Post 5 in a weekly series. State of the Schools @ Whitewater’s Common Council 020216 from John Adams on Vimeo. I’ve embedded a 2.2.16 ‘State of the Schools’ presentation to Whitewater’s Common Council, and a pdf of a brochure that school district representatives distributed at the meeting (and that is available on the school district’s website). It’s…
School District
Education, School District
Video & Liveliness
by JOHN ADAMS •
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 •
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…
School District, Sports, University
The Value of Sports
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater has had athletic successes in our district and on campus. Our high school and local university have witnessed impressive state & national accomplishments. Few cities have done so well. It’s been my pleasure to attend and cheer for Whitewater’s high school and college teams. I was graduated from another school, but like so many…
Education, School District
A New Weekly Series: The Education Post
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
School District
The Next-Best Thing
by JOHN ADAMS •
Understandably, the best outcome for any public body is to have good candidates, who become good incumbents, who then produce good policy. This should be obvious to anyone: candidates, residents, bloggers, etc. A next-best outcome would be the opportunity to draw clear contrasts between good policy and bad, so much the better to illustrate alternatives.…
City, Culture, Local Government, Politics, School District, University
A, B, and Wrong
by JOHN ADAMS •
Most choices for government, such as an option between Policy Choice A or Policy Choice B, involve choices of ordinary outcomes. One option may be more efficient than the other, or one more aesthetically pleasing than an alternative, but either would be considered a normal, reasonable policy outcome. Preferences of the Right or Left, of…
City, Misconduct, School District, University
An Open Note to Leaders of the Municipal Government, the School District, and UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
Along the lines of listing key topics (see the right sidebar at FREE WHITEWATER for a list of particular areas of concern), it’s worth being clear that important issues in one part of the city should not be ignored in other parts. An Open Note to Leaders of Government, the School District, and UW-Whitewater: misconduct of officials…
Education, School District
Whitewater’s ACT Scores
by JOHN ADAMS •
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 •
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…
City, School District, University, Waste Digesters, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN
Policy Topics for the Fall
by JOHN ADAMS •
I last wrote in February about local policy topics that I thought were interesting. See, Policy Topics for the Spring and before that Four Public Topics for the Fall (2014). In February, these were my selections: Whitewater School Budget Cuts, the Whitewater’s School Board Election, the UW-Whitewater’s Budget, UW-Whitewater’s Social Relations, and the City of…
City, Culture, Local Government, School District, University
The Last Inside Accounts
by JOHN ADAMS •
America has a continent, Wisconsin a vast expanse, and Whitewater nine beautiful square miles. For Whitewater’s waning top-tier notables, however, there’s no more area than an arm’s length among a few dozen men and women. When even one of them steps aside for the bathroom, the remaining universe for the others shrinks by a percent…
Education, School District
The Whitewater Schools’ Near Future
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
School District, University
Whitewater YES is Right, for Now
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Whitewater YES for Education Facebook page, they’ve a post describing the WUSD budget proposal in supportive terms. Here’s part of what they have to say: ….The school board reviewed the District Leadership Team’s (DLT) program and staffing proposal at the April 20 board study session. The DLT created a proposal that aligned…