement”) Team. —LAF Susan Troller The Capital Times 8/1/2007 The only guy who can truly hold you back is the guy in the mirror,” cartoonist Robb Armstrong told a group of mostly male, mostly African-American students at La Follette High School on … Continue reading Cartoonist among role models for high school boys.
The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) recently submitted a five year, $5 million grant proposal to the US Department of Education (DOE) to support the creation of Small Learning Communities (SLCs) in all four high schools (See here for post re. grant application). While the grant proposal makes mention of the two smaller SLC grants … Continue reading District SLC Grant – Examining the Data From Earlier Grants, pt. 1
Video / 20MB Mp3 Audio Superintendent Art Rainwater gave a presentation on “Value Added Assessment” to the Madison School Board’s Performance & Achievement committee Monday evening. Art described VAA “as a method to track student growth longitudinally over time and to utilize that data to look at how successful we are at all levels of … Continue reading “Value Added Assessment” Madison School Board’s Performance & Achievement Committee Looks at “A Model to Measure Student Performance”
Neal McCluskey: NCLB’s biggest problem is that it’s designed to help Washington politicians appear all things to all people. To look tough on bad schools, it requires states to establish standards and tests in reading, math and science, and it requires all schools to make annual progress toward 100% reading and math proficiency by 2014. … Continue reading No Standards Left Behind
A surge of action and proposed action, a president who wants his hands on a lot of things and bad blood between board members – the heat is growing at Milwaukee School Board meetings, and it is creating an environment in which Superintendent William Andrekopoulos is facing the stiffest political challenges of his five years in office.
The election in April of Michael Bonds to replace Ken Johnson on the board, followed by the election of Peter Blewett as the board’s president, have put into power two people with strong feelings about doing things differently from the way Andrekopoulos wants.
And they are acting on those feelings.
A central role for the board president is to name members of the committees that do most of the board’s work. The president usually gives his allies the dominant positions but doesn’t put himself in many roles.
Blewett has done much more than that – he named himself chairman of two committees, one that handles the budget and strategic direction of Milwaukee Public Schools and one that handles questions of policy and rules, and he named himself as a member of two other major committees, handling finance and safety. He also named Bonds to head the Finance Committee, an unusual step, given that Bonds was brand new.
Blewett and Bonds, who have formed a generally close relationship, have also been submitting a relative flood of proposals for the board to take up. Since May 1, the two have submitted 34 resolutions between them, with nine others coming from the other seven members of the board.
Some seek major changes in MPS practices or to reopen issues previously decided by the board. Included would be reopening Juneau High School, reuniting Washington High School into one operation (it has been broken into three), restoring ninth-grade athletics and building up arts programs in schools.
The total of 43 resolutions is more than board members submitted in the entire year in six of the eight previous years. Seventeen resolutions were introduced at a board meeting last week, 14 of them written or co-written by Blewett or Bonds.
Although this might seem like a bureaucratic matter, it is a key element of efforts by Blewett and Bonds to shake up the central administration of MPS. They are challenging Andrekopoulos openly in ways not seen in prior years, when a firm majority of board members supported Andrekopoulos.
He and Bonds have been critical of Andrekopoulos and the previous board for not doing enough to listen to people in the city as a whole and for not providing enough information to the board.
Blewett said his main agenda item as president is “to engage the community.” Just holding public hearings or meetings around the community is not enough, he said, referring to a round of community meetings last fall on a new strategic plan for MPS as “spectacular wastes of time and money.” He said people who work in schools, parents and the community in general need meaningful involvement.
“I really want to make sure that we’re investigating every opportunity to engage the public and provide our students with quality learning experiences that get beyond reading and math,” he said.
Bonds said, “I have a very aggressive agenda to change the direction of the School District.”
He was strongly critical of policies such as the redesigning of high schools led by Andrekopoulos in recent years, including the creation of numerous small high schools.
“Given the resources we (MPS) have, we should be providing a better product,” he said. “I feel the administration has led us down a failed path.”
There are similar issues at play in Madison. The local school board’s composition has significantly changed over the past few years – much for the better. Time will tell, whether that governance change translates into a necessary new direction for our $339M+, 24, 342 student Madison School District. Alan Borsuk is a Madison West High Grad.
The City University of New York is beginning a drive to raise admissions requirements at its senior colleges, its first broad revision since its trustees voted to bar students needing remedial instruction from its bachelor’s degree programs nine years ago.
In 2008, freshmen will have to show math SAT scores 20 to 30 points higher than they do now to enter the university’s top-tier colleges — Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter and Queens — and its six other senior colleges.
