 | Family
- Community - Classroom
a partnership for successful children | 
Surely there is nothing that speaks more about a community's character
than the manner in which it nurtures its children. From the beginning of our nation, we Americans have expressed both our
commitment to liberty and our hopes for our children through high quality
public schools in every community. Even before our Constitution, we embraced
Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and made its promises into
a solemn covenant with our children. No words ever defined the meaning
of "American" more fully than the promise that our governments would offer
all among us "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Yet, this promise alone did not fully capture all that is expressed with
the word "American." The notion that each citizen is responsible for the
conduct of the government was equally radical. When combined, these two
ideas formed an amazing thesis: American democracy promises all people
the opportunity for fulfillment but imposes the responsibility for keeping
that promise on each of us as citizens. It certainly wasn't easy to figure out how to make this thesis work in
the real world. But, just as he articulated the American desire to be
free in the first place, Mr. Jefferson helped us find a strategy to preserve
our liberty and fulfill our promise when he wrote, "Above all things,
I hope the education of the common people will be attended to. On this
good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of
a due degree of liberty." The strategic premise was quite simple: Democracy
is a perpetual motion machine. It is preserved by the fulfillment of its
promises. So, as we educate our children well, we fulfill the promise that they
will have individual opportunity while simultaneously equipping them to
be responsible citizens capable of directing their government. When we
provide youngsters with the tools to fully enjoy "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness," we empower them to nurture and pass on both the
promise and the responsibility of democracy. In sum, effective public
schools have been and still are the miracle plan both to fulfill and to
preserve American democracy. All this seems to imply that freedom and democracy is about loving and
providing well for children. Isn't it fortunate that this is pleasurable
work? This good fortune may explain why it is that American democracy
has remained healthy for so long, but we dare not take this wonderful
posterity for granted. While each generation of Americans can freely bask
in the inheritance it has received, its success as the custodian of freedom
is the posterity it hands the next generation. This is to say that the
integrity of each generation is seen in how well it tended to the system
of free common schools that educate America's next generation. In most Wisconsin communities, past generations deserve high praise because
the best available evidence proves that, on average, Wisconsin schools
have always been effective and among the very best in the nation. However,
our world is changing faster before and even the best schools must work
harder than ever just to be adequate. Moreover, the legislature's tolerance
of great disparity of resources among the schools has always rendered
many of our schools less than adequate. For this reason, the members of WEAC believe that each community must
continuously evaluate its public schools one by one and that it must do
so while focused more on the future than the past. Today's key question
is this: What kind of school must our children have now to ensure that
each of them has a realistic promise of "life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness" in the world of their tomorrow? Wherever this question is
answered well and the school is conformed to that answer, we will find
a "Great School." Moreover, when each school in a school system meets
this community-based test of a Great School, then and only then will we
have a "Great School System." The members of WEAC offer an energetic partnership to any community willing
to undertake this vital assessment of its educational opportunities. This
offer is rooted in a deep caring for Wisconsin and its children. It also
demonstrates the belief that the most powerful assessments will result
from a partnership of competent and knowledgeable professionals working
with parents who are passionate and militant about the well-being of their
children. As this important work of creating and maintaining Great Schools proceeds,
it is necessary to start with the basics and consider each of the aspects
of the school as they are described in the discussion that follows because
a Great School has virtually no tolerance for inadequacy. Any significant
deficiency in only one of these fundamental traits will leave the school
as something less than it ought to be. Communities that care for children
will not be satisfied with a "Good Enough School." They want a Great School.
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