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Laura Shkylnik: If you don’t know what Project Follow Through, this episode gives a great overview. — Parents overestimate student achievement, underestimate spending Related: Act 10 Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection? taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery… The data clearly indicate that being able to read is […]
Corrinne Hess: She wants to make it easier for failing schools to somehow seem like they’re succeeding,” Vos said during a press conference. “I hope that’s one of the areas that we’ll get some speedy discussion on, hopefully bipartisan support. Because I would hope that no one, the most liberal person or the most conservative […]
Corrinne Hess: More than 40 percent of Wisconsin parents believe their child is “above grade level” in math, and 45 percent said the same about reading, according to Wisconsin survey results. Only 9.5 percent of students were ranked “advanced” in math and just over 8 percent rated “advanced” in reading on the 2022-23 Forward Exam, […]
Emilee Fannon: Are standards lower? DPI officials have defended the new benchmarks, saying they align more directly with the state’s Forward Exam and teaching standards. Underly noted other states, such as Oklahoma and New York, have recently lowered their testing benchmarks. However, the Institute for Reforming Government, a conservative think tank, points to changes for […]
Morgan Polikoff and William Hughes It’s been over four years since schools closed to stop the spread of COVID-19 and by now there is no question that the pandemic has a long shadow over Wisconsin education. Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam show Wisconsin students’ performance lags far behind historical peaks in the early to mid-2010s, […]
Representative Barbara Dittrich Evers’ statement is completely out of touch with voters. In my district, people complained to me about all of their wasted tax dollars producing MKE kids who can’t read, write, or do simple math. We need to restore standards that demand excellence, not throw more cash at it. —— Related: Act 10 Did […]
Sonya Gugliara Chicago‘s projected budget deficit is a whopping $982.4 million, according to The Civic Federation. Despite several tactics to save the city from bankruptcy, politicians have failed to get to the root of the issue – increasing pension payments to Chicago’s more than 40,000 public employees. ‘Retirement benefits are like free junk food to politicians […]
Jessica McBride: Embattled incumbent Jill Underly is under growing fire from multiple corners within her own party, as infighting fractures the Democrat party in the state school Superintendent’s race. Underly has drawn not one, but two, likely opponents in the Feb. 18 spring primary to continue heading the state Department of Public Instruction. The top […]
Corrinne Hess: A group of Wisconsin parents say the Department of Public Instruction is dragging its feet on implementing new curriculum that aims to improve children’s reading skills. In 2023, lawmakers passed legislation known as Act 20. It required schools to shift away from “balanced literacy” curriculum to a phonics-based model known as “the science […]
Colleston Morgan, Jr. As we @cfc_mke predicted, the election-time, partisan spin from @DrJillUnderly @WisconsinDPI on lowering standards is here. 🧵 The issue isn’t right vs left – it’s right vs wrong. Dems like @ppi & @DaveCieslewicz have spoken out. Some polls show 85% oppose lowering the bar! —— Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly […]
Sarah O’Connor: “Thirty per cent of Americans read at a level that you would expect from a 10-year-old child,” Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at the OECD, told me — referring to the proportion of people in the US who scored level 1 or below in literacy. “It is actually hard to imagine […]
Ben Smee A 14-year-old north Queensland boy with a severe intellectual disability was wrongly convicted and sentenced to nine months’ detention by a magistrate who recorded guilty pleas to a series of charges, despite the child being incapable of instructing his lawyers and not verbalising a plea in court. The boy – who has an IQ of […]
Joanne Jacobs: Mississippi has better schools than Massachusetts, and Texas schools outperform Wisconsin — controlling for race, poverty and non-English-speaking parents. Mississippi, New Mexico and Louisiana outperform expectations based on the challenges their students face. Texas, Georgia and Florida come next. Massachusetts, a relatively wealthy, educated and white state, drops to 26th. Wyoming ranks sixth […]
Duet Stroebel: Publicly, @DrJillUnderly touts Act 20 as “landmark literacy legislation” and uses it as a campaign talking point. Privately, she refers to literacy reform as “nonsense” and is actively trying to undermine the historic reading reforms behind the scenes. Which is it, Jill? Kyle Koenen: DPI says that the dumbing down of standards happened […]
