Embed from Getty Images Post 4 in a weekly series. A deaf man walks across the savanna, and spots a lion. The lion has its mouth open, and teeth exposed. It could be roaring, or it might be yawning. The sound the lion’s making is imperceptible to the man, so he’ll need some other way…
Education
Education, School District
Video & Liveliness
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Post 3 in a weekly series. There’s an unfortunate, unnecessary gap in our schools between the liveliness of students (and many teachers) and the way in which local print media present those lively people. Although I’m opposed to being too close to a subject, the encounters that I have concerning our schools unfailingly remind of this gap.…
Education, School District
The Better Way on Standardized Scores
by JOHN ADAMS • • 5 Comments
Post 2 in a weekly series. I’ve written previously about our schools’ touting of ACT scores based on a selective presentation of those standardized test results. There’s an irony in this: I consider standardized scores an imperfect measure of actual learning, and have written about them mostly in response to others’ repeated and superficial twisting of the…
Education, School District
A New Weekly Series: The Education Post
by JOHN ADAMS • • 10 Comments
Post 1 in weekly series. I promised recently that I would begin a new, weekly feature. This is the first installment in fulfillment of that promise: a weekly education post. These are not easy times for education. Perhaps the truest statement is that there are no easy times: school can be difficult even in comfortable…
City, Culture, Education, Local Government, Politics
The Desiccator
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Over at National Review, conservative Peter Spiliakos writes in reply to conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin on Scott Walker’s campaign. (Rubin thinks Walker has gone too far to the right, but Spiliakos thinks that Walker – and many Republicans leaders – have lost touch with huge parts of their own electorate.) For Rubin the matter…
Education, School District
Whitewater’s ACT Scores
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
Yesterday, I posted on the below-average ACT participation rate for Whitewater. As with last year, the Whitewater Schools want to tout a high average ACT score, but only while concealing a low participation rate. See, Whitewater’s ACT Participation Rate Near the Bottom of Area Schools. A few remarks on the latest results. Competency on the…
Education, School District
Whitewater’s ACT Participation Rate Near the Bottom of Area Schools
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
The latest ACT scores for area schools are out, and when one looks at the data with care, one sees that Whitewater yet again lags area schools in the proportion of students taking that test. Relying only on the scores, without thought to the participation level, would be a superficial gloss on a result that deserves…
Education, School District
The Whitewater Schools’ Near Future
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Look out a few years (the next three to five, let’s say), and the Whitewater Unified School District has difficult prospects. Beyond that conditions may get better, but getting better may simply mean recapturing lost ground rather than net gains from today’s circumstances. The district faces perpetual, structural deficits, made somewhat less difficult only through…
Education, Elections, School District
On School Board Candidate Jim Stewart
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Jim Stewart, as you may have read from his own news site the Whitewater Banner, is running for school board. He last sat on that board about ten years ago, and for twenty-odd years before that. More recently, he was a member of Whitewater’s Common Council. His candidacy in 2015 is a puzzle, three times…
Education, Elections, School District
On School Board Candidate Dan McCrea
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
One may say a few things with confidence. First, those who have followed Whitewater’s schools & politics know Dan McCrea. He’s a member of the school board now, and is seeking re-election. Second, I’m not typically predisposed toward incumbents. Third, and this matters to me more than either of the preceding: Dan McCrea’s experience, ability,…
Education, Elections, Politics, School District
On School Board Candidate Kelly Davis
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
Whitewater invites people to choose the city, to live here, and to commit to our community’s civic life. We offer our way of life to others, hoping that they will join us in the improvement of our schools, public institutions, and neighborhoods. Into our small city now comes a talented and educated woman who seeks…
Education, Government Spending, Libertarians, Liberty, Public Relations, School District
On the Whitewater Schools
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Today is the first of a series of posts about the upcoming, contested WUSD board elections. Three candidates are running for two seats: Kelly Davis, Dan McCrea, and Jim Stewart. In today’s post, I’ll summarize some of my own views. (I’ve been direct these last several years; it makes sense to state one’s convictions plainly,…
Education, Elections, School District
The Whitewater School Board Candidates
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
In a community that sees too few contested races, in a time when educational policy is under debate across Wisconsin, the Whitewater Schools have three candidates contesting two open school board seats. I’ve been following this election (as longtime readers would expect), and I’ll post about all three candidates – Kelly Davis, Dan McCrea, and…
Assault Awareness & Prevention, City, Culture, Education, Elections, Law, Local Government, Politics, School District, University, Waste Digesters
Policy Topics for the Spring
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In October 2014, I wrote about Four Public Topics for the Fall. They seemed to be the city’s prominent public policy questions, looking ahead from 10.20.14. Those topics were (1) the 2015 City of Whitewater budget, (2) Whitewater Schools referendum, (3) UW-Whitewater’s social relations, and the (4) City of Whitewater’s waste digester proposal. Now, as…