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Search Results for: Evers

Civics: Mandates vs “laws”

I recently saw a sign prominently posted in a Madison restaurant that said: “Wear a Mask, it’s the law”. This is a teaching moment. The current Dane County Madison Public Health mask requirement is a mandate, not (yet) a law. The status of said mask requirement is the subject of law fare and activism. Some […]

Madison schools head says schools need ongoing community help to support students

Scott Girard: “This time, I’m going to the business community, to the churches and saying, ‘Hey, let’s start anticipating together, scenario planning, so if something happens, we can be a model for how you do it,’” he said. “Keep it rolling and keep safety first and then the rest of the stuff.” That “rest of […]

Watch now: A charter school with all-day outdoor education in the middle of winter

Barry Adams: Almost all of the lessons at the Kickapoo Valley Forest School are held outdoors, even on days when the temperature plunges well below freezing. The nature-based curriculum is central for the 4K and kindergarten students and their teachers, who have had lunch outside all but four days since the first day of school […]

‘The greatest casualty of the pandemic era is, without question, America’s public education system’

Jesse Kauffman: The greatest casualty of the pandemic era is, without question, America’s public education system. Shuttering public schools in the first panicked days of March 2020 was perhaps understandable. However, many schools—such as those my children attend in Ann Arbor, Michigan—failed to open the following year. Schools closed in defiance of any reasonable accounting […]

Ancient Mesopotamian Discovery Transforms Knowledge of Early Farming

Emily Everson Layden: Rutgers researchers have unearthed the earliest definitive evidence of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) in ancient Iraq, challenging our understanding of humanity’s earliest agricultural practices. Their findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports. “Overall, the presence of millet in ancient Iraq during this earlier time period challenges the accepted narrative of agricultural development […]

Madison School District’s Early Literacy Task Force Report

104 Page PDF: The Early Literacy and Beyond Task Force was established in December 2020, charged with analyzing promising approaches to literacy education and making recommendations to Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) and the teacher education programs at the University of Wisconsin -Madison School of Education (UW-SoE) to improve literacy outcomes and reduce gaps in […]

Wisconsin Assembly Education Committee Meeting 12 January 2022 on DPI’s “K-12 Report Cards”

mp3 audio (about 3 hours – not the entire session): Machine generated transcript. School and District Report Cards and the recent changes made to those Report Cards Invited speakers include: School Choice Wisconsin Action (Jim Bender) Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (Thomas McCarthy) Stride, Inc. Siena Catholic Schools Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (Prepared […]

Ehud Qimron’s Powerful Letter to the Israeli Ministry of Health

Shared via brownstone: Two years late, you finally realize that a respiratory virus cannot be defeated and that any such attempt is doomed to fail. You do not admit it, because you have admitted almost no mistake in the last two years, but in retrospect it is clear that you have failed miserably in almost […]

Chicago Teachers Walkout Calls the Questions — What Does ‘Safe’ Mean, and Who Gets to Decide?

Mike Antonucci: The Chicago Teachers Union decided last week to cease in-person schooling until a variety of conditions were met. In response, Chicago Public Schools refused to allow teachers to log in for remote instruction and demanded they return to the classroom. After days of negotiations, the two sides reached a tentative agreement. In-person classes […]

Teachers’ unions have ignored encouraging findings from other countries, such as research suggesting that teachers in schools that had opened faced no greater risk of severe sickness than other professionals.

The Economist: Over the past two years America’s children have missed more time in the classroom than those in most of the rich world. School closures that began there in early 2020 dragged on until the summer of 2021. During that time the districts that stayed closed longest forced all or some of their children […]

Commentary on teacher union influence and closed taxpayer supported schools

Lindsey Burke and Corey DeAngelis: Imagine being a second grader in a major city right now. If you entered kindergarten during the 2019-20 school year, COVID-19 first closed your school in March, potentially offering “remote learning.” As you prepared to enter first grade the following fall, you were one of more than half of students […]

After multiple lockdowns, three vaccines, and one bout of COVID, I want my life back.

Helen Lewis: I got my COVID-19 booster shot last week, on the first day I was eligible. My shot was delayed because I caught COVID in early December, an experience that was low-key grim: two days of shotgun sneezing, no taste or smell for a week, and a constant fatigue that didn’t abate until the […]

Depressed attendance rates create challenges for teaching and learning; ‘there has never been anything like this’

Scott Calvert: Public-school attendance across the U.S. has dropped to unusually low levels, complicating efforts to keep schools open, as districts also contend with major staff shortages. Many students in kindergarten through 12th grade are out sick because of Covid-19 or are being kept home by anxious parents, as the Omicron variant surges, officials say. Remote learning often isn’t being […]

Did any of these people tell the truth back when it could have saved the generation that comprises the world’s future? Nope.

