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United States News Title: Milwaukee Teachers Don't Deserve the Compensation They Get -- They Suck Among 17 urban school districts that participated in a national science assessment in 2009, Milwaukee students in fourth and eighth grades scored below the average performance of their respective peers attending public schools in other large cities, according to a new report. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also called the Nation's Report Card, Milwaukee's fourth-graders ranked 11th out of 17 urban districts based on the percentage of its children who scored at or above a basic level of science achievement. In eighth grade, Milwaukee ranked 13th out of 17 big-city districts based on the percentage of students who scored at or above basic. Basic is defined as having partial mastery of the material presented on the test, which featured questions about physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences. NAEP is known for its 50-state assessment, and results of that were released last month for science. But NAEP's Trial Urban District Assessment - released Thursday for science - is specifically focused on the performance of children in big-city districts. It warrants attention because it helps urban districts that participate gauge how their students are doing compared with those in several of the country's other high-minority, high-poverty school systems. At a presentation of the urban-district data Thursday morning in Boston, experts pointed out that the average achievement deficit in science between kids in big-city districts and kids nationally is worse than the average deficit between those two groups in reading and math. "While these urban districts performed less well than the nation in reading and math, they performed even further below, at a greater deficit, in science," said Alan J. Friedman, a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for the NAEP. Friedman pondered whether big cities have taken to heart the No Child Left Behind law, which emphasizes raising reading and math test scores, more aggressively than the rest of the country, neglecting science instruction in the process. "Nothing wrong with reading and math, but what happened to science?" Friedman said. He added that a strong background in that subject was necessary for students to move into a variety of professional careers. Heidi Ramirez, chief academic officer for Milwaukee Public Schools, said the science scores provide a baseline for science improvement in the district. "This provides additional evidence of the need for developing the math and science comprehensive plan that is already under way," she said. Milwaukee Public Schools is restructuring its science and math curriculum from kindergarten through 12th grade. The push has been supported by the GE Foundation, which awarded the district a $20.4 million grant to improve curriculum and its business management operations. The latest results were taken from a sample of 1,300 students in 90 Milwaukee schools in fourth grade, and 1,000 students in 60 schools in eighth grade, according to NAEP. The assessments were graded on a scale from 0 to 300, with percentages of students identified as basic, proficient or advanced in their mastery of the material. Urban districts typically score below the national average on NAEP exams, and that was no different with this latest science test. But Milwaukee's performance in the urban-district assessments is concerning because it shows the district hovering near the bottom even when compared with other big-city school systems that teach similar high-poverty, high-minority populations of students, many of whom have disabilities or are learning English at greater rates than their public-school counterparts elsewhere. In the latest science results: •34;44% of MPS fourth-graders scored at or above basic (32% scored basic; 12% scored proficient), compared with 55% of students in large cities and 72% of students in public schools nationally. •34;In eighth grade, 28% of MPS students scored at or above basic (23% basic, 5% proficient), compared with 44% of students in large cities and 62% of students nationally. •34;MPS students learning English in fourth grade scored at or above basic at a higher rate than their peers who are not learning a new language at that grade, 47% to 44%, respectively. In previous urban-district assessments: •34;The Trial Urban District Assessment for 18 districts in math, released in late 2009, showed that Milwaukee's fourth-grade students outperformed Detroit; Cleveland; Washington, D.C.; and Fresno, Calif. In eighth-grade math, Milwaukee students outscored only Detroit. •34;The Trial Urban District Assessment for 18 districts in reading, released in spring 2010, showed that Milwaukee's fourth-graders outperformed Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia, while its eighth-graders outperformed Detroit; Fresno, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. A few urban districts posted more promising results on the latest science test. Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; Jefferson County (which covers Louisville) in Kentucky; and Miami-Dade in Florida had higher science scores at both grades in comparison with the average scores for large cities in the nation. San Diego, Boston and Houston saw one grade level score higher than the average for large cities.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 6.
#1. To: no gnu taxes (#0)
In Republican minds - paying people less money makes them better employees and attracts the brightest and the best.....
Underperformers should be paid less money. If you bought a car that was a piece of junk, I doubt your reaction would be to return to the dealer and offer him even more money on the model in hopes that he would get it right.
I agree - but I don't see Republicans wanting to give teachers more money for regardless - and by more money I mean like doctor/executive salaries. http://teacherportal.com/salary/Wisconsin-teacher-salary Average Teacher Salary Rank: 20th Starting Teacher Salary Rank: 49th Starting Salary: $25,222 Average Salary: $46,390 And for that little amount teachers get to be crapped on by politicians who just gave billions of tax cuts to corporations in the hope - the hope - that these businesses maybe - maybe - create a handful of low skilled, low paying jobs but if they don't create these jobs they still get to keep the money. That about sum it up?
Incompetent teachers are protected by the union. When teachers spend 8 years in college and 2 years in an internship, I might listen.
#7. To: Ibluafartsky, Godwinson (#6)
You two shills take it somewhere else, yukon.
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