Wisconsin AWOL in report on innovations
“Of the 2.5 million students who dropped out of high school last year, about 1.6 million were firmly set on that trajectory when they were 8 years old.”
I know that the gaps in success that are such a central education problem in America are clear by the time millions of children start kindergarten, not to mention when they are 8 and generally entering third grade.
But that statement, in a report issued several days ago by the Education Commission of the States, hit me with fresh force.
The commission, based in Denver, is a nonpartisan organization that serves legislators and policy-makers in just about every state.
The new report describes what is happening nationwide in the pursuit of better results in preschool through third-grade education.
The 30-page report focuses on a dozen avenues for improvement and cites more than two dozen states that are taking fresh steps in at least one of those areas.
The word “Wisconsin” does not appear in the report. I can’t help but find some message in that, namely:
Do we really think we’re doing enough to help kids get a good start on their education?
Especially the kids who most need boosts?
There are a lot of early education centers, schools, teachers and parents who are really dedicated to doing whatever they can to get kids on good paths. There are even, to my knowledge, signs of fresh effort — for example, some nonprofits in Milwaukee that are increasing their push to work with parents of preschoolers in their homes and a boost in state money for early reading programs promoted by the Milwaukee Succeeds organization.
But let me give a fairly depressing glance at some of the bigger developments (and non-developments) that worry me.
Read to Lead. Even in the acrimonious climate after the huge battle in 2011 over Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 against public employee unions, there was one promising bipartisan education effort. Walker, state schools Superintendent Tony Evers and others came together to create a task force on getting more kids up to grade level in reading by the end of third grade.
(It is often said that through third grade, kids learn to read and from fourth on, they read to learn. If they’re not reading well by the start of fourth grade, their prospects are not so good. Last year, 43% of third-graders statewide were rated as proficient or advanced in reading, while 20% were in the bottom bracket, labeled “below basic.” For Milwaukee public school thirdgraders, the figures were 17% proficient or advanced, 48% below basic.)
The task force’s work led to a requirement that all those who teach reading take a course in how to do that, that all kindergartners be assessed to identify those who need extra help and that a Read to Lead Development Council be created to oversee efforts and to make grants for specific proposals.
Just under $500,000 was awarded in grants, almost all of it early on.
And now? It appears the whole effort has dwindled away. The required courses in reading instruction haven’t changed outcomes, the testing of kids waned and hasn’t proved much and the Read to Lead council is all-but defunct.
A Legislative Audit Bureau report in November found that the grant fund had only $2,219 and the council hadn’t mustered a quorum for a meeting in a long time.
Curriculum changes. There have been so many innovations in reading programs over the years. There is good reason to believe that what works is consistent, focused, one-on-one or small group work with young kids. But it is done all too rarely.
I don’t want to pick on MPS — lots of other schools and districts struggle with this issue — but it rolled out with fanfare a “comprehensive literacy plan” almost a decade ago. And outcomes haven’t really improved.
SAGE. For a couple of decades, Wisconsin provided funding for class-size reduction for schools with concentrations of low-income children in kindergarten through third grade.
Known as SAGE, the program was popular and there were some studies that showed it helped. But it was expensive and, like so many initiatives, it faded into other plans.
Four-year-old kindergarten funding. Wisconsin does better than some states in funding 4-year-old kindergarten.
But MPS Superintendent Darienne Driver pointed to one problem when she testified on Feb. 2 before a state “blue ribbon” committee on school funding: 4-year-old kindergarten receives state aid based on those kids counting half as much as older students.
(Often, schools can increase that to six-tenths funding by offering programs such as parenting classes.)
Why are these kids worth less than older children? (I joke that it’s because they’re small.)
It has been documented many times that investments in early childhood education pay off in the long run in better school performance, behavior, attendance and so on, all the way up to success in getting jobs as adults. Driver suggested that 4-year-olds be funded like other students.
The Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison issued a report in September that found that 75% of low-income children in Wisconsin enter kindergarten behind children from better-off homes when it came to being ready for school.
Yes, these problems are long-standing, nationwide, and not easy to fix.
But there are paths that have an impact and long-term benefit.
“If policy-makers are to make a significant impact on the readiness of our nation’s future workforce, interventions and strategies to address gaps in learning must begin much earlier than third grade,” the report from the Education Commission of the States said.
How much are we overall willing to listen to — and pay for — ideas on how we could do better?