Joy Pullman: Americans are starting to feel the increasing collateral damage from our unprecedented, ineffective, and ill-advised Covid lockdowns. It was known before March 2020 that lockdowns would cause lifelong and avoidable damage to billions, yet the world’s ruling classes who claim to have earned their place atop a “meritocracy” strenuously demanded such damage be inflicted especially on children and […]

Notes on Madison area K – 12 taxpayer supported school attendance

Scott Girard: MMSD spokesman Tim LeMonds told the Cap Times in an email Tuesday the district’s attendance rate Monday was 80.6%. That’s below the average of more than 90% throughout the 2020-21 school year, according to attendance data received through an open records request. Other area school districts, which all returned from winter break as […]

COVID-19 allowed too many to pervert their power

Selena Zito: Some days, people would pull an ornament from their jacket pocket and add it while on their daily stride. On other days, one might see a parent pushing a stroller or with a child on their little bicycle stop and look at the delightful little ornaments. Without fail, each child would look at […]

The Great Barrington Declaration and closed schools;
Lockdowns failed to serve the collective good

Thomas Fazi and Toby Green: All of which has meant that, until the Observer’s interview with Mark Woolhouse, there has been painfully little critical analysis from the mainstream Left as to whether the raft of restrictive Covid measures we have seen over the past two years have indeed served the collective good — or saved lives […]

Commentary on K-12 student choice

Shannon Whitworth: I work at a high school where the majority of the students are from inner-city Milwaukee. They are confronted almost daily with some form of dysfunction, depravity, or violence. One day, some of my students challenged me as to why they should put a lot of effort into their studies when, from their […]

COVID school policies set me adrift from my tribe.

Angie Schmitt: I kept hoping that someone in our all-Democratic political leadership would take a stand on behalf of Cleveland’s 37,000 public-school children or seem to care about what was happening. Weren’t Democrats supposed to stick up for low-income kids? Instead, our veteran Democratic mayor avoided remarking on the crisis facing the city’s public-school families. […]

Commentary on Closed taxpayer supported Madison Schools (no achievement discussion)

Scott Mildred (and others) Our community didn’t let the district’s tardiness slide without a stern warning. That’s because missing in-person classes for the last week (with two days of online school) badly disrupted people’s lives, especially working parents who don’t have easy options for emergency child care. The district’s spokesman had told the State Journal on Dec. […]

Civics: Milwaukee votes on health policy while Dane County continues unelected administrative mandates

Corrinne Hess: At the urging of Milwaukee Public Schools and area restaurants, a Milwaukee Common Council committee moved forward an ordinance Friday for a city-wide mask mandate. Under the plan, a face covering would be required for anyone 3 years old and up inside a public building whenever the rate of transmission of the COVID-19 virus […]

Teacher Unions vs Parents and Children: political commentary

Dana Goldstein and Noam Scheiber: Few American cities have labor politics as fraught as Chicago’s, where the nation’s third-largest school system shut down this week after teachers’ union members refused to work in person, arguing that classrooms were unsafe amid the Omicron surge. But in a number of other places, the tenuous labor peace that […]

Parents sue to end illegal Chicago Teachers Union Strike

Liberty Justice Center: – A group of Chicago parents have filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Teachers Union, calling this week’s school closures an “illegal strike” and demanding that teachers return to school for in-person learning. The lawsuit was filed late Thursday by attorneys at the Liberty Justice Center, a national nonprofit law firm that […]

Milwaukee Public Schools are staying virtual for now, and none of the reasons involve improving student education

Alan Borsuk: This all said, MPS is in a small club of school districts that have switched to all-virtual schooling during the current surge. The vast majority of American schools are staying in-person, even if it’s a struggle. One board member, Megan O’Halloran, suggested that schools that were reporting comparatively few COVID cases among teachers […]

$5M in Grants to save Chicago Public School Children

STOP Award More than 340,000 Chicago Public School students have been forced to stay home by self-interests who dominate the Chicago Public School system. The failure of Chicago’s leadership to open school even after receiving more than $1.5 billion from the federal government in the past year to ensure they are always open safely to […]