Students now can also qualify for the bachelor’s degree programs with satisfactory scores on the math Regents examination or on placement tests; required cutoffs for those tests will also be raised.
Open admissions policies at the community colleges will be unaffected.
“We are very serious in taking a group of our institutions and placing them in the top segment of universities and colleges,” said Matthew Goldstein, the university chancellor, who described the plan in an interview. “That is the kind of profile we want for our students.”
Dr. Goldstein said that the English requirements for the senior colleges would be raised as well, but that the math cutoff would be raised first because that was where the students were “so woefully unprepared.”
Speaking of Math, I’m told that the MMSD’s Math Task Force did not obtain the required NSF Grant. [PDF Overview, audio / video introduction] and Retiring Superintendent Art Rainwater’s response to the School Board’s first 2006-2007 Performance Goal:
1. Initiate and complete a comprehensive, independent and neutral review and assessment of the District’s K-12 math curriculum. The review and assessment shall be undertaken by a task force whose members are appointed by the Superintendent and approved by the BOE. Members of the task force shall have math and math education expertise and represent a variety of perspectives regarding math education.
National Council on Teacher Quality: A letter to the editor in today’s Wall Street Journal brings more attention to the low academic performance of the average teacher with more meaningful data than just how well (or poorly) aspiring teachers perform on the SAT. On the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) which many teachers take before entering … Continue reading Teacher Preparation and Licensure: “EDUCATOR QUALITY TAKES ANOTHER SLAM: ABYSMAL GRE SCORES ACROSS THE BOARD”
Jay Matthews: In the five years since a federal law mandated an expansion of reading and math tests, 44 percent of school districts nationwide have made deep cutbacks in social studies, science, art and music lessons in elementary grades and have even slashed lunchtime, a new survey has found. The most detailed look at the … Continue reading English, Math Time Up in ‘No Child’ Era: 44% of Schools Polled Reduce Other Topics
Justin Pope: For most of history, higher education has been reserved for a tiny elite. For a glimpse of a future where college is open to all, visit California — the place that now comes closest to that ideal. California’s community college system is the country’s largest, with 109 campuses, 4,600 buildings and a staggering … Continue reading California’s students get into college, but not always out
Andrew Gumbel: When I told some actor friends about my experience, they immediately labeled it a scam. So did officials from the Association of Talent Agents, and from the Screen Actors Guild. What surprised me was how sophisticated the scam was – the company had my children (and, I would imagine, many parents) eating out … Continue reading Harvesting Kids
Rep. Karl Van Roy: Calling an increase in spending or funding a ‘cut,’ just because it isn’t as much as someone proposed, is a textbook example of “Madison Math.” In the coming weeks, you’ll be hearing a lot about the Assembly version of the budget and a good portion of the criticism will be false … Continue reading “A primer on “Madison Math” – when is a ‘cut’ really a cut?”
Amy Kazmin: In the dilapidated former canteen of Thailand’s Wat Si Sutharam School, about 20 Burmese children – aged five to 15 – sit on benches, carefully copying the first letter of the Thai alphabet in lined notebooks. Among them is 10-year-old Sai Htaw, a boy from Burma’s ethnic Mon minority, whose mother, San Aye, … Continue reading Learn to read Thai, get an education
Christina Samuels: When leaders of the North East Independent district realized some students weren’t succeeding, they rolled up their sleeves and went to work. The results were dramatic. The North East Independent School District, serving part of the city of San Antonio, cherishes its image as a diverse system of high-achieving students bound for college. … Continue reading Texas District Makes Gains With Special Education
Donovan Slack: Seven-year-old Brajon Brown is clearly a child. He hasn’t committed a crime, though he talks about it. His 12-year-old brother, Malcolm also is not in a gang – at least not one police recognize. He runs with a “crew” of friends formed when Malcolm was 9. Boston police call them “wannabes” and say … Continue reading “A Loss of Innocence: Young brothers’ lives are example of the lure of gangs”
Merriam-Webster: Just two years after a majority of visitors to Merriam-Webster OnLine declared it to be their “Favorite Word (Not in the Dictionary),” the adjective “ginormous” (now officially defined as “extremely large: humongous”), has won a legitimate place in the 2007 copyright update of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Merriam-Webster updates its best-selling Collegiate® Dictionary … Continue reading “New” words in Webster’s 2007 Edition
Jay Matthews: Charter School City, otherwise known as Washington, D.C., has 25 percent of its public school students attending those independently run, taxpayer-supported schools. That is more than any other American city except New Orleans and Dayton, Ohio. Given their unique political location, the D.C. charters have gotten the most publicity, including surveys showing that … Continue reading An “Honest Look at Charter Schools”
