Scott Girard:

One of the key arguments during the debate over standalone honors courses for ninth- and 10th-graders earlier this school year was the lack of diversity in those classrooms.

What did those classrooms look like in the first semester of the 2022-23 school year? Similar to how they’ve looked in each of the preceding four years, according to new data from the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Standalone honors classes are designated “honors” and require students to sign up when selecting courses. Earned honors, on the other hand, allows students to achieve an honors designation in a regular education course through specific grade benchmarks or additional projects.

The district provided demographic data for standalone and earned honors classes for the first semester in response to a public records request from the Cap Times. It shows that white students are overrepresented in both types of honors opportunities compared to their overall proportion of the district’s students, while Black and Hispanic/Latino students are underrepresented in standalone honors.

That has been consistent over the past five years for standalone honors classes, with white students making up between 54% and 60% of students in those classrooms annually since the 2018-19 school year. During this year’s first semester, white students made up 58% of students in standalone honors classrooms, according to the data.

The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”

My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results

2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results 

Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.

“An emphasis on adult employment”

Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]

WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators

Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results

Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.

No When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?