Civics: Wisconsin Electoral Awareness

Someone just sent a picture of their child’s homework to me. Sorry @GovEvers 🤣💗 pic.twitter.com/Kf8iCOpbJu — Katie Rosenberg ✌ (@katierosenberg) January 7, 2022 Mandates, closed schools and Dane County Madison Public Health. 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” 2017: West […]

Notes on administrative mandates vs elected official votes: Dane County Edition

Allison Garfield: Authored by county Supervisor Jeff Weigand, who represents District 20 just east of Sun Prairie, the resolution has been before the city and county’s joint public health committee twice, once in September and once in December. Most recently, on Dec. 1, the resolution was indefinitely postponed in committee. But the resolution made its way before […]

Private temporary classroom for taxpayer supported Madison k-12 students

Scott Girard: It was their temporary classroom for MMSD’s second day of virtual learning amid a delayed return from winter break. Madison offered up her organization’s space on the Capitol Square hours after the district’s Dec. 30 announcement that winter break would be extended through Wednesday, Jan. 6, with virtual learning to close out the […]

The human rights implications of long lockdown and the damaging impact on young people

Ellen Townsend: The rights and needs of young people have been ignored in this crisis and this is a national and global disaster in the making. The future of our youngsters has been sacrificed in order to protect adults which goes against the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 3) states: “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social […]

Parents vs Teacher Unions on closed taxpayer supported K-12 Schools: Chicago edition

Guilia Heyward: The possibility of more online school for John Christie’s fourth-grade son, Ian, is enough to bring Mr. Christie to tears. Mr. Christie said his son, who has been diagnosed with autism, thrived with the schedule that in-person instruction gave him during the fall. But in earlier parts of the pandemic, when school was […]

Mapping closed taxpayer supported K-12 schools

Burbio Burbio’s tracker shows 5225 schools starting a period of disruption (not offering in-person learning) of one or more days during the week beginning January 2nd, Mandates, closed schools and Dane County Madison Public Health. The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or […]

Commentary on statements to open Madison’s closed taxpayer supported K-12 schools

Scott Girard: That percentage is well below the unfilled percentages in the last months of 2021: 49.81% in October, 47.37% in November and 43.56% in December. In its press release Thursday, the district acknowledged that closures of schools or classrooms could still be coming this semester. Elizabeth Beyer: “We recognize this week has affected our […]

Civics: commentary on the Dane County Madison Public Health mask mandate, that lacks elected an official vote

Allison Garfield and Natalie Yahr: The resolution seeks to dismiss the current emergency order — which was issued by Public Health Madison & Dane County on Dec. 20, 2021 and extends the mask mandate through Feb. 1, 2022 — until public input and “consent of the governed” had been achieved. The previous emergency order had […]

Reading proficiency rates rising in some Appalachian schools
Scientifically based teaching, Direct Instruction programs driving turnaround

Richard Innes: Results on both state and na.onal tests raise important ques.ons about the general lack of effec.veness of reading instruc.on in Kentucky’s public schools. Evidence from the federal Na.onal Assessment of Educa.onal Progress (NAEP) indicates that many Kentucky teachers struggle to provide effec.ve reading instruc.on.The dimensions of this problem are enormous. Impacts were examined […]

A school thinks different

Dear Parents, Effective upon our return to school after Christmas break, CCCA will be reverting to our pre-COVID health policy (below in bold). Cases of COVID will be treated as equivalent to all other illnesses for thepurposes of school attendance. I recognize that this change may come as a surprise to some after almost two […]

Changing our metrics to suit our narratives has caused confusion, frustrated the honest, and destroyed public trust, or The Graveyard of Common Knowledge

Matt Shapiro: This kind of pronouncement was meant to imply that vaccination rates were responsible for low rates of COVID at Harvard, not the fact that Harvard is in a region that was at a COVID nadir last September. Now that the region is having a COVID outbreak, Harvard has, despite mandatory vaccines (and mandatory […]

Madison’s taxpayer supported closed schools: 2022 edition

Emily Hamer: Heinrich also said that “while it is challenging to determine exactly where transmission occurred,” her agency was not aware of any deaths from COVID-19 linked to in-person schooling in Dane County “but it appears that there have been a small number of hospitalizations that appear to be linked to in-school transmission.” Jenkins confirmed […]

