Monthly Archives: June 2017

Madison School District celebrates its first class of graduates to earn state’s new Seal of Biliteracy

Madison bilingual

The Capital Times: After 13 years of dual-language instruction, the Madison Metropolitan School District’s first class of graduates walked across the stage this spring with Wisconsin’s new Seal of Biliteracy, certifying their mastery of a foreign language during high school.

Forty-five students from Madison La Follette High School earned the seal of biliteracy in Spanish. All of the students were a part of the first class of 50 kindergartners at Nuestro Mundo Elementary School’s dual-language immersion program. The majority of the cohort continued with the DLI program at Sennett Middle School and followed the required course of study at La Follette to earn the seal.

Starting next school year, students across the district will have the chance to earn the biliteracy seal with their high school diplomas. With the expansion, MMSD expects the number of qualified students to expand exponentially.

The seal of biliteracy was created by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in partnership with several national organizations that champion bilingual education. Wisconsin is one of 27 states to offer the seal to graduating seniors. According to DPI guidelines, the seal certifies that students, “demonstrated achievement in bilingualism, biliteracy and multicultural competence in and through two or more languages.” MMSD is one of three Wisconsin school districts so far, including Verona and Waukesha, to offer the seal of biliteracy to graduates.

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Fall Creek picked as an innovative school district

WEAU.com: The Fall Creek school district was named an innovative district for the second year in a row by the International Center for Leadership in Education.

Fall Creek is one of 12 schools and districts chosen to share best practices at the 25th annual Model Schools conference.

The conference is the nation’s premier event for rapidly improving K-12 schools and districts.

It will take place June 25-28 in Nashville.

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Borsuk: Character counts — and these 6 schools prove it

Rawson

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sometimes, the kids playing kickball on the playground of Rawson Elementary School in South Milwaukee get into arguments over whether someone was safe or out. Or whether someone did or did not touch a base. They don’t always handle their differences in the nicest way.

Behavior at the school? “It’s not perfect,” one fourth-grader told me when I visited just as the school year was coming to an end.

But I am not here to criticize. In fact, my purpose is to praise Rawson and the other five schools in the 3,200-student South Milwaukee district for the bigger picture of how people treat each other (adults and students both).

South Milwaukee schools have been working for seven years on a broad effort focused on building the character traits of everyone involved in the schools and making school life as conducive as it can be to success both in academics and, in broader terms, daily life.

That led to South Milwaukee being named a “national district of character” this year by Character.org, a Washington-based nonprofit that promotes and assists efforts to make character education part of what schools do. South Milwaukee is one of only four districts nationwide to receive the recognition.

There also were 83 schools named “national schools of character” this year. One was Greenwood Elementary in River Falls.

I like character education for two simple reasons:

One is that there are so many schools where the atmosphere created by the way people treat each other impedes education. This goes not only for how kids act but for how adults in the school sometimes treat kids — and other adults. (I’ve witnessed these things.) So much class time in so many schools is taken up with behavior problems. More broadly, a positive school culture leads to more positive outcomes.

The other is that I am convinced the well-designed efforts around character and conduct can make differences. It is possible to create a more positive atmosphere in a school. Intentional efforts around character education can be a part of that.

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MPS students get a lesson from the pros in cooking, healthy eating

MPS

Fox6Now.com: Milwaukee Public Schools students on Friday, June 9th got a lesson from the pros. It’s all about good cooking and healthy eating.

Tortillas are tasty and nutritious when they’re made from scratch. Making them might even feel like a game.

“That way they don’t have to buy the processed stuff,” said Sam Ek, Sous Chef at Odd Duck.

Sam Ek, the Sous Chef at Odd Duck in Milwaukee, is teaching his ways to students from MPS’ Story Elementary School.

The cooking lesson is thanks to a partnership between MPS and the Hunger Task Force. The Nutrition Education Program teaches grade school students the importance of healthy eating.

“You get to experience new things,” said DoMani Jones, 4th grade student at Story Elementary.

They learn from a dietitian during the school year and a number of local chefs this week.

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Logan High School students design and build industrial exo arm

Logan High School students design and build industrial exo arm

Students in Logan High School’s Project Lead the Way digital electronics class demonstrated their finished exo arm on Thursday. The arm, funded by a number of local partnerships and grants, including $1,750 from the La Crosse Public Education Foundation, is designed to help workers operate a metal grinding tool by reducing the amount of force and stress on the body as well as increasing productivity.

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