DPI-ConnectEd: Graduation, Business Partners, Financial Literacy, Assessment Tech, Student Competitions
Fandek, Timothy G. DPI
Past Issues | Apr 8, 2013 | | |||||
Wisconsin’s four-year graduation rate for 2012 was 87.5 percent, half a percentage point higher than the prior year’s, continuing a trend of steady improvement. State Superintendent Tony Evers congratulated the class of 2012. He and the Department of Public Instruction are working for Every Child a Graduate through an ambitious set of five-year goals and strategies called Agenda 2017. Wisconsin uses the uniform federal four-year adjusted cohort rate to calculate graduation rates. The rate for 2009-10, the first school year to provide enough years of quality data for the calculation, was 1.8 points lower than 2011-12, at 85.7 percent. In terms of students who graduated within five or six years of entering high school, the rates both came in at 90.4 percent. Cohort graduation rates improved for most student subgroups, with graduation gaps closing for most students between 2010 and 2012; however, some caution is needed in this analysis because of changes in how race and ethnicity are reported. 2. Business Friends of Education State Superintendent Tony Evers named the 2013 Business Friends of Education: Johnson Controls Inc. – provides real-world STEM education opportunities to Milwaukee Public Schools students, was integral in launching MPS School of Career and Technical Education Jones Dairy Farm – helped Fort Atkinson High School expand CTE and STEM programs to include green technology, engineering, drafting, architecture, and CNC mechanical drafting; endowed technical education scholarships Kohler Company – Kohler employee Dan Schlagenhaft donated hundreds of hours to build FIRST Robotics teams in schools of Sheboygan County; opened connections for co-op employment and other projects Nelson Global Products – key partner, because of employee Paul Schulz, in multi-collaborator Welding Skills Institute partnership: Western Technical College instructors come to Black River Falls High School to teach students and unemployed adults NEW Water (a.k.a. Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District) – through employee Scott Thompson, forged partnerships that laid foundation for Youth Apprenticeships in environmental engineering, wastewater treatment Tomahawk Community Bank – Wisconsin’s only bank with a student-operated branch in a high school; also offers scholarships, field trips, guest speakers Trace-A-Matic Corporation – educates students about manufacturing, supports student projects, is creating manufacturing/machining training center, is supporting development of job shadowing database through Elmbrook School District Waukesha County Business Alliance – works with local businesses to educate schools, students, parents about manufacturing; instrumental in bringing Dream It. Do It. campaign to southeastern Wisconsin Wood’s Crossing (part of Wood’s Point Community in Brodhead) – partners with high schools, Blackhawk Technical College to provide quality nursing training to 30 students over four years Among the factors which spur successful school-business partnerships is one which came into play for a number of this year’s honored programs: the need for businesses to ensure future generations of workers. More information about all of these programs is available in the DPI news release. The DPI has taken the lead role on a recent project of the Governor’s Council on Financial Literacy—surveying Wisconsin schools on their education practices related to personal financial literacy. Responses are still being sought, with the council hoping close to 100 percent of Wisconsin school districts will assign an appropriate staff member to respond to the questions. The survey will yield the first statewide look at how Wisconsin educators are helping students learn these important life skills through implementing personal financial literacy standards. The results will help identify the resources that are available to promote financial literacy education in Wisconsin schools. The survey form, which should take about 10 minutes to complete, is available at http://bit.ly/pflsurvey. Another current topic relating to personal financial literacy is Money Smart Week, April 20-27. Information is available online. 4. Assessment Technology Discussion Group The DPI has created an online community for Wisconsin educators to discuss and share information about the technological side of implementing the Smarter Balanced online assessments in 2014-15. The Wisconsin Online Assessment Discussion Group, a Google Group, is a place to ask questions, post information, provide feedback, and connect with peers on the technological aspects of the Smarter Balanced assessments. Information on the non-technological aspects can be found on the DPI’s Smarter Balanced webpage or the website of the national Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. 5. Student Competitions: History, Photography, Environmental Poetry Current events related to educational student competitions: May 4 is the Wisconsin State Event for National History Day, where students present the exhibits, documentaries, papers, performances, or websites they’ve been researching and creating throughout the year. To participate in next year’s National History Day in Wisconsin program, visit the state-level webpage maintained by the Wisconsin State Historical Society. May 17 is the deadline for Wisconsin middle and high school students to submit photographs to The fifth annual imageide@s Student Digital Photo Contest. Winners in each age division will earn iPad Minis or iPods. Winning photographs will be featured online. The Department of Natural Resources is holding the “Air, Air, Everywhere” Poetry Contest for third through fifth graders. It starts when teachers lead their classes through an activity, “Where’s the Air?” which sets students on “detective work” to prove the presence of air around them. They conclude by crafting a poem or riddle that describes “air” without using the word. Teachers may submit three of these to the statewide contest by May 17. Winners and their classmates receive solar calculators, while their teachers get an environmental education workshop. |
IN THIS ISSUE: 2. Business Friends of Education 4. Assessment Technology Discussion Group 5. Student Competitions: History, Photography, Environmental Poetry |
DPI-ConnectEd comes from the office of State Superintendent Tony Evers
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