Commentary on Madison’s taxpayer supported closed K-12 schools

Scott Girard: Wednesday’s meeting, which begins at 5 p.m., includes a public comment portion, a chance to summarize written public comments and an “update on safe return to school buildings for in-person learning.” The last item will be a discussion, but will not include a vote of any kind. Those interested in speaking during the meeting […]

Milwaukee, Madison School Districts Refuse to Follow the Science

Brett Healy: Further proving that we have learned absolutely nothing from the last 22 months, both Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) announced plans to scrap students’ return to the classroom following Christmas break. Neither sounded particularly optimistic that this would be a temporary move. “While it is our goal […]

In support of California SB237

We Unanimously passed 11-0 at the SF Board of Supervisors My resolution to support @Portantino’s SB237 to require screening all students in California for risk of dyslexia in K-2nd grade. Ty @Portantino for your leadership and @GavinNewsom for all your tremendous work! — Ahsha Safai 安世輝 (@Ahsha_Safai) January 5, 2022 SB237 Wisconsin Governor Evers recently […]

‘This is a disaster.’: Severity of learning lost to the pandemic comes into focus

Jessica Calefati AMERICA, WE HAVE A PROBLEM — Results from a standardized test taken by elementary and middle school students earlier this school year paint a bleak picture of the harm the pandemic inflicted on their learning.  — Performance on the iReady test administered nationally by Curriculum Associates plummeted for all students compared to the last time it […]

“An emphasis on adult employment”; Chicago Teachers Union 2022 edition

NEW: The Chicago Teachers Union says its planned vote tonight would see members refuse in-person work until Jan. 18 or until the city’s COVID-19 wave falls below the threshold Chicago Public Schools set last year, whichever happens first. — Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) January 4, 2022 Maureen Kelleher: If ever there was a moment to ensure […]

Taxpayer supported Chicago Teacher Union and closed schools

Alex Nester: Chicago teachers are preparing to strike over what they say are unsafe working conditions caused by a spike in coronavirus cases. The Chicago Teachers Union has scheduled a Tuesday vote to determine whether its 25,000 members will refuse to return to the classroom, WBEZ reported. On Sunday, more than 6,000 union members at a virtual […]

Oster Study Finds Learning Loss Far Greater in Districts that Went Fully Remote

Kevin Mahnken: What are the consequences of closing virtually every American school and shifting to online education for months at a time? It’s a question that education experts have been asking since the emergence of COVID-19, and one whose answers are gradually becoming clearer. With federal sources reporting that 99 percent of students have now returned to […]

The long-term consequences of closed schools are profound

Will Flanders and Libby Sobic: In the latest chapter of the seemingly never-ending nightmare of school closures, Milwaukee Public Schools decided Sunday, Jan. 2 to return to virtual instruction for the first week of the spring semester, Jan. 3-7. This follows the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) making a similar decision to delay the start […]

Notes on taxpayer supported Madison K-12 School District Crime and achievement governance

David Blaska: Neighbors here on the SW side are outraged that the so-called safety coordinator for our public schools blows off police trying to track down kids showing off their illegal firearms in a stolen car a block away from Madison East high school. Doesn’t return their phone calls. Refuses to share photographic evidence with […]

Parents vs taxpayer supported Madison K-12 school district administration

Elizabeth Beyer: It’s a complaint echoed by parents across the district Monday, on a day most expected to see their children back at school, as they were elsewhere in Dane County (but not in the state’s largest district, Milwaukee, which also went back to online learning temporarily). Several parents said they didn’t object to the […]

Commentary on the Democrat Party Education Axis

Matt Taibbi: However, much like the Hillary Clinton quote about “deplorables,” conventional wisdom after the “gaffe” soon hardened around the idea that what McAuliffe said wasn’t wrong at all. In fact, people like Hannah-Jones are now doubling down and applying to education the same formula that Democrats brought with disastrous results to a whole range […]

“It’s a challenge to get back into a setting where you have strict deadlines again”

Scott Girard: Seventeen months passed between the closure of schools in March 2020 and Gordon Allen’s return to learning inside East High School. The Madison Metropolitan School District student senate president and East senior, who opted to finish the 2020-21 school year virtually rather than return via the district’s phased-in return to buildings, said this […]

Here’s Why California Is Losing Population for the First Time

Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox: California is suffering a major demographic reversal, one that threatens both the state’s economic future and the durability of its progressive model. The numbers speak for themselves: The Golden State’s population has started declining for the first time, with new data from the state Department of Finance showing a population loss of […]

We must make public-health authorities accountable for their COVID lies

Glenn Reynolds: The “public health” response to COVID has been awful. Ever since cases first appeared in Wuhan, the reaction has been marked by mistakes, reversals, outright lying and even political manipulation. We need a thorough accounting. Mistakes are forgivable. In the early days, everything we knew came from the Chinese government, and while we […]

Where Are Black Parents’ Voices on Critical Race Theory?

