Category Archives: AMPS

by | July 24, 2007 · 6:36 am

No One is Eating Our Lunch

With NCLB reauthorization up for renewal (newest suggested name by Sens. Lieberman, Landrieu, and Coleman “All Students Can Achieve”), the Aspen Institute is playing a major part in drafting some suggested changes. Again, it mostly more of the same numbers-driven approach to assessment, this time supposedly funding individual state’s data systems to keep track of such numbers. At the same time, a new coalition, NCLB Works, composed of groups like the Business Roundtable and the Education Trust, have made it clear they like the NCLB moniker. It’s important to note that each time the more than 40-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act is reauthorized, a name change usually follows.

However, it is groups like the Education Trust and the Business Roundtable which are doing their finest work in pushing for the hostile takeover of the public schools, ostensibly under the guise of pushing for reauthorization of NCLB. Gerald Bracey offers a well needed response to one of the most often referred to pieces of analysis; international comparisons, and their use as a cudgel to attack the American public school system. Bracey points out that one part of these global education comparison studies that receive little discussion in the yearly hand wringing reports on our failings as a nation to educate our children, is the lack of a level playing field when it comes to poverty. Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust is quoted recently as saying, “Our most affluent kids are getting their lunches eaten by kids in other countries. The system we have has not served our children well. There is no point pouring more federal money into very broken bottles.” Baloney.

Gerald Bracey sums up this research succinctly:

“Thus, for reading and science, the two categories of US schools with the smallest percentages of students living in poverty score higher than even the highest nation, Sweden in reading, Singapore in science. In math, the top US category would be 3rd in the world.

It is only in American schools with 75% of more of their students living in poverty where scores fall below the international average.”

Robert Godfrey

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Filed under AMPS, Best Practices, National News, No Child Left Behind, Quote of the Day

by | July 24, 2007 · 4:11 am

Wisconsin Values Event

via Vicky Selkowe, Wisconsin Council on Children & Families

Help Ensure Wisconsin’s Budget Reflects Our Values!
Wisconsin Values Event
State Capitol Building , Senate Parlor
Thursday, July 26th @ 11:00 a.m.

Join us in Madison for this important & timely event!

    Budget Background:

The Wisconsin legislature is continuing its work on the state budget. The eight legislators who make up the conference committee (see bottom of this email for names & contact information) are expected to start their work on the state budget very soon. They face the daunting task of trying to reconcile the vastly different Senate and Assembly versions of the budget – budgets with very different priorities and competing visions for our state’s future. Whatever budget document the conference committee comes up with goes back to the Senate and the Assembly for up or down votes (no amendments, or changes, are allowed) and then to the Governor – making the work of the conference committee tremendously important.

    The Wisconsin Values Event:

A large and diverse set of organizations (including AARP, AFT, WEAC, the Survival Coalition, Make It Work Milwaukee! Coalition, Wisconsin Counties Association, WI Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Planned Parenthood, SEIU, Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association and the Wisconsin Council on Children & Families) are coming together this Thursday, July 26th for this Wisconsin Values event to ask the state legislature to ensure that the state budget is firmly rooted in the values that have made Wisconsin great. As the legislature’s conference committee begins its deliberations, we raise our united voices to ask legislators to craft a biennial budget that reflects the value Wisconsinites place in strong communities, good schools, care for vulnerable populations, quality health care and childcare, and affordable higher education.

    You’re invited (and needed!):

To ensure that the state legislature sees the strength represented in our collective voices, we need you to join us at the Capitol this Thursday morning for this important event! The event will last less than an hour, and participants will then stop by conference committee members’ offices to deliver a Wisconsin Values message about the budget. Your participation in this event is critically important and we hope you can take the time to join us.

    If you can’t make it:

If you’re unable to join us in person on Thursday, we need you to take just FIVE minutes THIS WEEK to call or email your own legislators and also write to the leaders of the conference committee, Sen. Judy Robson and Rep. Mike Huebsch. (If you have time to send a message to all members of the conference committee, that’d be great, but if you have limited time, please just write to Sen. Robson & Rep. Huebsch.) Make sure they know what YOU value and urge them to craft a biennial budget that reflects the value Wisconsinites place in strong communities, good schools, care for vulnerable populations, quality health care and childcare, and affordable higher education.

    Questions?

Contact Vicky Selkowe at WCCF at vselkowe@wccf.org or (608) 284-0580, ext. 326.

Hope to see you on Thursday, July 26th in the State Capitol to ensure that the legislature hears our united voices calling on them to preserve our Wisconsin values!