Tressa Pankovits “ai” summary: Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) lowered achievement standards for the Forward exam, resulting in a significant increase in proficiency scores. This move raises concerns about the accuracy of standardized test scores in measuring student achievement. ——- The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery… The data clearly indicate that […]
Charles Sykes: America is again facing an educational crisis. Last week, The New York Times reported that American students “turned in grim results on the latest international test of math skills.” That test, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), found that fourth graders have dropped 18 points in math since 2019, while eighth graders have dropped […]
IRG Senior Research Director Quinton Klabon: The Joint Committee on Finance was forced to dispute the actions of the Department of Public Instruction once again on critical Act 20 reading reforms. The Institute for Reforming Government calls for DPI to follow the law as written so Wisconsin can catch up to leading literacy states. What […]
CATO all Americans must confront three uncomfortable truths: These three challenges were either worsened or created by the growth and metastasis of an unwieldy federal government and its associated administrative state. The government tries to do too much, so it overspends and overregulates the private sector. The federal government tries to be all things to […]
Andy Pierrotti For the past 30 years, Georgia State University has run a program for experienced teachers to learn a curriculum called, Reading Recovery, which is intended to help children learn how to read. Reading Recovery is one-on-one instruction in the classroom for the lowest performing students in first grade struggling to read. School districts in Georgia […]
Quinton Klabon: ACT 20 READING UPDATE@wispolitics had this letter from Superintendent Underly to the Legislature. Good news: DPI recommended what ELCC did (HMH: ugh), no additions. Bad news: DPI says rulings say they decide curriculum, not JFC. News: DPI criticizes Act 20 funding conflict. —— Much more on the Wisconsin DPI’s ongoing rigor reduction campaign. […]
Wisconsin public policy, forum: The rise in gross levies this year is driven primarily by increases to K-12 property taxes — the largest local property tax most residents will pay. The $325 increase to per pupil revenue limits in the current state budget is one factor, but so was the willingness of many referendum voters […]
David Blaska: You are not a Dane County judgei n good standing if you have not ruled against Act 10, the statutory limitations on government employee collective bargaining. Bonus points if you supported the recall of Act 10’s author, Gov. Scott Walker. The latest judge to make his progressive bones here in Madison WI is […]
Quinton Klabon: AAAAH! After much waiting, @urbaninstitute adjusted national 2022 NAEP test scores for state demographics. Wisconsin: 28th in reading, 13th in mathematics. top reading states: MA, FL, LA, MS, INtop mathematics states: TX, MS, MA, FL, IN, LA 2024 come out in January. —- *** No mention of the DPI’s ongoing rigor reduction efforts…. more. The data […]
Kaylah Huynh: State Superintendent Jill Underly wants to put the responsibility of funding schools back on the state, she recently told the Cap Times in an interview. Underly, who leads the state Department of Public Instruction, is proposing over $4 billion in spending toward schools for the 2025-2027 state budget. The plans would reimburse 90% […]
Leila Fletcher and Sandy Flores Ruiz We are concerned that Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction seems less than committed to the reforms outlined in Act 20. It’s been over a year since Gov. Tony Evers signed Act 20, dubbed “the reading bill.” Act 20 looks to address our state’s dismal reading scores with science-based literacy […]
Quinton Klabon: 84% of schools are 3 stars or above and 93% of districts are. We need report cards that accurately judge schools based on our national performance. Report cards change again next year, so that is the perfect opportunity. ….. DPI suppressed insanity from lowering test score standards, though it led to some bizarre […]
Christopher Peak: For decades, schools all over the country taught reading based on a theory cognitive scientists had debunked by the 1990s. Despite research showing it made it harder for some kids to learn, the concept was widely accepted by most educators — until recent reporting by APM Reports. Now, state legislators and other policymakers are trying to change […]
wire points Now look at the SAT results as reported by the state, and how much they are down since 2017. Property taxes up, up, up. Outcomes tragic. Zero accountability. Via @Wirepoints —— Bill Maher CALLS OUT Democrats: "You're the Teachers Union Education Party and you've turned schools and colleges into a joke." pic.twitter.com/5VGCHzDUVZ — […]