Kali Holloway: That would explain why CBS News last month posted a tweet that asked, “How young is too young to teach kids about race?” The network had blatantly overlooked the experiences of Black and other nonwhite kids, who mostly learn about racism through firsthand experiences at disturbingly young ages—never at a time of their […]

The Fallout From Remote Education: It’s a Fiasco for Kids, Families, and Democracy

Laura McKenna: Are we going to shutdown society and schools again? There is enormous pressure from the top to not close schools. That’s why the CDC has shifted its recommendations for dealing with positive people. Now, positive people only have to isolate for five days. Fauci says that positive people are really only contagious two […]

By Ditching the SAT, Harvard Hurts Minority Students

Jason Riley: Just before the start of my senior year in college, I received a job offer from the local newspaper. A short time later, I ran into a former editor of the college paper where I had previously worked and told her the news. “Congratulations, Jason,” she said. “I heard they were looking for […]

Taxpayer supported Madison School District once again closes schools

Here is the full press release announcement. Press conference tomorrow morning. https://t.co/BQWW4mAjyf pic.twitter.com/xi94AlnBe8 — Scott Girard (@sgirard9) December 30, 2021 Mandates, closed schools and Dane County Madison Public Health. 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” 2017: West High […]

“Learning styles” and truthiness

Reversals in Psychology: A list of famous psychological findings that are now in doubt. Includes the Stanford prison experiment, implicit bias, Pygmalion effect, stereotype threat, power posing, multiple intelligences, brain training, learning styles, etc. https://t.co/WOES9XsMfs pic.twitter.com/VXGGhkxpCo — Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 27, 2021

Madison, Milwaukee school performance overrated by DPI

Libby Sobic and Will Flanders: Madison is ranked dead last when it comes to performance among disadvantaged students. Pre-pandemic, Madison’s overall student proficiency in English/Language Arts hovered around 35% while Milwaukee’s overall student proficiency was even worse at around 19%. Even after accounting for a huge number of students who opted out, proficiency rates plummeted […]

“the referenced study made no mention of the education of its educators as a variable”

Noah Diekemper: It’s little wonder that the American Enterprise Institute’s education research fellow Max Eden has denounced college requirements for preschool teachers as “regressive,” declaring that there is “ no evidence to support this will help with student outcomes .” Why, then, are lawmakers considering a federal law that would fund preschool programs only if lead teachers […]

Abolishing grades on homework will hurt the neediest kids

Jay Matthews: Now some schools are experimenting with easing homework and grading as a way to be fair and coax students back into the learning process. I had assumed educators would quickly realize this was a formula for disaster. But I have learned such take-it-easy policies are being seriously considered in what I have considered […]

Former Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Takes Administrative Job in the Madison Schools

Lucas Robinson: A former state superintendent of schools is stepping into a new position with the Madison School District’s leadership team, the district said Wednesday. Carolyn Stanford Taylor will serve as the district’s interim assistant superintendent for engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, a position geared toward beating back bias and discrimination in the district. Stanford […]

Read it and cheer: David Banks’ wise words about literacy instruction in NYC schools

Robert Pondisco: In some of his first public comments since being named New York City’s incoming schools chancellor, David Banks has drawn cheers from savvy education observers and literacy experts for remarks critical of “balanced literacy,” the city’s long-standing approach to teaching reading. “‘Balanced literacy’ has not worked for Black and Brown children. We’re going […]

Ontario Court Declares Teacher Math Proficiency Test Unconstitutional

Ontario Teachers Union: The Ontario Divisional Court has ruled that the Ontario College of Teachers shall grant certification to teacher candidates who have not yet passed the Math Proficiency Test but who have otherwise met all other teacher certification requirements. The Divisional Court found that the Math Proficiency Test had an adverse impact on entry […]

Milwaukee’s taxpayer supported K-12 schools financial rhetoric

Will Flanders & Libby Sobic: Like an old IPod set on repeat, Milwaukee Public Schools’ attempts to attack and provide misleading data about the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is a song-and-dance that never stops. In their latest salvo against providing families with educational options, the district included information on the “cost” to Milwaukee residents […]