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance, Take Action

by | July 23, 2007 · 1:36 am

We are not alone #14

I think everyone in Wisconsin’s hearts went out to the community of Weston earlier this year when principal John Klang was killed. I hope that our state officials also show compassion for Weston and other districts suffering from the relentless toll of a broken state school finance system.

The headline is familiar: “Weston gets bad budget news.” The details are familiar too:

“We have to decide as a board and a community if we want to go to a referendum,” Andres said.

Despite being in the hole, the board is not looking to tighten its belt further to get out.

“We have very few areas where we could look to cut. We’re not recommending anymore cuts,” the superintendent said.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 29, 2006, school shooting at Weston the district was awarded numerous grants that were largely spent on security measures. Weston has made cuts over the years, including no longer offering home economics classes and reducing the music program to one staff member. The district has not held a referendum in recent years, unlike neighboring districts Reedsburg, Baraboo and Sauk Prairie.

“I don’t know of any neighboring district in the past eight to nine years that has not had a referendum,” Terry Milfred said. Milfred is Weston’s former superintendent and served on the board until June 2007.

Take action.

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Referenda, School Finance, Take Action, We Are Not Alone

by | July 20, 2007 · 2:32 pm

Citizen members for Board of Education committees needed

From Beth Moss:

Hello,

I am the new Chair for the Board of Education Communications Committee for 2007-08. Thank you for your support of the MMSD and your interest in advocating for change in the state school funding system.

There are currently 2 vacancies on the Communications Committee for citizen members and 1 on the Community Partnerships Committee. Serving on a committee is an excellent way to become educated on the issues that affect our district, play a role in policy-making, and serve the community and our children.

We are looking for fresh ideas and new perspectives, so please take this opportunity, and send in your name. The directions for applying are attached. Also please forward this message to anyone you think may be interested. If you have any questions about the positions, please email or call me at 833-8717.

Thank you for your support of the MMSD, and I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Beth Moss
Member, Board of Education

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Filed under AMPS, Local News, Take Action

by | July 19, 2007 · 6:13 pm

Key K-12 budget provisions for Madison Schools

A memo delivered to the Governor and our legislative delegation by MMSD. These would serve as good talking points when (not if!) you call or write your Reps, the Conference Committee or the Senate and Assembly leadership.

Thomas J. Mertz

Key K-12 budget provisions for Madison Schools
TO: Members of the 2007-09 Budget Conference Committee

FROM: Joe Quick, MMSD Legislative Liaison/Communication Specialist

DATE: July 18, 2007

RE: Key K-12 budget provisions for Madison Schools

Wisconsin’s school districts face a monumental challenge: continued pursuit of academic improvement by students, under the pressure of annual decreases in resources due to state-imposed revenue limits. While general school aids have increased annually, the resources are not targeted to classrooms.

Since the first year of revenue limits in 1993-94, Madison Schools have pared over $60 million from its annual cost-to-continue budget. This has forced larger class size at all grade levels, curtailed services for children in special education, diminished course offerings and extracurricular opportunities for children, and many other detrimental affects. Empty rhetoric maintaining that school officials need to find more “creative” ways to provide more with less is disingenuous, and harmful to our state’s premier K-12 system.

The following lists critical elements of the K-12 budget important for Madison Schools.

Allowable Revenue Limit Increase — Support the Senate position to provide an inflation-adjusted per pupil increase of $264 in 07-08 and $270 in 08-09. Where is the logic in penalizing a school district with an allowable $200 per student revenue limit increase because a district has already settled 2007-08 and 2008-09 contracts, as is the case with Madison and a few dozen other districts?

SAGE — Support the Senate position, ensuring the $250 per pupil increase for SAGE students — the first increase in the program’s 10-year history. This is in accord with the agreement between the Governor and legislative Republicans in 2006, as part of the Milwaukee voucher program enrollment expansion. Oppose Assembly action to dismantle SAGE by making 2nd and 3rd grade optional.

School Safety — Support the Senate position to provide revenue limit flexibility to help ensure safety for school staff and students, by allowing $100 per pupil to be spent — outside the revenue limits — for the critical needs of school safety equipment/personnel.

Bilingual-Bicultural Aid — Support the Senate position, which provides enough funding to maintain the inadequate resources for this state and federally mandated program. When revenue limits began, school districts were reimbursed by the state for 33% of related program expenses. With the additional funds recommended by the Governor and supported by the Senate, the reimbursement remains at 12%.

Special Education Aid — Support the Senate position to increase special education aid by $53.6 million, nudging the state support for special education to 29% by the end of the biennium. When revenue limits began, districts were reimbursed for almost 45% of costs.