Madison Parent: Madison Police Department Chief Noble Wray spoke on downtown safety at the monthly meeting of Downtown Madison, Inc. on June 28, 2007, and also briefly addressed the topic of gang activity in Madison schools during the program, as reported in The Capital Times (via the MadCrime101 blog, a welcome and valuable new resource … Continue reading Madison Police Chief on Gangs in Schools
Sean Cavanaugh 884K PDF: The document, produced by the Washington-based American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, provides descriptions of 50 teacher-education programs around the country. Although the report does not identify any single program or approach as most effective in swelling the ranks of math and science teachers, it says that more institutions are … Continue reading Preparing STEM Teachers: The Key to Global Competitiveness
www.tutorvista.com: Our mission is to provide world-class tutoring and high-quality content to students around the world. TutorVista.com is the premier online destination for affordable education – anytime, anywhere and in any subject. Students can access our service from the convenience of their home or school. They use our comprehensive and thorough lessons and question bank … Continue reading Tutor Vista
Portland Public Schools: On May 16 and 17, Portland Public Schools, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects along with our sponsors, Innovation Partnership, Comcast, the City of Portland, the Portland Schools Foundation and PGE, held a community summit to identify ideas, explore possibilities and develop a set of guiding principles regarding the nature … Continue reading Reshaping the Portland, Oregon Public Schools Summit
Click for a larger version The recent Wall Street Journal article “Mainstreaming Trend Tests Classroom Goals” by John Hechinger included some useful charts along with a look at Key US Special Education Legislation: 1966—Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Amendments): Creates Bureau of Education of the Handicapped. Establishes federal grants to help educate special-needs students with … Continue reading Key Special Education Legislation & School Climate
Sara Mead and Andrew Rotherham: Until a few years ago, America’s elementary and secondary schools generally escaped our national obsession with lists. Almost every week another ranking of best communities, most beautiful people or top hospitals is published. But in 1998 Newsweek, which is owned by The Washington Post, began publishing a list of “The … Continue reading Challenging the High School “Challenge Index”
Chan Stroman posted a valuable and in-depth examination of the District’s WKCE scores, and is it in the spirit of that posting that I would like to share my own little examination of our most recent test results. Rather than focusing on the scores of our students, this is an investigation of the numbers of … Continue reading More on WKCE scores – Missing Students
After much consideration, I have decided to vote against the tentative agreement negotiated by the District and the MTI teachers union. I will do so because the agreement fails to include significant health insurance changes, and as a result, unreasonably depresses the salary increases that can be provided to our teachers. While the total salary … Continue reading Statement on MMSD/MTI Tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement Vote
Michael Alison Chandler: Higher starting salaries, more rigorous teacher training programs and additional support for first year teachers are just a few of the incentives needed to deal with a projected shortfall of more than 280,000 math and science teachers across the country by 2015, according to a group of business, foundation and higher education … Continue reading Higher starting salaries, more rigorous teacher training for Math & Science
Doug Erickson: A couple of years ago, the students likely would have been suspended. But under a new approach to discipline being tried in the district, the students instead were given the option of coming up with a fix-it plan — something more than just saying, “I’m sorry.” The students chose to spend all of … Continue reading Madison’s Adoption of the Kronenberg “Positive Behavior Support” Principles
Howard Blume: Sherry Lansing retired as head of Paramount Pictures two years ago to head a foundation devoted to education and other causes. What if, she wondered recently, other retirees like her wanted to do the same. Well, not exactly like her and not precisely the same way. She had in mind a lower-budget, in-the-trenches … Continue reading A Public-Private Effort to Fill Teacher Vacancies in Math and Science
I have a friend who is fond of saying “never ascribe to maliciousness that which can be accounted for by incompetence.” These words have become a touchstone for me in my dealings with the Madison schools. I work harder than some people might ever believe to remember that every teacher, administrator and staff person I … Continue reading Accelerated Biology at West HS Stands Still
Jamaal Abdul-Alim: The military features prominently in Room 412 of the Milwaukee Education Center – a special education classroom that contains some of the school’s most challenging students. A U.S. Marine flag hangs just beneath the American flag. War books are propped up on a blackboard tray. The teacher at the front of the class … Continue reading Troops to Teachers
Christina Samuels: The new law retains the previous measure’s concept of creating a “learning community” of the 11 districts, located in Douglas and Salpy counties, which educate about 100,000 children. The goal is for each school to have 35 percent students who are of low socioeconomic status. Students would be able to transfer freely between … Continue reading Omaha-Area Districts to Share Revenue, Programs