WILL School board elections have a big impact on the day-to-day lives of Wisconsin families. Yet they are decided in the least democratic elections. Today, WILL is releasing a new policy report with a proposal to solve this problem. Spring elections have an average turnout of 28% in the last decade, compared to Fall elections where […]
Helen Lewis: But now, at the age of 72, Calkins faces the destruction of everything she has worked for. A 2020 report by a nonprofit described Units of Study as “beautifully crafted” but “unlikely to lead to literacy success for all of America’s public schoolchildren.” The criticism became impossible to ignore two years later, when the American Public Media […]
Naomi Martin and Mandy McLaren: At school, she panics if she has to read aloud. She’s a conscientious student and keeps her grades up, but it isn’t easy; at times she has such trouble synthesizing the novels she reads in English class, she Googles plot summaries to remind herself of what happened. Even in math, word problems […]
Sami West As Seattle Public Schools faces continued public backlash over proposed school closures, a group of parents is attempting to recall board President Liza Rankin. In court documents filed with King County, the group argues Rankin adopted a “rushed and improper” school closure process and repeatedly failed to “provide transparency and community engagement on […]
Anna Stokke Imagine hiring a piano teacher who can’t play the piano or a swimming instructor who’s terrified of water. While it’s clear that these examples are absurd, the Manitoba government seems to have missed the obvious: teachers can’t teach what they don’t know. Last week, Manitoba quietly announced significant changes to teacher certification. Manitobans […]
Kyle Koenen: Jill Underly’s proposed DPI budget would eat up 65% of the state’s budget surplus, all while allowing property taxes to continue to go up. We fund students at approximately $20k per student on average. When is it enough? Abbey Machtig: State Superintendent Jill Underly is proposing more than $4 billion in new spending […]
NCTQ: NCTQ regularly convenes reading experts — researchers, teacher educators, and experienced elementary educators — to review both textbooks and educational resources, such as journal articles or instructional videos, used by teacher preparation programs in their required reading coursework. These experts examine how well each material aligns with scientifically based reading instruction, a science rooted […]
Grace Hagerman: What is the potential problem with focusing on the Science of Reading alone? Some educators say it places too much emphasis on a one-size-fits-all model of explicit, systematic, intensive phonics instruction for all students. Ground zero for the Science of Reading movement was an article by education reporter Emily Hanford for APM Reports.Published […]
Michael J. Petrilli and Devon Nir States across the country have enacted new private-school choice programs in recent years, inevitably raising questions about accountability for participating institutions. Though it is true—as our friends in the school choice movement argue—that choice itself is a form of accountability because of the agency it provides to parents and […]
Maggie Macintosh Among them, the province is no longer requiring teachers to specialize in an approved list of major or minor subject areas to get certified. 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 […]
Quinton Klabon: ACT 20 READING UPDATE • 440 schools ignored DPI about reading retraining progress. Below describes those who responded. • The large number may be due to teachers who previously completed a program or who chose a shorter retraining than LETRS. I welcome correction. The October, 2024 Wisconsin DPI Report (PDF): University of Wisconsin […]
Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner It should be considered one of Illinois’ most egregious failures. School officials announced last week that in 2024 the state graduated high school students at a record 88 percent rate, even though the same data release showed that nearly 70% of graduating students can’t read or do math proficiently. Take black students […]
Kayla Huynh: “We are spending more revenue than we have to spend,” Superintendent Joe Gothard said. “We have a lot of work to do. Regardless of the outcome next Tuesday, we have to have some strategic direction moving forward.” “We need to be sustainable. There’s no doubt about this,” he added. “It’s frustrating to have […]
Anjney Midha: One the saddest realizations for me when we were scaling the @midjourney server at @discord in ‘22 was seeing millions of US gen z kids struggle to prompt They literally don’t have the words. Broken english. Pidgin lingo. Translating thought to language is insanely hard for them Notes and links on the Fall $600,000,000+ […]