Combined, since the inception of revenue limits, the diminished state reimbursement for SPED and bilingual-bicultural aid to Madison Schools translated to a loss of $11.6 million in resources for 2006-07. The District estimates it will have to cut $5-7 million from its “cost to continue” budget for 2008-09 in order to comply with revenue limits.

School Breakfast reimbursement — Support the Senate position to increase by five cents the reimbursement from $0.10 to $0.15 per meal served.

Chapter 220 — Oppose Assembly provision to eliminate the program, a loss of nearly $500,000 for Madison Schools.

Policy Items — Delete policy items in the K-12 portion of the budget, including, but not limited to: school referenda elections, the “autism scholarship” program, distribution of Common School Fund resources to school districts, elimination of the Qualified Economic Offer, and, the expansion of the Milwaukee voucher program to all of Milwaukee County and Racine County.

If you have questions about these positions, or would like more information, please contact me at 663-1902.

C: Madison Legislative Delegation
Gov. Jim Doyle

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance, Take Action

by | July 18, 2007 · 9:40 pm

Knowledge,Research, Education and Reform

I was following the links from the latest Carnival of Education today as well as making the rounds of some of my regular online education stops. The theme that hit me today concerned what we know about how to make schools or education work. Below are links, quotes and comments from the posts that got me thinking.

Tim Fredrick at the The Teacher Research Blog had a post on Scientifically-Based Research & Teacher Research. He writes:

And, when I think about it, nothing about teaching reminds me of “science”. Even my best methods, the ones that always work, I find that they don’t always work with every student. Classroom teachers know that not everything works every time with every student. It just doesn’t. Naming methods as based on “scientific research” intimates that they work in every scenario. Just as I get suspicious that the newest diet method is “easy” and “fast,” I get suspicious when educational products work all the time – even most of the time – for everyone – even most teachers….

When will politicians and policy-makers learn that education is not something else? It is not business. It is not medicine. It is something entirely of its own and the person who is most qualified to decide if a method or educational product works is the classroom teacher. Reading the document from NIL was helpful in understanding what is meant by this oft-used term. But, I couldn’t help but get the feeling that the document intimates that knowledge about good teaching is not created by teachers, but rather by “scientists”. This does not sit well with me and it should not sit well with other teachers, as well.

This is pretty close to my position. I understand the value of research but also think that the limitations of research get lost when it moves from the academic community to policy discussions. Some of this is related to Sherman Dorn’s insights on Folk Positivism.

That brings up the issue of tests and accountability. I really like what Dr. Jan had to say on this topic:

In education, we have a tendency to measure not what we want to (need to) measure but what we can measure… it’s a lot like measuring someone’s height because you can’t measure their weight. If a person’s weight is proportionate to their height then measuring their height might be a prediction of their weight; but if not, then what’s the point of measuring their height?

In other words, why are we measuring the stuff we are measuring with standardized and criterion-referenced tests when what we really want to measure is children’s ability to collaboratively problem solve and effectively communicate?

I especially like the formulation of the ends of education as “children’s ability to collaboratively problem solve and effectively communicate.”

Dr. Jan is responding to a post by Greg Farr. Farr is much more sanguine about the state of knowledge than Tim Frederick (or me). He takes a theme from a paraphrase of Dr. Brian McNulty:

“All the research has basically converged. It is all pretty much saying the same thing. WE KNOW WHAT TO DO. The question is, why aren’t we doing it?”

Farr then explores some of the things we do know and outlines his resolve to put this knowledge into practice. I think Farr will find some success and I applaud his his “time to stop talking and start doing” program.

Yet I continue to have misgivings about the way ideas move from research to policy and practice. I believe that the desire for utility (mostly on the part of researchers) and simple answers (mostly on the part of policy makers) blinds many to the limits and tentative nature of (even scientific) research findings. I am much more comfortable with data guided policy than data driven policy and prefer policy makers and practitioners who are cognizant of what research (scientific based and other) and data can tell us and what it can’t.

Related links:

What Works Clearinghouse
The National Center for Fair & Open Testing
Think Tank Review Project
MMSD Classroom Action Research

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under Accountability, AMPS, Best Practices, No Child Left Behind

by | July 18, 2007 · 2:43 pm

YearlyKos: Education Uprising/ Education for Democracy

As part of the YearlyKos NetRoots Convention (Chicago, August 2-5), TeacherKen has put together a great panel based on the Education Uprising/Education for Democracy ongoing project.