Frautschi’s dónate $1m to Monona’s (Madison suburb) One City School

Scott Girard: One City Schools received a $1 million donation from the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation to support the school as it expands to serve students in grades 4K-12. “The Frautschi family has a long history of investing in initiatives to make Madison a great city for everyone, dating back to their contributions to downtown […]

Federal Court of Appeals Rules DPI Violated State Law When Denying Transportation Benefits to Private School Families

WILL: The News: A three-judge panel of the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in St. Augustine v. Underly, a lawsuit first filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) in 2016, that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) violated state law when denying transportation benefits to families attending St. Augustine School, an independent Catholic […]

“The risk of severe outcomes to kids from coronavirus infection is low, and the risks to kids from being out of school are high.”

Joseph Allen: The early evidence from outside the United States suggests that kids will remain low risk during the Omicron surge as well. The latest data from South Africa for the week ending Dec. 12 shows that school-age children (5-to-19-year-olds) had the lowest hospitalization of any age group, and even with the Omicron uptick, the hospitalization rate […]

Jefferson Middle School teacher on leave after planned reenactment lesson

Scott Girard: A Jefferson Middle School teacher is on administrative leave after planning a Colonial-era reenactment lesson that asked students “to assume stereotypical roles which brought racialized harm,” according to an email from the school’s principal. The incident comes 10 months after officials in the nearby Sun Prairie Area School District apologized to parents for […]

“For over 18 months, the Fairfax County School Board has focused on every political issue of the day,” O’Neal Jackson said. “In turn, [it] has not focused on what’s best for our students and families in Fairfax County.”

Alex Nester: Parents in Virginia’s largest school district collected enough signatures to recall a school board member who ignored parental concerns and kept schools closed during the pandemic. Open FCPS Coalition, a bipartisan group of parents, on Wednesday filed with a county circuit court a petition to recall school board member Laura Jane Cohen. The […]

Loudoun County paid at least $500,000 to be twice delivered suggestions about “social emotional learning.”

Matt Taibbi: In preparation for today’s forthcoming story, A Culture War in Four Acts: Loudoun County, Virginia. Part Two: ‘The Incident,’ TK News sent Freedom of Information requests to the county on several questions. Concerned with the issue of when the controversial “Equity Collaborative” was hired, we asked for “procurement or purchasing process documents, stakeholder emails and communique […]

Test results in American schools plummeted during the pandemic

The Economist: “A school district where one-quarter of students were black spent, on average, 10 more weeks in the classroom than one where three-quarters of students were black.” A recent working paper by a group of researchers led by Emily Oster, of Brown University and the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at the results of standardised […]

Wisconsin K-12 Practice vs Governance Climate

We need an education system that extolls the facts about our nation. We ARE undoubtedly the greatest nation on the planet and in the history of the world. Leaders need to make sure young people know that too. https://t.co/pGbZtXMnFf — Robin Vos (@repvos) December 17, 2021 The data clearly indicate that being able to read is […]

What a Brazilian state can teach the world about education

The Economist: hen amaury gomes began teaching history in Sobral in the mid-1990s, its schools were a mess. The city of 200,000 people lies in Ceará, a baking-hot north-eastern state that has one of Brazil’s highest rates of poverty. When local officials ordered tests in 2001 they found that 40% of Sobral’s eight-year-olds could not […]

Commentary from the Wisconsin DPI Superintendent

Jonah Beleckis: They’re going to have to get away from the notion that we’re using this money to reward schools that were open for in-person instruction. Maybe we can use that $77 million for after-school programming, for tutoring, for learning loss. That’s what we need to do. Notes and links on Jill Underly. The data clearly […]

We’ve Been Teaching Reading Wrong for Decades. How a Massachusetts School’s Switch to Evidence-Based Instruction Changed Everything

VICTORIA THOMPSON, ELIZABETH WOLFSON, AND MANDY HOLLISTER: “Teaching reading is rocket science,” Louisa Moats is well known for saying. It is something we frequently referenced during our guided reading professional development for teachers. Sadly, until we started on our Science of Reading journey two-plus years ago, we had no idea how bereft our instruction was of the […]

Another attempt to address Wisconsin‘s long-term disastrous reading results: AB611

