New SAGE Study Cites Need for More Professional Development

A new study of Wisconsin’s groundbreaking Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) class-size reduction program found a need for further emphasis in several areas. Among those is teacher professional development.

Arizona State University’s Education Policy Research Unit found that SAGE schools have had mixed success in implementing the law’s professional development requirements. SAGE is a national model for improving student achievement through reduced class sizes.

“This study highlights the need for ensuring that SAGE teachers – and all teachers – have professional development opportunities in order to ensure that Wisconsin’s great schools provide classrooms that work,” WEAC Teaching and Learning Director Katie Schultz Stout said. “As the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act and new teacher licensure requirements take effect, professional support must be a priority.”

The Education Policy Research Unit is headed by Alex Molnar, who led the move to create SAGE when he was a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Posted September 27, 2002