Education
Milwaukee schools look for results from ‘Ambitious Instruction’
For two hours on Wednesday evening, Oct. 16, Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Keith Posley and his staff outlined before the school board their vision of “Ambitious Instruction.” Board members complimented the administration on a well-developed instructional plan to raise academic achievement. But there was also an undercurrent of skepticism from board members that the administration […]
More controversy over Madison schools’ zero-tolerance policy on racial slurs
At a tearful press conference Friday afternoon, Sandra Rivera, a school social worker at the Nuestro Mundo Community School in Madison, appeared with her lawyer and the executive director of her union to speak out about what she described as unjust disciplinary action against her by the school district under its zero-tolerance policy for using […]
Arcadia school board votes to restore bus service
On Monday night the Arcadia school board reversed a controversial decision to deny bus service to students who live within two miles of school. The board voted unanimously to add the entire two-mile area around the school to the district’s “unusually hazardous transportation plan,” The decision to cut back bus service this year, after years […]
Wisconsin’s school voucher expansion costs districts millions
The public can now find out how much each school district in Wisconsin will have to levy in property taxes to make up for the cost of paying for private school vouchers. But you’ll need to put on your reading glasses and brush up on Excel to hunt down the numbers. Data released this week […]
Midwest racial gaps grow
Industrial expansion and unionization helped improve the lives of many black families even in the face of segregation. When industry declined and unions shrank, their fortunes reversed.
Sexual assault on the UW-Madison campus
Resources and services for victims and survivors of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking are available on campus and in the Madison community or email [email protected]. Today UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank addressed the campus and community in an open letter after results of a national 2019 survey on sexual assault on campus showed […]
ICE raids and a battle over Arcadia’s school bus route
Arcadia, a small town in western Wisconsin, near the Minnesota border, has seen a huge influx of immigrants from Latin America in recent years. Some 40% of the town’s 3,000 residents are Latino, according to the Census. In surrounding Trempealeau County, where immigrants make up the bulk of the workforce on local dairy farms, the […]
The teacher’s life: K-12 teachers plagued with high college debt, low wages
Young teachers attempting to start their careers with K-12 students are burdened by high college debt, which might be one more factor behind the teacher shortage. According to the Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS), Wisconsin ranks in the nation’s top ten states for students leaving college with loan debt. In 2018, graduates with loans […]
Rare bipartisan unity on 4-year-old kindergarten
In a rare display of bipartisan agreement, the Senate and Assembly education committees held a joint meeting on Thursday, Oct 3, to take up a series of bills including an expansion of 4-year-old kindergarten that has the support of a lot of people who rarely find common ground, from School Choice Wisconsin to the Milwaukee […]
Rural schools advocate is wary of vouchers
Kim Kaukl, a retired school principal who lives in the little town of Plain, Wis, about seven miles north of Spring Green, is the executive director of the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. In his frequent trips to Madison, Kaukl talks to state legislators about the plight of rural school districts across the state that are […]
More controversy around vouchers, DeVos
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s “back-to-school” tour kickoff at a private Milwaukee voucher school triggered a passionate response from public-school advocates and voucher-school defenders alike. In her speech at St. Marcus Lutheran School, DeVos denounced “the education cabal” that “puts other issues above what’s right for students.” DeVos blamed school administrators for wasting money […]
Betsy DeVos’ Milwaukee voucher school visit draws fire
US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is launching a “Back to School” tour on Monday with a visit to a private voucher school in Milwaukee—a city described by The Department of Education in a press release as the “birthplace of education freedom.” “Thanks to the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, now in its 30th year, thousands […]