The Assembly Committee on Education is holding a public hearing today on AB611, relating to the licensure requirements for teachers in regard to reading readiness. Similar to AB446 — a literacy bill vetoed by the Gov. — this bill seeks to boost WI’s dismal literacy rates. pic.twitter.com/XLUL9NVXBD — MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) December 14, 2021 Wisconsin […]

An update on the spring 2022 Madison School Board Election (3 seats)

Scott Girard: Ananda Mirilli will not run for reelection to the Madison School Board next spring, meaning two of the three seats up for election will not have an incumbent among the candidates. Cris Carusi previously announced that she would not run for reelection, while board president Ali Muldrow is running for a second term. Carusi, Mirilli […]

Controlling the narrative: Parental choice, Black empowerment and lessons from Florida

Denisha Merriweather, Dava Hankerson, Nathaniel Cunneen and Ron Matus: The shift to an increasingly choice-driven education landscape for Black students in Florida has been driven by Black parents, who have enrolled their children in choice programs in growing numbers and made it so they cannot be ignored politically. “Options make it so that I can […]

Wisconsin Taxpayers Spend More On K-12 For Less over the past Decade

WMC Foundation PDF: When it comes to education funding in Wisconsin, both Republicans and Democrats have made it a priority. The most recent State Budget approved spending $14.2 billion in state tax dollars on K-12 education – roughly 36 percent of the general fund budget. s spending has continued to climb in recent years, educational […]

Madison School Board member calls for action on COVID-19 paid time off for teachers, staff

Elizabeth Beyer: Madison School Board member calls for action on COVID-19 paid time off for teachers, staff A Madison School Board member is calling for the full board to address a lack of access to COVID-19 sick leave for district teachers and staff during the next board meeting. As district policy stands, teachers and staff […]

‘That’s not going to happen’: Report says Madison East High leader objected to charging students after assault

Chris Rickert: The mother of the victim, identified only as “Erin” in the WMTV-TV news report, said the school did not call police about the attack. LeMonds said that was accurate but that the school called the victim’s parents, who came to the school and called police themselves. He said the school would have called […]

America’s top scientists warn about the political erosion of education standards.

Wall Street Journal: The last few years have seen a proliferation of “open letters” by academics in politics and the humanities in favor of progressive causes. The hard sciences are different, and when mathematicians, physicists and engineers speak up to defend the integrity of their fields, Americans should pay attention. The latest example is a […]

Gifted & Talented Programs and Racial Segregation

Owen Thompson: Racial segregation can occur across educational programs or classrooms within a given school, and there has been particular concern that gifted & talented programs may reduce integration within schools. This paper evaluates the contribution of gifted & talented education to racial segregation using data on the presence and racial composition of gifted & […]

Latest Madison Literacy Task Force Report, Slides, Commentary and links

Kvistad noted that MMSD completed a report similar to this one in 2011, but said it ended up “on a shelf.” This time, she said, the district has “got to do something different,”  12 Slide Presentation (PDF): Charge to the Task Force: 1. Reviewing and becoming familiar with the best evidence about the most effective […]

Madison La Follette student charged with bringing loaded gun to school, jailed on $30,500 bail

Ed Treleven: An 18-year-old La Follette High School student accused of bringing a loaded gun to the Madison school last week was charged Monday with two gun possession-related charges, and also faces six additional new unrelated criminal cases. The seven new cases against Marquan Webb, of Madison, brings to 11 the number of criminal cases […]

Notes on 2022 Madison School Board Candidates

Emily Hamer: Janeway said they were “very ignited by” the posts. Janeway wants to protect trans children, including the third- and fourth-graders that they teach in two Madison schools through a UW-Madison arts program called Whoopensocker. “I go back to school on Tuesday and on Thursday, and I will be face to face with kids who […]

Madison schools’ war on discipline

David Blaska: Yet students of color continue to be disproportionately disciplined. “The simple fact is this: black boys do commit more violent offenses in public schools than other kids,” acknowledges John McWhorter, in his book Woke Racism. You want “equity”? According to MMSD data from 2017-18, 59% of disciplinary actions were taken against boys, even […]

“And third, I’d like to see a candidate who can actually win.”

Dave Cieslewicz That one demonstrated some of the dysfunction of the district. Their spokesperson denied that anything had happened at the school because, technically, the incident, which involved students enrolled at West, occurred on a sidewalk that wasn’t part of school property. The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for […]

“In the Michigan Shooting, What Is the School’s Responsibility?”

