Unpaid interns, and the Wisconsin companies that hire them, are sorting out their options after a recent New York court ruling cast doubts on employers’ widespread practice of relying on eager young workers to perform without pay.
Category: Education
Posted inEducation, Government
School districts paying $25 million for controversial Common Core standards
Wisconsin’s new Common Core standards for math and English cost the state very little to implement because individual districts are footing the bill, which likely will come to about $25 million.
Posted inEducation, Government
Wisconsin educators put to the test
Wisconsin school districts will soon be required to evaluate all teachers and principals. Some are using a state-designed model; others are opting for another model designed by a quasi-governmental service agency.
Posted inEducation, Government
Districts make the choice
Most of the state’s school districts have already decided which of two approved models they intend to use to evaluate the performance of teachers and other educators in the coming school year.
Posted inEducation, Government
Too easy or too tough?
Some critics of the new Common Core standards embraced by Wisconsin schools feel they set the bar for students too high too early. Others argue that the standards are too easy.
Posted inEducation, Government
What Common Core requires
Common Core sets a series of benchmarks for what K-12 students should know and when they should know it. In some cases the standards are similar to those previously used in Wisconsin, which set benchmarks for just fourth, eighth and 12th grades. Other standards are more demanding. Here are some examples.
Posted inEducation, Government
New school standards under attack
The national standards, developed quietly and adopted by State Superintendent Tony Evers with little controversy in 2010, are now the subject of intense debate in Wisconsin and nationwide.
Posted inEducation
In some choice schools, disabilities are liability
Critics of school choice, and a pending federal lawsuit, charge that students with disabilities are being underserved by publicly funded vouchers meant to give low-income students in Milwaukee and Racine the chance to have a private education.
Posted inEducation, Government
DPI survey: School staffing holds steady after years of decline
Newly released data from the state Department of Public Instruction show that staffing levels at state public schools held steady last year, despite fears that changes initiated by Gov. Scott Walker would prompt additional losses. The number of employees did drop in some program areas and in some districts, according to the DPI’s summary report. And overall staffing remains significantly lower than five years ago.
Posted inEducation, Justice & Safety
In school crises, technology a lifeline for parents
Of the 10 largest school districts in Wisconsin, none automatically enrolls parents in text messages — as Verona, a smaller district, plans to do. Even when parents can sign up for text alerts, many do not.
Posted inEducation, Government, Justice & Safety
Emergency text alerts not reaching most people on University of Wisconsin campuses
Only three of the University of Wisconsin System’s 13 four-year campuses — Platteville, Stevens Point and Parkside — have more than half of students, faculty and staff signed up to receive text alerts, according to a review by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. The overall participation rate for all 13 campuses is about 32 percent, the Center found, based on data from each campus.
Posted inEconomy, Education, Government
Lawmaker calls for review of Camp Randall scoreboard pick
State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, is asking state and University of Wisconsin-Madison officials to review the process through which a subcontractor was selected to build a new scoreboard and sound system at Camp Randall Stadium, to see if the jobs should be rebid.