This project has been so rich in ideas and insights that I suggest you read all the material linked to the post on the Education Policy Blog. Here is the basic description:

The design of American education is obsolete, not meeting the needs of our students and our society, and ignores most of what we have learned about education and learning in the past century. This panel will explore a new paradigm, including some specific examples, of how education in America can be reshaped in more productive and democratic fashions.

And a little more in the way of excerpts:

Education Uprising – Education for Democracy

Historically, one of our society’s central problem in improving public schools has been our disagreement over the purposes of public schools. We believe in three central purposes: preparing students to participate in our democratic society, empowering students to learn on their own, and encouraging them to explore their dreams.

A free and adequate public education is a right of every child. Not all children attend public schools, but all Americans must support public education that both fosters democracy and is treated as a right. Public education is a public good. It is a part of the commons for which we are all responsible. We start this brief essay by discussing the nature of education as a public good before we delve into meeting the individual needs of students, the curriculum, instruction, teachers, and accountability.

Education as a Public Good

There are two parts of education as a public good. One is the role of education in developing citizenship—not reflexive obedience but a deliberative and engaged public. If adults need the skills and confidence to debate public policy and act wisely, students need to learn those skills. The other part of public education is the obligation to operate democratically—to provide equal educational opportunities and to operate transparently and accountably.

Subtopics include: Fostering Democracy, Being Treated as a Right, Guaranteeing Equality, Building Relationships, Experimenting with Curricula, Supporting Teachers and Using Assessment.

Sherman Dorn, Mi Corazon and Marion Brady will be joining TeacherKen on the panels.

I doubt I will be able to attend, but I plan to follow along in the cybersphere.

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under Accountability, AMPS, Best Practices, National News, No Child Left Behind, Take Action

by | July 17, 2007 · 10:33 pm

School Finance Update from WAES

From the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools:

Hopes for early state budget fade into the distance
School districts lose under Assembly version of the budget
“Extra” Assembly school aid goes to taxpayers, not kids

School-funding reform calendar
The Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools (WAES) is a statewide network of educators, school board members, parents, community leaders, and researchers. Its Wisconsin Adequacy Plan — a proposal for school-finance reform — is the result of research into the cost of educating children to meet state proficiency standards.

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Hopes for early budget fade into the distance

It seems to happen every two years: Wisconsin gets into the budget season, the rhetoric begin to fly, and … before you know it … school-funding reform once again recedes into the background and the crisis continues to grow. This budget cycle is no exception, and it could go on for quite a while.

The Senate and the Assembly passed vastly different versions of the budget — by some reports up to $10 billion apart — along party lines. Additionally, the policy focus of the budgets is quite different, leading many to believe it could be well into the fall before a conference committee agrees on a compromise budget and sends it to both houses and eventually the Governor for approval.

Your best bet to follow news coverage of the budget process is to log into your hometown newspaper or go to one of two excellent statewide sites and follow the links. Your choices are The Wheeler Report or wispolitics.com.

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School districts lose under Assembly version of the budget

Depending upon your party affiliation, political or social point-of-view, or how much stake you put in the need for adequate school funding, the differing versions of the 2007-09 budget are the best and worst of all possible worlds.

If you want to wade through the hundreds of pages in both the Senate and Assembly versions, go here. The sad fact is that once the numbers are run through the filter of the Assembly budget, every district in the state loses or stands pat in the revenue limit formula.

Also analyzing the Assembly version of the budget are: WEAC; the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance; and the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families You can also find analysis on the websites of The Wheeler Report or wispolitics.com.

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“Extra” Assembly school aid goes to taxpayers, not kids

Between passage of the budget and the start of the work of the conference committee, points and counterpoints have been flying between legislators, especially over what the budget really means to Wisconsin public school districts.

One claim being made by many legislators is that the Assembly budget actually puts more money into public schools … more money, for example, than the Governor’s budget.

One such claim was made by Assembly Education Committee chair and 80th Assembly District Rep. Brett Davis. Reacting to 79th Assembly District Rep. Sondy Pope-Roberts criticizing him for comments during the budget debate, Rep. Davis said the Assembly actually put more state money into the budget for schools than the Governor asked for.

Technically, he was right. The Assembly budget reduced the amount of school aid in the Joint Finance Committee version by $85 million and did increase the state share of school funding by $200 million over two years — with the key phrase being state share. What Rep. Davis didn’t say was that the net effect of the Assembly action was to take money away from public school children. Every cent of the $200 million increase went for property tax relief (bringing the total to just short of $800 million). Not one penny went into a classroom or to a child.

