Expand SAGE to help more kids, supporters to tell
legislators The highly successful Student Achievement Guarantee in Education
(SAGE) program should be expanded so it can help all eligible
children, according to supporters who are traveling to Madison this
week. About 200 people representing 72 schools participating in or
eligible for SAGE will gather at the Capitol on Thursday, April 29,
for “SAGE Day.” “SAGE has been so successful because it reduces class size and
more,” WEAC President Terry Craney said. “SAGE makes sure
that children are ready to learn when they enter the classroom every
day by providing before-school programs. Students are offered a
rigorous curriculum and after-school programs. Perhaps the most
important feature of SAGE is the requirement that parents take an
active role in their children’s education.” The SAGE program, modeled after Tennessee’s STAR class size
reduction program, was created in 1995 as a pilot project. It is
targeted to schools with high levels of children in poverty in the
early grades. The first two SAGE studies (1997/1998) found positive results in
reading, math and language arts. SAGE students significantly
outperformed their peers in comparison schools (schools with similar
student populations but with larger class sizes). “All children who go to schools eligible for SAGE should be
given the opportunity to benefit from SAGE,” Craney said. “Because
SAGE is so successful, its sunset date should be eliminated and the
program expanded to all schools in Wisconsin with more than a 50%
low-income student enrollment.” On Thursday, teams of parents, administrators, and teachers will
visit legislators to discuss their personal experiences with the
program, or how the program would help their schools. Before lobbying their legislators, the teams will meet with a panel
of legislators that includes senators Peggy Rosenzweig of Wauwatosa
and Bob Jauch of Poplar; and representatives Joan Spillner of Montello
and Antonio Riley of Milwaukee. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the
Concourse Hotel in Madison. END
Posted April 27, 1999 |