Good Health Care at an Affordable Price: Reduce Costs by $12 Million Put a Lid on the Cookie Jar: Cut Taxes Over $9 Million Eliminate Chaos: Board Decisions; Priceless: Improve Student Achievement. MADISON MARKET COMPARITIVE HEALTH CARE COSTS The bargained contract between the Madison Metropolitan School District and Madison Teachers, Inc. (representing teachers) stipulates health … Continue reading 3 Simple Things: Conduct Board Business Differently
In reference to current talk about a referenda proposal by the Madison Metropolitan School Board (MMSD), Active Citizens for Education (ACE) will hold a news conference this coming Tuesday, June 5th at 12:15 p.m. at The Coliseum Bar, 232 East Olin Ave, Madison [map]. The group will advance three proposals that the School Board should … Continue reading SCHOOL BOARD WATCHDOG GROUP TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE TUESDAY at 12:15 pm
Audrey Hoffer: The silence crackled in a downtown hotel Thursday as Isabel A. Jacobson, an eighth-grader from Madison and the sole Wisconsin entrant to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, enunciated “c-y-a-n-o-p-h-y-t-i-o-n.” Ping, the telltale final bell. Shoulders shrugging helplessly. Applause. Misspelling the word cyanophycean, Isabel, the last girl in the group of five finalists, dropped … Continue reading Isabel Jacobson National Spelling Bee Roundup
Kwame Kilpatrick: Imagine what would happen if Detroit’s auto manufacturers decided to build and sell only mid-size sedans. Despite whatever media campaign they might mount to convince consumers a mid-size sedan was what they should buy, there would clearly still be buyers who would want to purchase SUVs or other types of vehicles. Worse, there … Continue reading Detroit Mayor Advocates Charters
Amy Hetzner: What the law doesn’t mandate is how students such as Adam will be educated – even though state legislators have identified programming for students with gifts and talents as one of 20 essential components of public education. The result? A mixed bag of approaches for how Wisconsin students identified as gifted are educated. … Continue reading Law lacks direction for gifted students
Jay Matthews: It’s no secret to most high school students that taking the required courses, getting good grades and receiving a diploma don’t take much work. The average U.S. high school senior donning a cap and gown this spring will have spent an hour a day on homework and at least three hours a day … Continue reading Core Classes Not Enough, Report Warns
Abdul Kargbo: In today’s debates about how best to improve student performance, little mention is made of how students’ personal views on learning may affect their academic achievement. Specifically, commentators seldom discuss students’ understanding of the utility of an education and the effects of this perception on how much they value education and how well … Continue reading Where Education Is a Matter of Prestige
Test scores from the November 2006 Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) and companion Wisconsin Alternate Assessment (WAA) were released by the state Department of Public Instruction this week. The MMSD press release on Madison students’ scores (“Despite changes and cuts, Madison students test well”) reports the following “notable achievements”: that reading scores have remained … Continue reading 2006 MMSD WKCE Scores: A Closer Look
On Saturday, June 2, 14 area high school students will receive Certificates of Graduation for completing an intensive information technology training program through the University of Wisconsin-Madison called the Information Technology Academy (ITA). ITA is a four-year precollege program that provides hands-on training and access to technology for talented students of color and economically disadvantaged … Continue reading Local high school students graduate from Information Technology Academy
Sara: Campaigning in Florida today, Senator/Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton put forward an ambitious policy proposal to move the U.S. towards universal preschool education. This is the first major education proposal rolled out by the Clinton campaign, and it’s a good one. The plan would provide states with matching grants (starting at $5 billion federal investment … Continue reading Hilary Clinton’s Universal Preschool Proposal
“Zen Habits“: I don’t claim to be the world’s most patient parent — but it’s a goal of mine for this year, and it’s something I’m dedicated to becoming. Every parent loses his or her patience — it’s a fact of life. There are no perfect angels when it comes to moms and dads — … Continue reading How to Become a Patient Parent
Thursday, June 7, 2007 The Madison Club 11:30 a.m. – Networking 12:00 noon – Lunch & Program Sponsor: Jennifer Krueger, Murphy Desmond, S.C. The Madison area, we like to believe, offers many of the advantages of a larger city without the worst trials of big-city life – crime and violence among them. Recently, however, the … Continue reading Law Enforcement and Crime Control in Madison — The Business Forum
Memorial is the only Madison High School in the top 1200 (1084), while Verona ranked 738th. Washington Post: The Washington Post Challenge Index measures a public high school’s effort to challenge its students. The formula is simple: Divide the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests a school gave by the number of … Continue reading 2007 Challenge Index: Ranking America’s High Schools
Alan Borsuk: While the number of gym teachers and music teachers is set to drop 15% in Milwaukee Public Schools from this year to next, and the number of teachers, education assistants and secretaries is also going down, one group of MPS employees will grow 25%. It’s the staff serving School Board members themselves. In … Continue reading Milwaukee Schools Add Assistant, Analyst to Board Staff
