Milwaukee Public Schools are again getting attention for all the wrong reasons. Not only do they get an “F” grade, due to at least two schools having a 0%, yes 0%, reading proficiency rate....as not one student in those schools can read to their age/grade level, but they are sitting on several empty school buildings, due to significant decreases in enrollment, that they refuse to sell. Because the interested buyers are private/charter schools, which are growing exponentially due to the horrors in the public school system. A long time ago, I decided to ignore the white noise from teachers unions, because no matter how much funding you give them, it will never be enough. They even admit that. But how can they bitch about funding and be sitting on millions of dollars of real estate that they won’t sell? How can they say they are for the education of the kids, especially those of lesser means, when they continually block any chances they may get of a quality education outside of the public school system? Plus, per state statute, they have to sell these vacant buildings. Of course no one other than AM talk show hosts are holding their feet to the fire on ignoring the law.... Just another day in the failed public school system in the inner cities.......
Emphasis should be on inner city, from the reports I saw earlier (0% is certainly a shocking statistic), it appears they’re dealing with a complete breakdown of a community in the principal areas where those schools are located. The charter/private school dilemma is a challenge. Although it certainly appears they are significantly under capacity with little hope of reclaiming past enrollment numbers. Unfortunately, the honest truth is that selling those buildings could aggravate their predicament, worsens their ability to serve the least fortunate, and it’s quite likely they would receive no benefit. I do not know how it is in your location, but in many regions the proceeds of public school property sales return to the state or local government general funds and do not become discretionary funds for the school district. For all those reasons, any seasoned executive would be advised to challenge the regulations in court. I can’t fault them for that. The real problem, which I don’t know if anyone has a solution to, is how do you absolutely reform a school district in those conditions - without also reforming the community. It sounds like that district started trying to tackle those challenges last year, with community crisis response teams, counselors, tutors, etc. That honestly, given the circumstances, may not be a bad idea.
0% is disgusting even more so when you consider the waste of smart people in that school. There is no way the school does not have multiple people more than capable mentally of over achieving the literacy level except for the utter failure of the school system. Instead of doing good things for themselves and the community the talented kids will be on welfare or committing crimes, sad.
One thing getting crossed up in the OP is the administration and the teachers / teachers union. The teachers have no say in what buildings are sold and in most places the administration that would make the decision on selling the buildings is not part of the teachers union. The schools would be better off leasing the properties so they would get long term income and if necessary take them back at some future point if enrollment dictates it. It is sad that the schools are not better, but there is only so much you can do if the parents don't care, any kid that tries at school is ridiculed (probably worse than ridiculed) and the community has decayed past the point of caring.
I gotta say there is no way in hell that 0% is right - which makes me think whatever metric they're using has issues on top of the school issues. There is at least one kid in that entire district who is a reader and reads well beyond the grade level. Even Vegas wouldn't take a bet on that.
It's not the whole district, he just said two schools. And I can actually believe that there are two schools that way, likely Jr. High school kids not reading to their grade level.
I still find it impossible to believe there is not one single kid that loves to read in any single school.
I’d be inclined to agree, which is why I was shocked when the article ran in the WSJ and had to look into it. While I won’t vouch for the accuracy of the reports, the two schools were reported as being in exceptionally poverty stricken inner city neighborhoods with gang violence, that have been abandoned by everyone of means and refilled with (Somali?) refugees with non-English speaking households. While the number is still shocking, that is a disaster recipe that very well could result in those metrics.
I have a feeling this problem is very pervasive throughout the entire US school system. Mostly in the lower class areas where kids don't seem to give a shit about learning and bettering themselves. Places where hoodrat'ish behavior is held in higher regard than intellect and a degree. This former teacher is from East Side High in Paterson NJ, not too too far from where I live (but far enough thankfully). If you remember the old Morgan Freeman movie Lean on Me, that was about this school from back in the 80's-90's I think. Well it sound like old Crazy Joe only made a temporary improvement in the place.
http://archive.jsonline.com/news/ed...performing-schools-b99746391z1-383428571.html From that article ""What's really remarkable is the small scope ... MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools) has 155 schools and we're talking about doing something different with three to five schools a year when it's totally ramped up. ... We're targeting schools with zero-percent reading proficiency. And yet there's this absolute hesitancy to try something different." I can't find additional info to back the two schools I heard that had 0%. Only one school with 0% was identified here: http://eagnews.org/milwaukee-teachers-union-fights-reform-of-school-with-0-reading-proficiency/
Side note- I had dinner and drinks last night with my good buddy from Milwaukee. He is the most liberal person I know. He brought up how the city is an unsafe cesspool, having 14 murders over the last 15 days. He also thought the trolley was a complete waste of money that will never reach expectations and is hoping the project is terminated immediately. This is the first time in the six years he has lived there that he has not defended Milwaukee. He also complained about millennials. Maybe he is finally #walkingaway. Lol.
Paterson, at one time, was home to some of the wealthiest NJ residents. I wrestled some tournaments at East side in the 80s and actually met ol Crazy Joe who was a local celeb in North Jersey. The hood immediately around the school was pretty bad... plus the 10' fence that surrounded the place. Its really a shame how bad it slid... Newark too.
Not too often a city tops Chicago in homicide rates. Milwaukee can be proud of the August numbers they are racking up: https://newstalk1130.iheart.com/fea...kees-homicide-rate-in-august-dwarfs-chicagos/ "It has been a bloody month, even by Chicago's standards. So far in August, 40 people have been killed on the city's streets. Shockingly, though, Milwaukee has been even deadlier. After 16 murders this month, Milwaukee's homicide rate in August is a staggering 2.69 per 100,000 people, dwarfing Chicago's rate of 1.48 per 100,000. Despite having a much smaller population (595,351) than Chicago (2.705 million), Milwaukee has had nearly half as many murders since August 1st. The 16 homicides so far this month have already surpassed the 15 in all of last August and have pushed the total number of murders in Milwaukee so far this year (76) past last year's 75 at the same point."
The ONLY proven methodology to address reading proficiency that low is Orton Gillingham. Its expensive to do though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orton-Gillingham
Don't know about Orton, but Mom made a point of getting me in the class where the teacher used phonics in first grade (Teachers had a lot more latitude in method in the early 1960s). It didn't hurt that my parents and grandparents read to us daily. Then again, there were not nearly as many options. TV didn't have as many distractions to offer.
Parents who read is a huge thing. Teach the kids that reading sucks and the kids won't read. Teach them to do nothing but watch youtube vids and guess what....