Madison United for Academic Excellence (MUAE — www.madisonunited.org) will hold its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, January 23, at 7:00 p.m. in Room 209 of the Doyle Administration Building. The topic for the evening will be our high schools. An informal panel of students and parents from each of our four high schools will be joining us for the evening. They will provide us with an insider’s view of their school communities and update us on recent events at their schools. We also hope to have a representative from the MMSD Student Senate at the meeting.
Here is the complete list of topics that we will be discussing that evening:
1) A comparison of the four high schools, in terms of course offerings — especially in terms of high-end course offerings, especially at the 9th and 10th grade levels.
2) An update on Superintendent Rainwater’s December 4 “High Schools of the Future” presentation, including his plans for a two-year high school “study” and the freeze he has put on any further changes in our high schools while the study is going on.
3) The difference between TAG, honors, accelerated, advanced, AP (Advanced Placement) and IB (International Baccalaureate) classes; the evidence regarding AP courses and tests and later success in college; and the AP audit that is going to be conducted this year.
4) An update on the current situation at each high school.
5) A report on the MMSD Student Senate’s recent discussion of embedded honors and complete heterogeneity in the high school classroom.
6) An update on the Youth Options Program and the general issue of receiving MMSD credit for non-MMSD courses.