Susan Brink: The public school enrollment of autistic children, whether born into privileged or impoverished circumstances, has gone from a trickle to a flood. Their legal rights are crashing up against strapped school budgets. Under two federal laws — the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act, both passed in the 1970s and … Continue reading Students’ rights versus limited means: Special Needs Children and School Budgets
Susan Lampert Smith: So kids, what did we learn from the Madison School Board’s decision Monday to reverse itself and not consolidate the half-empty Marquette and Lapham elementary schools? We learned that no doesn’t really mean no. We learned that, oops, maybe there is money after all. And most importantly, we learned that whoever yells … Continue reading Madison School Board “Kowtows to Complainers”
Todd Berry: No question is asked more often of WISTAX researchers by the public and press than: How does Wisconsin’s tax burden compare with other states? And no issue is more debated by partisans and interest group advocates at the State Capitol. Two reliable tax rankings Based on the most recent national data available (fiscal … Continue reading Clearing Up Tax Rank Confusion
Alan Borsuk: Two men, who often did not work together openly in the past, stood Monday in front of a crowd that, at many times, wouldn’t have been receptive to either of them. “From our standpoint, this is a remarkable day,” said Sam Carmen, executive director of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, as he and … Continue reading Milwaukee Schools’ New Strategic Plan
Geoff Colvin: In a world of rapidly rising standards and economic rewards for knowledge, are some American parents actually hostile to education? In my travels I’m seeing evidence that the answer is yes. It’s just bits and pieces so far but worth our attention, because in a globalizing economy, with the question of the U.S.’s … Continue reading Parents are failing the education test
Talk of the Nation: Educators and politicians have pushed the goal of a laptop for every student. But a number of early adapting schools say the laptops aren’t helping, and critics argue that the computers are simply a distraction.
Under the No Child Left Behind law, the definition varies from state to state. In Wisconsin, that means some troubled schools escape the law’s scrutiny. Sarah Carr: At Todd County High School in South Dakota last school year, 16 calls to police helped earn the school an unsavory distinction in the eyes of the state … Continue reading When is a school dangerous?
Jay Matthews: Schools nationwide are calling on parents to get involved. The Maryland State Board of Education endorsed a broad range of family outreach initiatives in a 2005 report that called public education “a shared responsibility.” Yet some parents in Montgomery County and elsewhere have discovered limits on the get-involved policy when they ask questions … Continue reading Officials’ Silence Puts Parents ‘at Arm’s Length’
Businesses want to build better employees, but will that really mean a better education for your child?Elizabeth Weiss Green: It took less than a year for Algene Patrick to learn all she needed to know about William H. Brazier Elementary School: rock-bottom test scores, spoiled milk in the cafeteria, and teachers who logged more absences … Continue reading Grade School Goes Corporate
Sue Arneson, Jason Delborne, Katie Griffiths, Anita Krasno, Dea Larsen Converse, Diane Milligan, Sich Slone, Grant Sovern, Lara Sutherlin: Dear School Board Members: A group of neighbors from the Marquette and Tenney-Lapham communities met this morning with Enis Ragland, Assistant to the Mayor. While we didn’t claim to represent any organizations, many of us have … Continue reading Letter to School Board Members & a Meeting with Enis Ragland
Winnie Hu: The students at Liverpool High have used their school-issued laptops to exchange answers on tests, download pornography and hack into local businesses. When the school tightened its network security, a 10th grader not only found a way around it but also posted step-by-step instructions on the Web for others to follow (which they … Continue reading Some Schools Drop Laptop Programs
Erin Richards: Rick Carlson of SCF Educational Consultants, a company the district engaged at the end of March to help conduct the superintendent search, said seven people applied for the job, and that he had contacted Schmidt this spring to tell him about the opening. Before becoming Waukesha’s superintendent in 1998, Schmidt worked for 23 … Continue reading Waukesha Superintendent May Move to Appleton
Jay Matthews: “From a student’s perspective, the odds of getting into college are a function of two things: the number of qualified students who apply, and the number of slots that colleges make available. It’s true that the number of prospective college students is growing, as The New York Times, The Washington Post and The … Continue reading Why It Is NOT Harder to Get Into Top Colleges
Tracy Dell’Angela: For the second time in a decade, Chicago Public Schools leaders are making a push in Springfield to restrict the power of local school councils to hire and fire principals. Board President Rufus Williams and other district leaders met with key legislators last week to discuss possible changes to the 1995 School Reform … Continue reading Chicago Public School Leaders Seek Governance Changes
