News Room:
The Technical Assistance & Leadership Center (TALC New Vision), working with the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the Alliance for Choices in Education (ACE), announced today the nineteen groups that will receive small school planning grants of up to $50,000 in the second cycle of A New Vision of Secondary Education in Milwaukee, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The New Vision, supported by the $17.25 million grant, is an ambitious attempt to redesign high school education in Milwaukee over five years. The plan calls for the creation of more than sixty new small high schools throughout Milwaukee. These schools will open within or in partnership with MPS, as independent charter schools sponsored by UW-Milwaukee or the City of Milwaukee, or as private schools that can participate in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP).
“Its obvious the community wants to create more personalized learning environments to help more students graduate,” commented TALC New Vision Executive Director Daniel Grego. TALC New Vision received thirty-six proposals this spring, an almost 50% increase from the first grant cycle. “Were excited about the creative ideas proposed,” said Grego. “In addition to theme-based models, ranging from aquatic studies to aviation, we have experiential, project-based, bilingual/bicultural, and early college preparatory schools.”
After reviewing the proposals and interviewing the most promising applicants, the evaluation teams selected two private school proposals, nine MPS instrumentality proposals, and eight proposals to be chartered either by MPS, the City of Milwaukee, or UW-Milwaukee. Chartering through the City or UWM may become increasingly important because MPS has already reached the cap limiting the number of contracted seats the district can offer. This cap was negotiated between a prior administration and the Milwaukee teachers union. Removing the cap will allow the district to fully employ its small school strategy to increase enrollment and improve student achievement and parent satisfaction.
Approved school proposals include: Alliance School, CEO Leadership Academy, High School for Innovators, High School of Sports Education & Employment, Inland Seas School of Expeditionary Learning, Living Arts High School, Marshall Montessori IB High School, Maasai Institute, Milwaukee Aviation Academy of Science & Technology, Milwaukee Learning Lab & Institute, Milwaukee Sign Language School, New Concepts School, Rose Learning Academy, School of Service Learning, Seeds of Health Career Education Academy, Travis Academy, W.E.B. Du Bois High School, Washington High School of Expeditionary Learning, and Washington School of Technology.
Request for Proposals (RFPs) for the third cycle, for schools intending to open in the fall of 2006, will be released in October 2004.
For more information, contact:
Daniel Grego
(414) 931–6225
Download: “Nearly $1 Million in Planning Grants Issued” PDF (43 Kb)