Corinne Hess: “The Governor and DPI will very likely show that the Governor validly partially vetoed Act 100 and that DPI is entitled to the $50 million in disputed literacy funding,” Kaul wrote to the Supreme Court. “Both issues are destined for this Court, and leaving them to the ordinary appellate process would significantly harm […]
Jonathan Chait: Notes and links on the Fall $600,000,000+ 2024 referendum, here. Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average K – 12 spending. 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 […]
AJ Manaseer: Notes and links on the Fall $600,000,000+ 2024 referendum, here. Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average K – 12 spending. 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 […]
Alec Johnson: Over a year after the Wisconsin Legislature approved Act 20 and Gov. Tony Evers signed it into law, the state Department of Public Instruction is still waiting for the joint finance committee to release nearly $50 million it was promised as part of the new legislation intended to improve reading among state schoolchildren. […]
Holden Culotta Mike Rowe: “We’re dealing with alarming math … For every five tradespeople who retire this year, two will replace them.” “I got a call a few months ago from a company … building four nuclear-powered subs. They need to hire 100,000 tradespeople in the next nine years. This guy called me and said, […]
Quinton Klabon: 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 […]
Will Flanders: Madison Percent teaching staff: 50.61% Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending increases via referendum this fall. Madison taxpayers of long supported far above average K – 12 spending. The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you […]
Kelly Meyerhofer: Student loans and controversial debt forgiveness programs also an Education Department responsibility Managing federal student loans also falls under the department’s oversight. Under the Biden administration, the department has canceled more than $160 billion in student loans for 4.7 million borrowers, largely by adjusting the rules of existing programs. The department also issues regulations about […]
Deanna Pan and Emma Platoff On one side are Congressional Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is up for reelection this November and supports Question 2, the teachers union-backed measure to repeal the state mandate requiring students to pass their 10th grade MCAS exams. Democratic Governor Maura Healey sits squarely in opposition — along with Lieutenant Governor […]
Abbey Machtig: Schaefer said launching the pilot program is part of a yearslong effort to have all Madison schools use a consistent grading system. Elementary and middle schools have been using standards-based grading for several years. Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending increases via referendum this fall. […]
Will Flanders: A typical Wisconsin school district now gets more than $17,900 per student. In a class of 20 kids, that’s $358,000 of taxpayer money. If a district can’t “keep the lights on” for that, it’s more than just MPS who’s cooking the books. More. Scott Manley: We spend more per kid than the tuition […]
Dave Cieslewicz And the racial achievement gap in Madison was far worse than the rest of the state. Statewide the gaps were 43% for English and 50% for math. About 60% of white students were proficient in English compared to 17% of Black students. About 64% of white students were proficient or better in math […]
David Wakelyn: A lot of California policymakers journeyed to Finland to see what was in their special sauce when they scored well on PISA a few years ago. Mississippi’s growth has been more durable. We have a lot to learn if we bring an open mind. Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are […]
r/teachers: What’s mind-boggling is that students DON’T EVEN TRY. At this, I also don’t care– I don’t get paid that great– but it still saddens me. Students used to be determined and the standard of learning used to be much higher. I’m sorry if you were punished for keeping your standards high. None of this […]
Matthew Wielicki: The first step in fixing our public schools… is getting rid of the administrative class. “so the point is it was an existence proof, that there’s this entire universe of alternative cost structures that is out there” Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending increases […]
Nadia Scharf: The Unified School District of De Pere is under investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction after board member Melissa Niffenegger accused the district’s reading curriculum and its director of curriculum and instruction, Kathy Van Pay, of violating Wisconsin law. “That is retaliation. You are retaliating against the board for disagreeing with […]
