Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

LA Students Drive Home the Message of Success in Education at Law School Conference

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:November 12, 2010
Post category:Milwaukee Public Schools Speakers at Marquette

The speech by Raj Vinnakota and the panel discussion from this conference can be viewed by clicking here.

Raj Vinnakota and Rafe Esquith have some real differences in how they approach educating children who come from backgrounds that are connected with low success rates in education. Each has taken decidedly different paths to becoming a nationally prominent figure in pushing for greater success for such children. Vinnakota is involved in national reform efforts. Esquith is a teacher whose message focuses on the great things that can happen between teachers and students.

But the two certainly share one major belief: It can be done. Children growing up amid poverty or in homes where the circumstances are not conducive to success in school can become big successes. Teachers and schools can lead them there. And it can happen a lot more frequently than it has been happening across the nation.

If there was a key take-away from “High Success with High-Need Kids,” a conference Tuesday at Marquette Law School’s Eckstein Hall, it was that Vinnakota and Esquith, as well as four leaders in Milwaukee education, differed on styles of education, attitudes toward testing or teacher unions, and a variety other issues. But they each had a charge to the 230 people who attended:

“A Good Start” on Building Joe Zilber’s Neighborhood Improvement Legacy

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:November 12, 2010
Post category:Milwaukee Speakers at Marquette

“I think Joe’s looking down, saying, ‘Well, it’s a good start.’”

That’s how Susan Lloyd, the executive director of the Zilber Family Foundation, described the progress being made in carrying out a $50 million commitment to revitalizing specific Milwaukee neighborhoods made by the late philanthropist, Joseph Zilber.

At an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at Marquette Law School on Thursday, Lloyd described the work of the Zilber Neighborhood Initiative, launched in 2008. The initiative is focused on two neighborhoods, Lindsay Heights on the north side and the Clarke Square on the south side.

Zilber, a real estate developer who died in March 2010, saw opportunity everywhere he went, Lloyd said, and was eager to see new vitality in places such as Lindsay Heights, where his childhood home was.

But achieving that, especially in trying economic times, is not a short-term matter.

The Quiet Comeback of Early Release

Post author:Michael M. O'Hear
Post published:November 11, 2010
Post category:Criminal Law & Process

Parole seems to be making a comeback. Although it was a universal feature of the American criminal justice system as recently as forty years ago, parole fell into precipitous decline over the final three decades of the twentieth century. By 2000, fifteen states and the federal government had abolished parole altogether, while twenty additional states had formally restricted its availability. Since 2000, however, many states have enhanced release opportunities for prison inmates (although some still resist the “parole” label for their new programs).

For an article I am working on, I have been collecting information about the states in the latter category. I count twenty-eight. What I have so far appears in a table after the jump.