With many states facing budget cuts over the last ten years, reconfiguration and school closings have been an unfortunate reality for public school districts. Building trust is a critical component in creating, leading a learning organization and being an effective cultural change agent (Tshannen-Moran 2015). This article tells the story of how a…

During the past year, Wisconsin state legislators debated a series of bills aimed at closing low-performing public schools and replacing them with privately run charter schools. These proposals were particularly targeted at Milwaukee, the state's largest and poorest school district. Ultimately, the only legislation enacted was a bill that modestly…

In this multi-method case study, the authors explore the success of school reform in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), whose school reform combines a portfolio strategy and a managed instruction approach. Portfolio strategy is a term used to describe an approach that decentralizes resources and decision-making to school sites--increasingly in…

This report provides an overview of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the author's plan for evaluating it over a five year period. It also presents a brief summary of the main findings of the four distinct topical reports that the author and his colleagues have completed for 2006-07--the baseline year of the evaluation. Those four…

Decades of research support the role of a positive school climate on teaching and learning. This newsletter takes a look at the topic of school climate and sets out to determine: (1) What is school climate? (2) How can schools assess their school climate? (3) What are some practical examples of how schools are assessing school climate? and (4)…

Throughout the history of publicly-funded voucher programs--enacted and proposed--the impact on taxpayers has been a recurring issue. As the nation's longest-running program, the Milwaukee Parent Choice Program (MPCP) provides an important case study. The fiscal impact of Milwaukee's program has evolved in very significant ways over its 18-year…

This paper examines the impact of vouchers in general and voucher design in particular on public school performance. It argues that all voucher programs are not created equal. There are often fundamental differences in voucher designs that affect public school incentives differently and induce different responses from them. It analyzes two voucher…

The Tri-State Initiative is a collaboration for service learning linking the Iowa Department of Education; Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning; and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Six demonstration schools are restructuring using service learning methodology. (SK)

Four school districts adopted a school restructuring project using Deming's business management method. Deming offered alternative views of organizations based on psychology, systems, perceptual framework, and causes of variance. He listed 14 points for quality improvement. Evaluation indicated that key staff members willingly engaged in…

Schools have traditionally been accountable for management of educational programs, while students were held responsible for academic achievement and personal success. Recent reform and restructuring efforts have increased the responsibility of schools for student outcomes. Wisconsin has shifted responsibility for student outcomes to the…

One school year after implementation of the Neighborhood Schools Initiative (NS), more Milwaukee Public School (MPS) district schools enroll more neighborhood students, although the increase in neighborhood enrollment is not the result of capacity-building; fewer schools have the capacity to enroll all their neighborhood students than two years…

A consortium of four Wisconsin school districts has decided to stop tinkering with the educational system and apply W. Edward Deming's 14 management points to total system improvement. The rewritten precepts involve creating and adopting a fitting purpose, infusing quality into the educational "product," and working toward zero defects…

South Carolina's successful comprehensive school plan to develop and maintain public support for its school reform package, the Education Improvement Act, is offered in this paper, which focuses on the necessity of public support for successful reform. Key components of the plan are described, which include timing and public interest, state…

While the concept of choice is not new to families able to take advantage of the available options, the idea of giving parents nearly total freedom in selecting their children's public school is new. Proponents of choice claim it results in higher test scores, fewer dropouts, and more involved parents. Critics maintain that there is no proof of…

Parents comprise a key stakeholder group of public education that can exert significant influence over school policy, budget, and instructional decisions. Restricting this group's participation in school reform jeopardizes the success of any innovation, no matter how promising. This may be occurring with block scheduling. This research describes…