John Johnson: It is galling to hear a politician justify deliberately making test scores incomparable to previous years as a way to reduce “confusion.” More: Questions we will asking: Why changes were made? Why move to lower standards ? (Even @GovEvers disagrees with this) Why make it impossible to track data from previous years? And […]
David Blaska: The canary in the coal mine has already died when a city’s schools are in decay. So we must double down on school choice, aided by vouchers that allow the state’s school district contribution to follow the student to the school of his/her family’s choice. Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government […]
Will Flanders: Perhaps most egregious are the changes in districts where everyone knows that schools are failing kids. Milwaukee’s proficiency still looks low at 23.4% in ELA. But now they can tout that it’s gone up 8% in one year. Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending […]
Quinton Klabon: State test scores, out tomorrow, are inflated, biased, and unreliable. DPI knew achievement gaps for Black, low-income, and special-needs students would grow. Superintendent Underly criticized “nonsense going on with literacy” while Act 20 negotiations occurred. And So, why lower them? Because they were killing the vibes. Superintendent Underly wanted them changed in JANUARY […]
OECD Education: How much should countries spend on education? More expenditure per student typically correlates with improved outcomes… …but only up to a point, after which additional investment shows little impact on performance. Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending increases via referendum this fall. Madison taxpayers of long […]
Jessika Harkay: When 19-year-old Aleysha Ortiz told Hartford City Council members in May that the public school system stole her education, she had to memorize her speech. Ortiz, who was a senior at Hartford Public High School at the time, wrote the speech using the talk-to-text function on her phone. She listened to it repeatedly […]
Abbey Machtig: More referendum money would pay for an estimated $15 million increase in health care costs, and for new teaching and mental health staff. An additional pay increase for district employees also is tied to the operating referendum. The district and Madison Teachers Inc. already agreed to a 2.06% wage increase, in addition to […]
Becky Jacobs: This fall, UW-Madison reported enrolling 8,516 first-year students — the second-largest freshman class in the institution’s history — and 1,375 new transfer students. The university received a record number of first-year applicants and saw its highest total enrollment, with 52,126 students. —— 21% of University of Wisconsin System Freshman Require Remedial Math (2014!) The data clearly […]
Linda Jacobson: Changing standards and proficiency targets is a routine process for states that some say offers a more accurate reflection of what students know. But given the cataclysmic effects of COVID on student learning, experts say now is not the time to tweak how we measure performance. “Many parents are already underestimating the degree to which […]
Dave Cieslewicz: And, again, on that score school districts like Madison, which obsess over race, have made zero progress in closing the racial achievement gap. Why do liberals cling so tightly to a system that delivers no results? A color blind society was once, not so long ago, the liberal position on the matter. But […]
Will Flanders & Shannon Whitworth: In a recent op-ed published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona articulated a series of criticisms about school choice in Wisconsin, opting instead to defend a failed status quo of one-size-fits-all education. His arguments lean heavily on national talking points commonly used by opponents of school […]
Dean Gorrell: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly recently took to defending her decision to lower the cut scores for the Wisconsin Forward Exam. Lowering the cut scores will make it appear that a greater percentage of students are performing at higher levels. Underly offered this reason for the change: “They (the students) were appearing to be […]
Danielle DuClos and Kayla Huynh: Most Wisconsin students are poor readers. Each year, about three out of every five typically fail to score proficient in state reading tests. But it’s not just students struggling. Wisconsin’s prospective teachers haven’t fared much better in exams they must pass to become a licensed educator. In the most recent […]
Chad Aldeman: As poverty rates rise, reading proficiency rates tend to fall. Every state has a downward-sloping line like this. But it’s not fate. Districts, schools and students nationwide are outperforming what might be expected of them. —— More. —— Madison’s well funded k-12 system and city government are seeking substantial 607M+ tax and spending […]
Anna Stokke: Unfortunately, illiteracy remains largely hidden and its impact on our society largely underappreciated. I agree that more needs to be done to support adult education. But we should also ask ourselves how so many adults, who were once children, did not learn to read at elementary or middle school in Manitoba. Without understanding […]
