Sunday, February 01, 2004
More like Detroit?
"More like Detroit, less like Minneapolis: That's what Milwaukee will become without fundamental change," according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
The WPRI, a conservative think-tank based in the northern Milwaukee suburbs, draws a big red circle around some facts that we teachers have known for a long time: Milwaukee's economy is in crisis. (Technically, they say we are a city at a "crossroads," but they do throw in this gem: "Public and private-sector leaders must shake off the notion that the Milwaukee economy is generally OK--it is not"--emphasis thiers!)
We have a declining base of employed people in the city--down 44,000 in the last 30 years. Milwaukee's average income is $5,400 less than the national average. Our per capita income is 44th out of the 50 largest US cities. We are not attracting enough college-educated people to the city--and we are not producing enough of our own, either.
Milwaukee teachers face real challenges because of these drastic economic conditions in the city. The declining tax base means that on a per-student basis, we are dead last out of the 50 southeastern Wisconsin school districts in property tax revenue. We collect a mere $1672 per student (the state average is around $3,000), while our immediately-to-the-north neighboring district collects more than $10,000 per student.
Our per-pupil spending, therefore, has increased very little in real dollars over the last fifteen years. At the same time, we have seen a 30% increase in children at or below the poverty level, a 53% increase in students with special needs (who can require many times the average per-pupil cost), and a 63% increase in the number of students with limited English proficiency.
The economic conditions in the city that force kids to stay home to care for little brothers and sisters, or work to help pay the rent, mean that we face increasing drop-out rates. The achievement gap in the Milwaukee Public Schools between eighth-grade black and white students is now the largest in the nation.
We know, from study upon study upon study, that the home environment and early development are key factors in the achievement gap. When we can't afford lead-paint abatement, when we can't afford prenatal care, when we can't afford to take off of work to come into our children's schools, we fall further and further behind.
This is what we're facing, folks. MPS teachers have a far greater challenge than teachers in other districts; we have more to overcome and fewer resources to do it with. But our kids are the economic backbone of Milwaukee's future: If they cannot succeed, then their children will fail worse, and their children, and so on. It is imperative that we stop this cycle now.
Let me interject here that I do not want to completely exonerate the schools. I know that we can improve, and in my building, at least, we're working as hard as we can to find successful strategies and focus on them. In fact, our state test scores have steadily improved over the last several years. And there is certainly room for district-wide reforms supported by research and guaranteed to be a long-term investment (remember the Literacy Coaches?).
The WPRI study recommends a number of changes to MPS that I can certainly get behind, but they go too far in the wrong direction sometimes, too. Here's their plan:
I believe, and Teachers Speak Out and the MTEA--not to mention the research!--concur, that the most important thing we can do to improve the education in MPS is to ensure that we have a quality, caring teacher in every classroom. We need to attract new teachers and retain the ones we have. Teachers bring resources to the city, they have a dedication to the city's well-being, and they can play a key role in reshaping this city's future. If the MPS administration continues to focus its attacks on teachers, rather than the challenges we face, they will only make all of the problems identified by the WPRI even worse.
The WPRI, a conservative think-tank based in the northern Milwaukee suburbs, draws a big red circle around some facts that we teachers have known for a long time: Milwaukee's economy is in crisis. (Technically, they say we are a city at a "crossroads," but they do throw in this gem: "Public and private-sector leaders must shake off the notion that the Milwaukee economy is generally OK--it is not"--emphasis thiers!)
We have a declining base of employed people in the city--down 44,000 in the last 30 years. Milwaukee's average income is $5,400 less than the national average. Our per capita income is 44th out of the 50 largest US cities. We are not attracting enough college-educated people to the city--and we are not producing enough of our own, either.
Milwaukee teachers face real challenges because of these drastic economic conditions in the city. The declining tax base means that on a per-student basis, we are dead last out of the 50 southeastern Wisconsin school districts in property tax revenue. We collect a mere $1672 per student (the state average is around $3,000), while our immediately-to-the-north neighboring district collects more than $10,000 per student.
Our per-pupil spending, therefore, has increased very little in real dollars over the last fifteen years. At the same time, we have seen a 30% increase in children at or below the poverty level, a 53% increase in students with special needs (who can require many times the average per-pupil cost), and a 63% increase in the number of students with limited English proficiency.
The economic conditions in the city that force kids to stay home to care for little brothers and sisters, or work to help pay the rent, mean that we face increasing drop-out rates. The achievement gap in the Milwaukee Public Schools between eighth-grade black and white students is now the largest in the nation.
We know, from study upon study upon study, that the home environment and early development are key factors in the achievement gap. When we can't afford lead-paint abatement, when we can't afford prenatal care, when we can't afford to take off of work to come into our children's schools, we fall further and further behind.
This is what we're facing, folks. MPS teachers have a far greater challenge than teachers in other districts; we have more to overcome and fewer resources to do it with. But our kids are the economic backbone of Milwaukee's future: If they cannot succeed, then their children will fail worse, and their children, and so on. It is imperative that we stop this cycle now.
Let me interject here that I do not want to completely exonerate the schools. I know that we can improve, and in my building, at least, we're working as hard as we can to find successful strategies and focus on them. In fact, our state test scores have steadily improved over the last several years. And there is certainly room for district-wide reforms supported by research and guaranteed to be a long-term investment (remember the Literacy Coaches?).
The WPRI study recommends a number of changes to MPS that I can certainly get behind, but they go too far in the wrong direction sometimes, too. Here's their plan:
• Measure individual school performanceYou'll note that none of these recommendations involves cutting salary and benefits from teachers. Of course, none of them say a thing about teachers at all.
• Raise standards and tailor them to meet the needs of Milwaukee's businesses
• Merge MPS with the city [ed note: This is a bad, bad, bad idea] giving the mayor the flexibility to direct funding where it's needed [ed note: The flexibility is a good idea, though]
• Tie state funds to performance
• Reallocate funds from ineffectual money pits such as bussing; as they say, "[T]he scarce education dollar [is] best spent [. . .] improving [students'] attendance and their educational attainment."
• Change the state focus to improving student performance
I believe, and Teachers Speak Out and the MTEA--not to mention the research!--concur, that the most important thing we can do to improve the education in MPS is to ensure that we have a quality, caring teacher in every classroom. We need to attract new teachers and retain the ones we have. Teachers bring resources to the city, they have a dedication to the city's well-being, and they can play a key role in reshaping this city's future. If the MPS administration continues to focus its attacks on teachers, rather than the challenges we face, they will only make all of the problems identified by the WPRI even worse.
