News Room:
Ten Schools Opening This Fall Will Offer ALL Young People Access to the “New 3R’s”
Milwaukee-As high schools throughout the city open their doors this fall, more than 1,800 Milwaukee youth will begin classes at 10 new high schools that look and feel different from anything they have previously experienced. These new more focused and personalized high schools will provide all students with access to the “new 3 R’s,” rigorous academic coursework, supportive relationships with instructors and peers, opportunities for relevant, hands-on learning. While each of these schools has a different focus, teaching philosophy, and structure, all of them will concentrate on helping more young people graduate with the skills needed for success in college and the 21st century economy.
In previous years, Urban Institute research showed that less than half of Milwaukee’s students graduated from high school. According to the Manhattan Institute, just 40 percent of the Wisconsin’s high school graduates are prepared for four-year colleges and universities. A report by the American Diploma Project shows there is an increasing convergence between the skills needed to earn a family wage and those required to attend college, including algebra, statistics, strong oral and written communication skills, and research skills.
During the past year, educators and administrators planning these new schools received coaching support from the Technical Assistance & Leadership Center (TALC New Vision). The schools will continue to receive coaching as well as additional funding during their first two years of operation.
“For Milwaukee to become the vibrant city we all want, we cannot afford to waste the talents and energy of our adolescents,” commented Daniel Grego, Executive Director of TransCenter for Youth, Inc., which operates TALC New Vision. “The economy has changed. Our approach to secondary education must change, too. We have to create learning environments where all people develop strong relationships with adults, and pursue relevant and rigorous academic work so they can contribute to Milwaukee’s community.”
This year marks the second cycle of the five-phase reform plan called, A New Vision of Secondary Education in Milwaukee. With a $17.25 million investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leaders of the New Vision effort will create approximately 50 new high schools in Milwaukee. These schools will open within or in partnership with the Milwaukee Public Schools (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).
During the first phase, 12 schools opened with funding from the New Vision plan. As of this fall, there will be 22 new high schools opened in Milwaukee.
Of the 10 high schools opening this fall, eight will open within the MPS. Each will offer a distinct and focused learning environment.
- Three (3) schools are located in the Washington Multiplex: Washington High School of Expeditionary Learning, Washington High School of Information Technology, and Washington High School of Law, Education, & Public Service.
- Two (2) schools are located in the Marshall Multiplex: Foster & Williams High School of Visual Arts and Communication will focus on the visual and performing arts, as well as offer a unique program in American Sign Language. W.E.B. Du Bois High School will offer a communications technology and media literacy focus with a concentration on social justice themes.
- The Milwaukee Learning Laboratory Learning & Institute (MLLI), sharing space with Bell Middle School, will focus coursework on social justice, leadership, and community service.
- The Milwaukee Academy of Aviation, Science, & Technology (MAAST), located at the former Andrew Douglas Middle School, features innovative, hands-on academics using professional resources in the community.
- The Alliance School, a year-round school that opened last month at the MPS Professional Development Center, serves students who are not succeeding in the traditional high school environment due to harassment, intimidation, physical and/or emotional abuse.
Two additional high schools will open outside of MPS. The Maasai Institute, which is chartered by the City of Milwaukee, is a family-centered and supportive learning community. Another school called Tenor , which is chartered by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will prepare students for early entry into professional careers by combining general academic studies with coursework at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC).
“Many of our students were ready to drop out of school before coming to Alliance,” reported Tina Owen, lead teacher of The Alliance School. “They faced harassment on a regular basis and weren’t able to focus on learning. We are hoping that by giving students a safe, student-centered and academically challenging environment, where every teacher knows every student and every student knows every teacher, we will see more students graduating and moving on to a successful experience of higher education. These are things that small schools are much more able to offer.”
The Request for Proposals (RFP) for schools intending to open in the fall of 2007 will be released October 10.
TALC New Vision (http://www.talcnewvision.org) is committed to a new vision of public education based on a diversity of personalized learning environments, a diversity of school governance structures, and the ability of all families, regardless of their economic status, to choose options that they think will be best for their children. TALC New Vision advocates for education policy supportive of this new vision and provides technical assistance to teams planning and implementing new small high schools within the “New Vision of Secondary Education in Milwaukee” funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/) works to promote greater equity in four areas: global health, education, public libraries, and support for at-risk families in Washington state and Oregon. The Seattle-based foundation joins local, national, and international partners to ensure that advances in these areas reach those who need them most. The foundation is led by Bill Gates’s father, William H. Gates, Sr., and Patty Stonesifer.
Contact: Abigail Schumwinger (414) 270–7596
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