Posley optimistic as he enters 2nd year as MPS superintendent
“Rather than running away from the call, we’ve got to run to the call.“
A year into his time as superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, Keith Posley is running to the call in an energetic and optimistic way.
But within that thought about “the call” that Posley offered at the end of an hour-long conversation is some acknowledgment of how hard the call is. It’s hard to change the trajectory of the lives of children, schools and school systems. Posley seems to have a bit less bravado than he showed when he became head of the state’s largest school district.
This is not to say that Posley is deterred. He remains upbeat about how things are going for MPS. His first year, he said, went “exceptionally well” and MPS is functioning well.
“I’m a firm believer that all that you hear out there (about MPS) is what someone said,” Posley said. “But inside is a whole different story that goes untold so many times. People ask what are you so proud of? The great things I see on a daily basis.”
Posley listed some new steps: four additional schools offering international baccalaureate programs, some increase in budgets for each school, restoration of a salary schedule for teachers that he thinks will help stabilize the workforce, some renovated playgrounds (with more to come), a few other things.
You might say most of those are incremental. And, in the big picture, state test scores from last spring were still bad overall — and actually down from the prior year in reading. Enrollment remains a huge issue for MPS. Spending overall is about the same, up enough to maintain the status quo but not enough to make a big difference. Plus there isn’t much reason to think there’s improvement in the troubled overall state of children in the city.
A year ago, Posley said during a program at Marquette University Law School that the day would come when people would turn on television news and the lead story would be that MPS scores exceeded state averages. Mike Gousha, who was moderating the conversation, asked how soon. “Give me five years,” Posley said.
I reminded him of that. “I’m in the second year of the five and we’re making progress,” he said. He’s not backing off.
But change is a process, he acknowledged. Here is a brief update on some of the things Posley called for early in his tenure:
The 53206 initiative. Posley proposed realignment of nine schools in this high-poverty area on the north side, turning some from kindergarten through-eighth grade schools to kindergarten-through-fifth grade schools, overhauling and reopening the Douglas middle school, adding more staff to schools, increasing parent involvement efforts, adding teams to help students with trauma-related problems, and turning one school into a “success center” that would work with several dozen students from across the city who are off track.
Most of that has at least been started. Posley said MPS is aiming to change the atmosphere around learning, especially at North Division High School. The success center is behind schedule but will debut in coming weeks, he said.
The Webster campus. This building on the northwest side has housed a series of failed programs in recent years. This fall, MPS opened a charter school there called Green Tree Preparatory Academy. Posley said it has about 230 sixth through ninth graders, and there is also a small virtual program starting in the building. Other ideas such as housing a satellite operation for the popular King and Reagan high schools have been dropped.
Early childhood initiatives. A year ago, leaders of MPS and city government were joined by others in announcing a new push on getting children on paths to be ready for kindergarten, especially when it comes to literacy. This is unfolding slowly. Posley said MPS is developing efforts, including a website and an app, that will be accessible to all parents, offering information and suggestions to help with intellectual growth. He said more than a dozen community organizations are joining with MPS in the effort.
Reading, writing and math. Posley continues to emphasize the need for children to learn foundational skills in early grades. He said MPS is emphasizing “fidelity of implementation,” which is to say, teaching these subjects well. He said there are increased opportunities for staff members to improve their skills. There has been no major change in the approach to teaching these subjects. And those recently released test scores were terrible, as usual.
Attendance. A long-standing major MPS problem. Posley pushed improved attendance last year. The result? No change, and so far this year, he said, there isn’t much change. A related issue: Getting more kids to take state exams, particularly at the high school level. They are supposed to do that, but at some schools, more than 50% don’t.
Posley said more kids need “to see the authentic value of an education.” He added, “You only dream about things that you see.” And too many kids don’t see much success around them, either among adults or other kids.
“Putting good images and good opportunities in front of children is key,” and MPS is aiming to do more of that, he said.
Improvement comes through “incremental change and upward trends,” he said. “And that’s what we’re looking to see to get to where we need to be. Yes, we need to move fast, and we are moving fast, but the idea is that the learning process doesn’t take place in a vacuum and just laser fast.”
“Zero to 100, I don’t even know if a Maserati would do it,“Posley said.
Well, a Maserati would. But can MPS make it to, say, the state averages on academic proficiency? That’s a big and, at best, slow lift, even if you’re running toward the call.
Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@ marquette.edu.