Mark Hornbeck: Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced this morning she will order a $125-per-pupil cut for public school students to deal with the state’s growing fiscal problem. Letters to school superintendents informing them of the cuts will go out on Monday, the governor said. The Legislature would then have 30 days to react. Lawmakers could accept … Continue reading Michigan Reduces State Per Student Spending
A press release from the Urban League: Media Release April 26, 2007 Contact: Scott Gray (608) 251-8550 sgray@ulgm.org Cherokee Middle School Principal to Receive the 2007 Whitney M. Young, Jr. Equal Opportunity Award Madison, WI: The Urban League of Greater Madison recently announced that it will present Cherokee Heights Middle School Principal Karen Seno with … Continue reading Cherokee principal to receive equal opportunity award
Development on the isthmus continues, according to two two stories in the news today, making the prospect of closing central-city schools rather shortsighted. From a longer story by Mike Ivey in The Capital Times: E. Dayton Apartments: In other action Monday night, a plan from developer Scott Lewis and architect John Sutton for a five-story, … Continue reading Isthmus growth continues; closing plans shortsighted
David Herszenhorn: The deal would increase base pay by 23 percent, compounded over nearly seven years, and add 15 minutes to principals’ and assistant principals’ workdays. The contract would also revamp how principals are rated on their performance each year, discarding the blunt thumbs-up or thumbs-down system under which they are labeled either satisfactory or … Continue reading NYC Schools New Deal with their Principals
Some years ago, while reading a book on Sherman’s March to the sea, a distant relative (who lives in the south) pointed out that the book was “one perspective”. Madison has a middle school named “Sherman“. Which sort of proves the point. A reader pointed out that Sherman middle school was named for “Roger Sherman”, … Continue reading Vang Pao Elementary School and The American Experience
Amy Hetzner: A joint legislative committee deadlocked Wednesday on whether to study Wisconsin’s class-size reduction program, ultimately defeating the measure in what Republicans called a partisan maneuver and Democrats hailed as supporting a popular initiative. In proposing an audit of the Student Achievement Guarantee in Education program, or SAGE, Republican lawmakers characterized it as a … Continue reading Audit of SAGE program defeated
According to a report from a recent East High United meeting, where MMSD Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools Pam Nash did a presentation on the District’s high school redesign plans, the following eleven people have been named to the redesign committee: Pam Nash — Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools, former principal of Memorial HS. While … Continue reading MMSD High School Redesign Committee Selected
From the MMSD: For immediate release Thursday, April 19, 2007 Six elementary schools to have different principals Six elementary schools will have different principals next year in a series of transfers and changes within the Madison School District. The principals who are transferring have been at their current schools from four to ten years. The … Continue reading More deck-chair shuffling
Amy Hetzner: After more than two years of study, a group of Waukesha educators has drafted a set of guidelines that challenge some traditional notions of grading. Among the recommendations: Removing evaluations of student participation, effort, attendance and behavior from academic results. Ending the use of zeros for late or unfinished work, a “potentially damaging … Continue reading Report Cards: Waukesha group suggests changes in grading
The Madison School District’s Math Task Force was introduced to the School Board last night. Watch the video or listen to the mp3 audio. Background Links: Madison School Board Discusses Independent Math Review: Audio / Video. Math Forum Audio / Video UW Math Professor Dick Askey on the MMSD’s math scores; related: State test scores … Continue reading MMSD Math Review Task Force Introduction and Discussion
Long time teacher, former school board member/president and activist Bill Keys spoke last night during Ruth and Shwaw’s retirement discussions. Video | mp3 audio
Jay Matthews: Part Four: Rationing AP: William Lichten, the distinguished Yale professor emeritus of physics, is at it again, trying to keep U.S. high schools from giving so many Advanced Placement courses and tests to racial minorities and low income students. Too many of those people fail the tests, he says. They should be given … Continue reading Finding the Best High Schools
Susan Troller: At the heart of the issue is the fact that the East High School attendance area has more elementary schools and schools with smaller populations than the other attendance areas in the district. Of the 10 elementary schools in the East High attendance area, only Hawthorne has more than 300 students. By contrast, … Continue reading MMSD School Closing Discussion
Sherry Saavedra: What students learn in high school doesn’t match with what they need to know as college freshmen, according to a national study released yesterday. Professors believe high school teachers should cover fewer topics with more depth to prepare students for college. That is one of the findings of the survey by ACT, a … Continue reading College Freshman Not Ready
Jonathan Welsh: Yesterday, a school bus collided with a truck in Brampton, Ontario, critically injuring a 10-year-old boy and seriously harming another child. It was the latest in a series of dramatic crashes that have heightened many parents’ fears about the safety of the yellow buses their kids ride on every day. In Atlanta last … Continue reading How Safe Is Your Child’s School Bus?