Wisconsin Policy Forum Gross property tax levies approved in 2023 by local taxing jurisdictions in Wisconsin increased by 4.6% statewide, which exceeded inflation and was the largest increase since 2007. —- Madison offers voters a $607,000,000 tax & spending increase on the November ballot… Close some Madison schools, and a no on the November Referendums […]
AJ Bayatpour: Wisconsin’s top education official is defending changes this year to the statewide standardized test taken by students in grades 3-8. The overhaul of the Forward Exam lowers the cut scores between groups, and it changes the terminology used to describe student performance. In her first interview since the state Department of Public Instruction […]
Catron Wigfall: Despite spending far less per student than Minnesota, Mississippi has a better track record than Minnesota when it comes to helping its students of color grow academically. Mississippi’s overhaul of its reading pedagogy and its investment in training educators in the science of reading became a model other states are learning from. Mississippi […]
Alan Borsuk: “Instead of focusing on declining academic achievement in Wisconsin, the Department of Public Instruction is working to hide the problem,” wrote Will Flanders, research director at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a conservative law firm and think tank. “Unfortunately, changing standards for political correctness and to avoid accountability will hurt students today, […]
Www. On Wednesday August 28, the Virginia Board of Education will hold a Special Session to consider the Statewide Comprehensive Support Plan. The Plan proposes the requirements that will be imposed on schools and districts when they do not meet the Board’s new rules for accreditation and accountability. —- Andrew Rotherham: Context missing here is […]
Brook Silva-Braga Only about one-third of elementary school students in the U.S. are reading at grade level, according to the recent National Assessment of Educational Progress. In response, many schools are rethinking how they teach kids to read. In one New York City first grade classroom, Melissa Jones-Diaz goes letter by letter, teaching the specific […]
Steve Hsu: In my view we’re in late stage imperial decline. This is the “looting and grifting” stage, and it’s very rare for really talented people to want to go into government – they’re much more likely to be found in tech startups or maybe in academic labs or at hedge funds. There is no […]
Quinton Klabon: —— More. —— Yet: Madison taxpayers of long supported far above average K – 12 spending. 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 […]
Nicholas Garton: Still, Couture said she plans to vote “no” on the property tax referendum. “Am I surprised that these are the threatened services? Not a bit,” she said. “The city needs a hard stop on the current ways they are spending our money.” —— Notes on the upcoming $607,000,000 (!) Madison k-12 tax & […]
Quinton Klabon: —— Commentary. MTEL and the Foundations of Reading —— Madison taxpayers of long supported far above average K – 12 spending. 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 […]
Alan Borsuk: Before the 2012 changes in cut scores, Wisconsin was regarded by some national education experts as having some of the lowest bars in the country for defining students as proficient or advanced. For example, the percentages of Wisconsin students who were categorized as proficient in reading and math, using the state’s definitions, were […]
Linda Jacobson: officials took a closer look at the data. “Nobody makes jumps of that size,” said an assessment director from a school system near Oklahoma City. The official asked not to be named because she does not want to “put a target” on her district. To put the outsized gains in perspective, The 74 […]
Paul Vallas: In either intent or outcome, racism is the defining feature of Stacy Davis Gates and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s education policies and minorities are hurt most Let’s be clear, the Chicago Teacher Union (CTU) blocks any changes to improve schools that impact its members, their numbers, work load or job security. So CTU President […]
Robert McFadden: In 1961, Ms. Colvin, a middle-aged, college-educated Syracuse homemaker and mother of two, was appalled to discover that the recent census had counted 11,055 residents of Onondaga County, N.Y., who could not read or write. She had no experience teaching, but felt passionately that she had to do something about it. It was […]
Glenn Minnis Illinois now ranks as the least affordable state for housing in the Midwest, with 1 in 3 households paying more than 30% of their income for housing as property taxes continue to rise. —— Madison’s taxpayer funded k-12 system has a huge fall referendum on the November ballot….
