Nov

20

Stirring the Education Policy Pot

Posted by: | November 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

Can you change the world with a conference? Patch things up with a few panel discussions? The answer, of course, is rarely yes. So I don’t make any huge claims about what was accomplished at the conference, “Fresh Paths: Ideas for Navigating Wisconsin’s New Education Landscape,” on Nov. 17 in Eckstein Hall. (I say that [...]

Print Friendly

Nov

9

Ellen Gilligan: Optimism Amid Big Problems

Posted by: | November 9, 2011 | 1 Comment

A wave of new leaders is one of the reasons to believe a new initiative to improve Milwaukee’s overall level of educational success can bring progress, one of the most influential of those new leaders said Tuesday at Eckstein Hall. “I think it’s huge” that people who weren’t part of past events are now stepping [...]

Print Friendly

Oct

11

Abby Ramirez: Believing in What’s Possible for Milwaukee Schools

Posted by: | October 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Abby Ramirez wants other people to come to – and act on — the same beliefs she has: That a large majority of low-income children can become high-performing students and that the number of schools where such success is widespread can be increased sharply in Milwaukee. In an “On the Issues” session with Mike Gousha [...]

Print Friendly

Aug

30

Singing a September School-Start Song

Posted by: | August 30, 2011 | 4 Comments

Thursday will be the first day of the new school year for the vast majority of public school students in Wisconsin. Why? Because that’s the law. No, not that school start on a Thursday, but that it not start earlier than September 1. And why is that? Because tourism industry leaders lobbied so hard for it. [...]

Print Friendly

Jul

18

Gov. Walker Tacks for the Middle, Particularly on Education Issues

Posted by: | July 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

Some politicians say they don’t pay attention to what polls show. Gov. Scott Walker is one of them. Most of those who say that actually do pay attention to polls. I assume Walker is one of them. That’s certainly as good a way as I can think of to explain what is clearly an effort [...]

Print Friendly

Jul

6

The Shocking Testing Scandal in Atlanta

Posted by: | July 6, 2011 | 2 Comments

I don’t think “Bad Teacher,” the movie currently playing in theaters, is going to do damage to the reputation of teachers or education in general across the United States. It may be gross, dumb, tasteless, and a lot of other things, but it’s a movie.  People can grasp that it’s not a documentary. But the [...]

Print Friendly

Jun

21

Education Round-up: More New MPS Principals and More Changes in Detroit

Posted by: | June 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment

The second wave of new principals in Milwaukee Public Schools is going to hit shore tonight at a meeting of the Milwaukee School Board’s finance committee. This time, it is slated to bring new principals to 19 schools. Last month, the first wave brought new leaders to 21 schools. The two waves – and there [...]

Print Friendly

Jun

15

Avoiding the “Every School Left Behind” Inevitability

Posted by: | June 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Maybe, in 2001, it seemed like 2014 was too far away to be worth much worry. In 2011, it’s not so far away. Not that it’s clear what is going to be done now about what was one of the more idealistic, well-intended, but ridiculous, notions ever put into federal law. In 2001, and with [...]

Print Friendly

Jun

13

Pension Concessions Request Puts MPS Union in an Unhappy Place

Posted by: | June 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, the union for Milwaukee Public Schools teachers, had two lines of defense against making  concessions as the financial squeeze on MPS tightened. The first was that, due to langauge in the bill backed by Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators, if the MTEA agreed to any changes in its contract, which [...]

Print Friendly

Jun

6

Education Round-Up: Union Leader Out, Voucher Testing In

Posted by: | June 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

So much going on. It’s hard to keep up. So here’s a round-up of a few things on the local education scene that are actually pretty important, but haven’t gotten much attention in recent days: MTEA executive director is out: Stan Johnson, the executive director of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, is out, continuing a [...]

Print Friendly

May

24

Tony Evers: Trying to Throw High Heat at Voucher Schools

Posted by: | May 24, 2011 | 3 Comments

Tony Evers, the state superintendent of public instruction, has been making waves by going on the offensive against proposals to expand the use of private school vouchers in Wisconsin. In addition to what has been said in news stories such as this one in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I’d offer three thoughts that struck me [...]

Print Friendly

May

20

A New and Important Wave of MPS Principals

Posted by: | May 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

Milwaukee Schools Superintendent Gregory Thornton has released the first wave of his selections for new principals for Milwaukee Public Schools. As I described in a Journal Sentinel column a few weeks ago, Thornton is facing an unusual number of principal vacancies, in large part because of retirements triggered by the changes Republican Gov. Scott Walker [...]

Print Friendly

keep looking »