Despite Recent Accidents, It’s the Safest Way to Go
The Waukesha School District’s 2006-2007 Budget ($165,388,112 for 13,063 students = $12,660 – similar per student spending to the Madison Schools. Wisconsin’s average per student spending is just under $10,000.) [1.1MB PDF] Amy Hetzner: Only a month after voting to eliminate the equivalent of 62 full-time staff positions to avoid a budget shortfall in the … Continue reading Waukesha School District Budget Notes and Links
From the Wisconsin Charter Schools Association: You’re invited to join educators, environmentalists and others at the Environmental Charter Schools Workshop. Date: May 2, 2007, Wednesday Time: 9:00am to 2:30pm Site: MADISON, UW Arboretum Workshop Program: Unique features of “green” charter schools, integrated environmental curriculum, standards and accountability, charter partners supporting sustainable schools, and implementing a … Continue reading Workshop on green charter schools
35 Year Michigan Teacher Ken Feneley: Brendan Miniter’s description of “how school choice was defeated in South Carolina” (“Cross Country: A Day Late,” op-ed, March 31) perfectly describes the power created by a combination of teacher unions and politicians they help elect to office. What gets lost is what’s best for the kids. In this … Continue reading Public Schools Lack a Competitive Spirit
Sam Dillon: Now, as the president and the same Democrats push to renew the landmark law, which has reshaped the face of American education with its mandates for annual testing, discontent with it in many states is threatening to undermine the effort in both parties. Arizona and Virginia are battling the federal government over rules … Continue reading No Child Left Behind Renewal Discussion
Ruth Robarts’ roller coaster DOUG ERICKSON 608-252-6149 derickson@madison.com Ruth Robarts steps down April 23 after 10 years on the Madison School Board, and, no, she’s not expecting a cake from her colleagues. Although Robarts first ran as a facilitator – “That didn’t work out so well,” she says now with a guffaw – she became … Continue reading Ruth Robarts Deserves a Medal
Dear Mr. Rainwater: I just found out from the principal at my school that you cut the allocations for SAGE teachers and Strings teachers, but the budget hasn’t even been approved. Will you please stop playing politics with our children education? It?s time to think about your legacy. As you step up to the chopping … Continue reading An open letter to the Superintendent of Madison Metropolitan Schools
By MICHAEL WINERIP Published: March 11, 2007 The New York Times I LIKE it!” said Yaniv Gorodischer. “What a night!” It was a big, big night at the group home. The three residents Mr. Gorodischer, 29, Jason Kingsley, 32, and Raymond Frost Jr., 28 along with an entourage that included their group home … Continue reading They’ll Do It Themselves, Thanks
Joanne Jacobs: From the Fayetteville, NC Observer: Superintendent Art Rainwater loves to discuss the Madison Metropolitan School District’s success in eliminating the racial achievement gap. But he won’t consult with educators from other communities until they are ready to confront the issue head on. “I’m willing to talk,” Rainwater tells people seeking his advice, “when … Continue reading “Cooking the Numbers” – Madison’s Reading Program
Jason Shephard: As a teacher-centered lesson ended the other morning at Midvale Elementary School, about 15 first-graders jumped up from their places on the carpeted rug and dashed to their personal bins of books. Most students quickly settled into two assigned groups. One read a story about a fox in a henhouse with the classroom … Continue reading How can we help poor students achieve more?
Nancy L Zimpher: Cooperative education is now more than 100 years old. The co-op approach, in which students alternate time in the classroom with professionally paid work directly related to their majors, was founded at the University of Cincinnati by Dean Herman Schneider in 1906. There are co-op programs today at 500 institutions in the … Continue reading The Co-op Model’s Relevance Today
TJ Mertz: In this morning’s Wisconsin State Journal there is a story that again misrepresents the place of Madison School Community Recreation and Fund 80 in the district and the community. The chart comparing Fund 80 levies in Madison to those in other districts ignores the fact that most or all of those locales have … Continue reading Madison’s Fund 80 & Elections
Joanne Jacobs: Reading War II is still raging as reading experts attack a New York Times story on Madison’s decision to reject federal Reading First funds in order to continue a reading program that the Times claims is effective. Education News prints as-yet unpublished letters to the Times from Reid Lyons, Robert Sweet, Louisa Moats, … Continue reading More on Madison’s Reading First Rejection and Reading Recovery
What makes this article from Fargo interesting is how it almost exactly mirrors the findings in my home district, Hortonville, and the recent analysis of Reading Recovery done in Madison. That being, a 50% success rate for RR students. From the article: “However, West Fargo student data over time, as presented by Director of Knowledge … Continue reading Reading Recovery: More chipping and shredding in Fargo!