Abbey Machtig: Rebecca Greco, a librarian who worked at the school when Terrell was hired, said she does not recall any engagement with staff prior to the hiring of Terrell as principal. Greco also served on the site-based leadership team but now works as a librarian in a different school district. She said the district […]
Matt Lamb The Chicago Teachers Union president has a convenient excuse for low test scores in the public school system: The exams are “rooted in white supremacy.” “The way in which, you know, we think about learning and think about achievement is really and truly based on testing, which at best is junk science rooted in white supremacy,” Stacy Davis […]
Holly Korbey In schools, the podcast was a shot across the bow in a longstanding battle over the best way to teach young children to read. “A lot of teachers didn’t know about this research. It was very clear to them, when they started to learn about it, that it has huge implications,” says Hanford. […]
Chris Rickert: The first half of Rhodes-Conway’s signature initiative, a Bus Rapid Transit system, is also expected to launch this fall, and while the federal government is picking up from 75% to 80% of the costs to build it, that still leaves the city on the hook for at least $70 million. City officials say […]
Tyler Cowen Summary: “how are you criticise the EU/Federal government” and the promotion of cancellation against those who go against the established narrative on issues such as the speed/scope/direction of Net Zero, stand up for women’s rights against the trans ideology or who critique the current model of immigration/integration. The cosmopolitan liberals are on a […]
The district is asking voters for the money as funding from federal pandemic aid and a 2020 referendum are set to expire. If voters also approve of the district’s other referendum on the November ballot — a $100 million request to help fund day-to-day expenses — district officials estimate the owner of an average-value home in Madison […]
Paul Buchheit: The Biden situation is a good example of why single-party states are dangerous — the incentives always favor party loyalty over truth. If it weren’t for the disastrous debate and upcoming elections, experts and insiders would still be insisting that Biden is “sharp as a tack”, and that all evidence to the contrary […]
Rachel Hale: An increasing part of library specialists’ and district administrators’ jobs has become dealing with requests. Records showed hundreds of internal emails related to scheduling reconsideration meetings and addressing parent concerns. Administrators oversee books across numerous buildings and are struggling with the balancing act of appeasing parent concerns while maintaining appropriate grade interest levels […]
Nader Issa The window for hopefuls to submit their minimum 1,000 signatures to get on the ballot closed Monday afternoon with more than two dozen final-day submissions wrapping up the week-long process that kicked off the elections. Chicago’s first-ever school board elections will feature 47 candidates vying for 10 seats, a number surpassing most expectations […]
Jeremy Wall When Rya Mousavi saw a poster for Wisconsin’s first civics bee, she had an idea. “My teacher just had a poster on the board and I talked to her about it. She kind of introduced me to the civics bee and I thought it was a good opportunity,” said Mousavi An opportunity to […]
David Blaska: but probably won’t because — Forget it, Jake, it’s Madison WI! School employees harassed police as they arrested an 18-year-old student criminal for carrying a loaded weapon inside La Follette high school, according to the most excellent report from Chris Rickert of the WI State Journal, made after an open records request. One Kyshawn M. Bankston had […]
David Blaska The so-called “security staff” at La Follette high school put up a hissy fit when police carted off an 18-year-old student found with weapons of mass destruction in his backpack. (“We’re supposed to protect kids here” — from police!) The newspaper quotes the school principal, who caught hell from the “security staff,” to […]