As Rep. Pope-Roberts said, “You’d have to be delusional to divert money from students and classrooms, squander it on tax cuts, and still call it an ‘investment in education.'” Another take on the Pope-Roberts vs. Davis debate can be found here.

After taking a look at the Assembly budget, the budget coverage, the budget analysis, the budget comment, and the budget vote, please contact your state representatives and let them know what you think. To find out who represents you, go to http://waml.legis.state.wi.us/. Remember, this is the starting point for the compromise our schools will have to live with for the next two years.

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Help us better serve you by letting us know when you change e-mail addresses. In that way we can stop sending the update to the old one and switch over to the new one as soon as possible.

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School-funding reform calendar

Sept. 8 — Jack Norman, IWF research director, will be part of a discussion on TABOR and school funding at Fighting Bob Fest (http://www.fightingbobfest.org/), noon, at the Sauk County Fairgrounds in Baraboo (follow the link to “getting there” at the website)

Sept. 13 — School-funding reform presentation at Hayward High School, details to follow
Sept. 20 — School-funding reform presentation for District 1 of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups, 10 a.m. at the Behring Senior Center, 113 10th St., Monroe

Sept. 20 — School-funding reform presentation for the Manitowoc League of Women’s Voters, 7 p.m., other details to follow

Oct. 23 — School-funding reform presentation for the Janesville Retired Educators Association

Please feel free to share your copy of the WAES school-funding update with anyone interested in school-finance reform. Contact Tom Beebe (tbeebe@wisconsinsfuture.org) at 414-384-9094 for details.

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Pope-Roberts/Breske Resolution, School Finance, Take Action

by | July 17, 2007 · 5:06 am

State Budget News Roundup

The biggest news is the appointment of the Budget Conference Committee. Here are the members’ home pages:

Senate

Judy Robson (D)
Russell Decker (D)
Robert Jauch (D)
Scott Fitzgerald (R)

Assembly

Michael Huebsch (R)
Kitty Rhoades (R)
Jeff Fitzgerald (R)
James Kreuser (D)

Not really news, but I think it is timely to give a plug for the Take Back the Assembly project.

In Effect is optimistic (more here and some good links in both):

Sure, a handful of Republicans in the Assembly will hold out for a budget like this one, but enough will ultimately side with a budget that looks far more like what came out of the JFC last month.

Adam Wise (Wisconsin Rapids Tribune) correctly locates education issues at the center of the budget conflicts.

WCLO (Janesville) reports that “Assembly budget would hurt many school districts.”

The Herald Times (Manitowoc) editorializes “Major policy issues don’t belong in budgeting process.”

The Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee) saw through the GOP rhetoric on school funding and correctly reported “Assembly aims to limit taxes, as well as school funds.”

The Beloit daily News continues this theme with the story: “Proposed budget hurts schools.”

The Appleton Post Crescent reports on the partisanship of the process but also includes a reminder that the state GOP is not all on board with the extremism of the Assembly budget.

Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna sided with the governor, literally, at a news conference at an Appleton fire station.

“I don’t necessarily agree with everything the governor has to say, but I do agree that that what’s in the Republican Assembly package would be bad for Appleton and it would be bad for the state,” said Hanna, a longtime Republican. “However, I believe the Senate Democratic package is just as extreme on the other end.”

More reports and press releases from the Governor’s swing around the state:

Milwaukee, Madison, Superior, La Crosse, Wausau, and Kenosha.

As always, the WisPolitics Budget Blog has more.

Don’t forget to let your Reps and Senators know how you feel.

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Elections, Local News, School Finance, Take Action

by | July 16, 2007 · 5:24 pm

Moving the Center

I’m going to post more state budget links as soon as I get a chance. Just an observation for now.

The Assembly budget is a GOP policy wish list. It is extreme. The Senate budget, with the possible exception of the Healthy Wisconsin initiative is a little left of center, but hardly a left wing document. The JFC and Gov. Doyle’s budgets were even more centrist.

Now the fun comes. As the conference committee works to reach an agreement the first and maybe only issue is where the center is, where the compromises will be. All the Democrats involved moved toward the center with their initial proposals, adopting for the most part realistic proposals. In contrast the GOP controlled Assembly swung for the fences. If the conference committee seeks a middle ground, the GOP will have won. The Dems need to adopt a stand firm and “give no quarter” stance (with the possible exception of Healthy Wisconsin). This won’t be easy and may be a tough play on the public opinion front, but anything else is a clear win for the extremists in the GOP and a clear loss for the people of Wisconsin.

Thomas J. Mertz

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Filed under AMPS, Budget, Local News, School Finance