Mike Antonucci: There’s an excellent book from 1997 called The Limits of Law-Based School Reform that I think everyone – especially lawmakers and public policy experts – should read. But the title alone should be enough for all of us who think passing a law to address a perceived education problem is sufficient to solve … Continue reading Limits of Law-Based School Reform
Ian Shapira: A culture of control has Washington area campuses in an ever-tightening grip, many students say, extending beyond the long-standing restrictions on provocative clothing, cellphone use and class-time bathroom visits. Akin to the omnipresent “helicopter parents,” these students say, are helicopter administrators who home in on their smallest moves, no matter how guileless or … Continue reading Modern-Day 3 R’s: Rules, Rules, Rules
Doug Erickson on the 2007/2008 $345M budget (up from $333M in 2006/2007) for 24,342 students): As feared by some parents, the recommendations also included a plan to consolidate schools on the city’s East Side. Marquette Elementary students would move to Lapham Elementary and Sherman Middle School students would be split between O’Keeffe and Black Hawk … Continue reading “Bitter Medicine for Madison Schools”:
07/08 budget grows 3.6% from 333M (06/07) to $345M with Reductions in the Increase
Art Rainwater on the reductions in increases to the proposed 2007-2008 MMSD Budget [1.4MB PDF]: Dear Board of Education, The attached is my recommendation for the service reductions required to balance the budget for 2007-2008. They are provided to you for review in advance of my Recommended Balanced Budget for 2007-2008 which will be available … Continue reading Madison Superintendent’s 2007-2008 Proposed Budget Changes
Richard Medlin: Shyers (1992a, 1992b), in the most thorough study of home-schooled children’s social behavior to date, tested 70 children who had been entirely home-schooled and 70 children who had always attended traditional schools. The two groups were matched in age (all were 8-10 years old), race, gender, family size, socioeconomic status, and number and … Continue reading Homeschooling and Socialization
Diana Jean Schemo has been at this article for awhile: The program, which gives $1 billion a year in grants to states, was supposed to end the so-called reading wars — the battle over the best method of teaching reading — but has instead opened a new and bitter front in the fight. According to … Continue reading Madison’s Reading Battle Makes the NYT: In War Over Teaching Reading, a U.S.-Local Clash
The We Energies Renewable Energy Development Program “2007 Wind and Solar Scholarship Program” Request for Applications March 5, 2007 Program Description We Energies supports the development of renewable energy technologies as part of a long-term strategy for providing low-cost, environmentally sound energy options to its customers. To help in furthering this objective, the “2007 Wind … Continue reading We Energies offers great scholarships to CA energy conferences
James Barron: Rich Cronin, the president and chief executive of GSN, said he was not just thrilled to watch the competition, he was euphoric. “One person will be the ‘American Idol’ of vocabulary,” he said. (In the end, after an afternoon with its share of technical difficulties and dashed hopes, the winner was Robert Marsland, … Continue reading 18 Year Old Madison Resident Wins National Vocabulary Championship
The Madison West High School PTSO held a school board candidate forum Monday night. Topics included: Madison High School Comparison A candidate’s ability to listen, interact and work successfully with other board members Past and future referenda support Candidate views on the $333M+ budget for our 24,000 students Extensive conversations on the part of Marj … Continue reading 3/5/2007 Madison School Board Candidate Forum: West High School
Danielle Repshas: “Still, there is not an absolute guarantee that a course [called] one thing someplace has the same rigor somewhere else,” Reason said. Part of the challenge is judging the standards of one AP class from another at different high schools, and Reason said the level of trust colleges and secondary schools have with … Continue reading Notes from UW-Madison and Madison West High on AP Standards
After listening to Phony Tony Casteneda’s ludicruous charaterizations of those who post on this blog, I remembered a post by Bill Keys on a listserve sponsored by Advocates for Madison Public Schools. Bill and Phony Tony used nearly the same language and divisiveness. Here’s Bill’s rant: FACTS? FACTS? FACTS? Do you really believe that those … Continue reading Keys and Casteneda sing same song