Milwaukee leaders join forces with MTEA, WEAC

NEA President Reg Weaver visits as paraeducator Jean Wallenfang helps a group of students learn to read at Milwaukee’s 21st Street Elementary School. Weaver was at the school to help kick off a new five-year grant aimed at closing the achievement gaps for economically disadvantaged and minority students.

Supported by an NEA grant worth up to $2.5 million, representatives of Milwaukee’s education, labor, business and civic communities launched an unprecedented program Wednesday (September 21, 2005) to wipe out the achievement gaps of economically disadvantaged and minority students.

“You are going to be successful. You are!” NEA President Reg Weaver said at a kick-off event at 21st Street Elementary School. “We are working in partnership, recognizing that this is everybody’s responsibility.

“Let’s make this thing work. Let’s not come up with excuses. Excuses are not acceptable.”

Milwaukee students who live in poverty – as indicated by eligibility for free or reduced school lunch – score 20 percentage points lower in reading and mathematics at all grade levels than their counterparts from more economically advantaged families. The NEA grant comes with an expectation that that gaps will be reduced year by year as a result of improved teacher and staff training, better planning and more materials.

The NEA grant provides $500,000 per year for up to five years to a union-district partnership. If the partnership is not able to demonstrate progress from year to year, Weaver said, “you will not get the money.”

The unique aspect of the Milwaukee program – and a main reason Milwaukee was chosen to receive this exceptionally large NEA grant – is that groups which often disagree are joining forces to tackle this problem, said Carol Edwards, director of programs at the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE), which awarded the grant to MTEA and its partners. This is only the second grant of its kind; the first went to Hamilton County, Tennessee, schools last year.

“Despite your differences elsewhere, you are single-minded about the challenge and opportunity to close the achievement gaps in Milwaukee Public Schools for the children here – the boys and girls who are your future,” Edwards said. “We think you have something here to show to the entire country.”

“We’re excited and proud to be here today,” said MTEA President Dennis Oulahan. “Excited to see a real opportunity to close the achievement gaps and proud that NEA chose us for this grant.”

A core partner in the grant-funded effort is the Milwaukee Partnership Academy (MPA), made up of representatives from MTEA, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Alliance of Black School Educators, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Area Technical College, the mayor’s office, the Private Industry Council, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, the Helen Bader Foundation, the Milwaukee School Board, and the Greater Milwaukee Committee, among others.

Oulahan said the MPA “has been Milwaukee’s model for a successful community-based partnership to strengthen education in urban school districts.”

The grant will be used to fund these strategies for closing the achievement gaps:

• Districtwide professional development and materials will focus the efforts of all elementary, middle and high schools on closing the achievement gaps.
• Learning teams within each school will craft and implement educational plans for each school and shape school-based professional development.
• “Closing the gaps action plans,” which will be part of the educational plans, will be launched at selected schools and will include professional development, data-driven best practices, induction programs, and family involvement strategies.
• Exemplary schools will share their best practices with other district schools and the greater Milwaukee K-12 institutions.
  

In addition to annual progress in closing the achievement gaps, expected outcomes include:

• Increase the graduation rate by 5 percentage points by 2006.
• Increase the percentage of students who score proficient or better on the 4th-, 8th- and 10th-grade state proficiency tests in reading and mathematics by 2 points per year.
• Increase the number of teachers who remain in the district for more than 10 years by 5% each year.
• Reach a point where more than 90% of parents and teachers report they are fully satisfied with the schools.
  

“We’ll check in with you from time to time to celebrate your progress,” Edwards said.

• • •

NEA President Reg Weaver (center), with many dignitaries in tow (left), talks to Julie Holbrook's 4th-grade class at 21st Street Elementary School in Milwaukee. Among those joining him is WEAC President Stan Johnson (far left).

'It makes you cry'

At the end of a news conference about the NEA’s grant to help close the achievement gaps in Milwaukee Public Schools, NEA President Reg Weaver pulled one of his classic surprises. He asked all the dignitaries in the 21st Street Elementary School library to join him in visiting a few of the classrooms unannounced.

As dozens of adults in suits and dresses filed into the classrooms, Weaver raised his voice to address the students and teachers. After apologizing for the interruption, he told the students directly that some people think they are not capable of learning but that this group of people know they are. With representatives of the union and business communities in tow, and as the students listened attentively, he also applauded each of the teachers for their dedication and successes.

“Thank you for who you are,” he said to them. “And for providing an atmosphere that is conducive to learning.”

As Weaver and his entourage left the classroom of 4th-grade teacher Julie Holbrook, she wiped a tear from her eye.

“It make you cry,” she said. “You just don’t hear that that often.”

Posted September 22, 2005