Versions of the MMAC Proposal For New Orleans-Style “Recovery School District” Underway in Three Other States
For the past two years, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has been talking about introducing a New Orleans-style Recovery School District (RSD). Recently, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute proposed the same idea in a report titled “Pathway to success for Milwaukee schools.”
WPRI’s proposal describes this as an independent school district, made up of schools identified as underperforming, chartered directly by the state and answering to an independent superintendent, who would in turn report to the state Department of Public Instruction.
Recovery School District Models Adopted in Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia:
Michigan: Michigan is now in its second full year of operating schools under what it calls an Education Achievement Authority (EAA). The statewide school system, which took charge of 15 schools in Detroit, started in the 2012-13 school year.
Michigan’s EAA resembles the RSD in many respects. The lowest-performing five percent of Michigan schools, operating in a district under an emergency manager, qualify for admission. This language is clearly aimed at Detroit, with 39 of its schools qualifying at the time of enactment. The emergency manager for Detroit public schools can designate Detroit schools into the EAA; outside Detroit the decision is made by the state superintendent of education.
Schools will remain in the EAA for five years. At that point they will be evaluated and those that meet performance standards will have the option to
Renowned Educational Researcher to Speak on Voucher Schools, Accountability
Voucher Activists Says Voucher and Charter Expansion “is of little educational merit.”
Renowned Educational Researcher to Speak on Voucher Schools, Accountability
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Voucher Activists Says Voucher and Charter Expansion “is of little educational merit.”
Mike Ford, Assistant Professor of Public Administration at UW-Oshkosh, recently gave a slide show on the history and progress of Milwaukee vouchers and charters. Professor Ford has been active in the choice movement and written for the conservative think-tank, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. Following is a link to his slide show presentation. He ended his presentation with the following slide