Summer does go by quickly, doesn’t it? Being married to a teacher and as the proud father of two Rawson Elementary School students, for me, the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.”
Elementary school registration is next Tuesday and Wednesday, and middle and high school registration is Tuesday and on August 21. Learn more here. Additional high school registration information is here.
The first day of school is Tuesday, Sept. 3. Here is the full school calendar.
As always, I’ll do my best to keep you informed on school issues on South Milwaukee Blog. Stay tuned.
South Milwaukee Blog 
Do You know why Rawson School was flagged for cheating on the WKCE??? http://www.channel3000.com/news/janesville-beloit-schools-flagged-for-possible-cheating/-/1648/21425418/-/tbwspq/-/index.html
Good question. Checking with the district now.
Mike: Here is the response from Rawson Principal Colin Jacobs … and as a proud parent of two kids at that school, I 1,000% stand behind what they do there. It’s a terrific school.
“There was a grade level at Rawson that had erasure’s that ecclipsed a certain predetermined number which prompts follow up. I, as well as Dr. Olson and Brian Gannon, the district’ testing coordinator, was notified by the state. There was follow up by me at the building level and a response letter with the findings submitted to the state. My findings were the same as the Janesville Schools. What I found interesting is that in speaking to a few students who were noted for erasures, they mentioned they did go back over sections to check for accuracy with the time they had left. This was reassuring as they recalled this detail almost 6 months after they took the WKCE test. This question over erasures is to my knowledge a first and it certainly puts good test taking strategies into a negative light with the headline that contains the word cheating.”
Thanks Erik! I guess we won’t have to worry about erasure marks for upcoming tests in the future.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/10/standardized-testing-futu_n_1196876.html
I know the high school is using MAP(Measure of Academic Progress) which is part of Common Core. Some school districts are using this to evaluate teacher effectiveness in the classroom. The concern I have with it is the students I spoke with say they don’t care about the test and just click on any answer which could possibly affect the teachers’ evaluations and also affect school funding if too many students are failing the tests. It places a lot of stress on the teachers and the students. How does this adequately measure a student’s progress and the effectiveness of a teacher?
The WKCE was a test given once a year, but now Common Core uses The MAP test given a number of time throughout the school year. Here is additional info http://www.nwea.org/node/13879