Ann Althouse: By “put them in a safe place,” I think Ross means put Ethan Crumbleyin custody. He apparently begged “help me.” It sounds as though he struggled with an uncontrollable impulse. I understand the school wanting to defend itself after the fact, but what’s more important is for schools to take action to protect the students who are […]

“The popularity of low-quality online credit recovery suggests that’s a realistic concern”

Joanne Jacobs: The pandemic has accelerated a push to ease grading and homework policies, writes Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews. “Schools have stuck to an outdated system that relies heavily on students’ compliance — completing homework, behaving in class, meeting deadlines and correctly answering questions on a one-time test — as a proxy for learning, rather than measuring […]

We Opened the Schools and … It Was Fine: Many parents feared the worst, but so far, no widespread COVID crisis has come to America’s classrooms.

Schools aren’t the problem. They never have been. One of the frustrating things about the pandemic has been our inability, even at this late date, to understand why surges occur. They hit communities with mask mandates, and communities without. Last year, we believed that the surge from October through February was caused by seasonal changes. […]

Commentary on Wisconsin’s “state k-12 report card”

Will Flanders: The News: The recent release of Wisconsin’s state report cards for individual districts and schools proved, once again, that the current composition of the report card is not doing enough to reveal the true state of education and academic performance in Wisconsin’s schools. A new policy brief from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) […]

What’s Behind The Massive Spike In Violence Inside Public Schools Nationwide

Will Flanders and Dan Lennington: Ask any public high school student: violent in-school fights are on the rise and discipline is on the decline. Just consider one public high school: Madison East in Madison, Wisconsin. In late September, local media reported a series of “disturbing” cell phone videos depicting vicious fights and beatings occurring in […]

Why I’m Backing Charter Schools: The public school system is failing. My philanthropy will give $750 million to a proven alternative.

Michael Bloomberg: American public education is broken. Since the pandemic began, students have experienced severe learning loss because schools remained closed in 2020—and even in 2021 when vaccinations were available to teachers and it was clear schools could reopen safely. Many schools also failed to administer remote learning adequately. Before the pandemic, about two-thirds of […]

Act 10 at 10

Johnny Kampis: Unions, he says, were more concerned about protecting the pensions of the old membership than in the future benefits for new members. “They weren’t fighting for the little guy. They were fighting for themselves.”  Among the proudest accomplishments in Act 10, Walker told us, was the fight for schoolchildren. Act 10 was about […]

Young Finns’ educational level has dropped below OECD average

yle: The educational level of young people in Finland has fallen from the top echelon to mid-table among industrialised countries, says the Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health (Soste). Contrary to popular belief, young adults are not necessarily more educated than retiring age groups. According to the federation, the level of education could be […]

“LeMonds said the victim’s parents called police while at the school, but “it is likely (Madison) West staff would have also.”

Chris Rickert: 16-year-old charged in beating outside Madison West High School A 16-year-old boy was tentatively charged with substantial battery after he punched another boy in the head outside Madison West High School Monday, police said. Police said the mother of the victim called them just before 3:30 p.m. to report the attack, which the victim did […]

Intoxicated 13-year-old arrested after crashing stolen car at a Madsion Beltline off-ramp, police say

Chris Rickert: “As a community, we should be extremely concerned over a 13-year-old driving a stolen car, during rush hour, while high on (marijuana),” Hanson wrote. “Everybody’s kind of numb, and we can’t be,” he added during the interview with the State Journal. The vehicle was reported stolen on Monday, police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said, […]

Madison East principal removed after tumultuous start to year

Madison365: Madison East High School principal Sean Leavy has been reassigned to a district administration position and assistant principal Mikki Smith will take over as principal for the remainder of the school year effective Wednesday, Madison Metropolitan School District officials announced. A Sean Levy serves on the Beloit Board of Education, according to their website. […]

Influential authors Fountas and Pinnell stand behind disproven reading theory

Emily Hanford and Christopher Peak Mark Seidenberg, a cognitive scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies reading and language development, said this statement doesn’t square with what decades of scientific research has shown about how reading works. “If a child is reading ‘pony’ as ‘horse,’ these children haven’t been taught to read. And they’re […]

Commentary on taxpayer supported k-12 reading practices

“If half the kids can’t read without paying for outside tutors, you don’t have an ‘intervention problem’ – you have a core instruction problem.” An official told me that was “deep” My respnse: It’s really not. We just abandoned common sense to justify practices and outcomes. — Kareem Weaver (@KJWinEducation) November 27, 2021 The data clearly […]