EVENT SUMMARY: On October 1, 2000, NEGP Chair Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI), NEGP member and State Representative Spencer Coggs (D-WI) received testimony from educators and practitioners in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the fourth field hearing about state and local efforts to achieve standards with all students. The field hearing also included testimony about the Third International Math and Science Study and also featured the release of the NEGP's latest publication, Minnesota & TIMSS: Exploring High Achievement in Eighth Grade Science. The Chicago hearing focused on data reporting and the use of data in education reform and the ways that it can help all children achieve high standards.

Introductory Remarks
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Panel One

Presenter: Dr. Paul Kimmelman and Dr. David Kroeze, First in the World Consortium (FITW)
Topic: Using TIMSS As An International Benchmark
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Dr. Kimmelman and Dr. Kroeze will discuss their work and research with FITW and participation in TIMSS. They have been involved in several initiatives as a result of that participation including Teacher-Learner Networks (TLN); Item-by-item analysis of the TIMSS released items and Topic Concurrence Project to guide curriculum reform at the local level. Kimmelman and Kroeze will discuss the changes that have occurred in school systems as a result of their work and will also discuss the implications of the Content Standards Test and give graphical illustrations that support their findings and observations.

Panel Two

Presenter: William H. Schmidt, National Research Coordinator for U.S. TIMSS
Topic: NEGP's Minnesota & TIMSS, Exploring High Achievement in Eighth Grade Science
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The presentation will focus on the NEGP's Minnesota case study. It will begin with a summary of a report released by the U.S. National Research Center for TIMSS in relation to the performance of eighth grade students. The achievement results for Minnesota were both encouraging and disappointing. Their students performed well in science and were out performed only by Singapore. In mathematics however the same students were placed in the middle, significantly only better than 12 other countries. Schmidt will discuss the local implications of the results and the benefits of having a clear vision of goals in science and math education. He will suggest elements of the Goals Panel's study that can be adopted by other states to achieve high academic standards.

To download the NEGP's case study, Minnesota & TIMSS, Exploring High Achievement in Eighth Grade Science click here.

To download the NEGP's press release on the case study click here.


Panel Three

Presenter: Paul Vallas, CEO, Chicago Public Schools
Philip J. Hansen, Chief Accountability Officer for Chicago Public Schools
Topic: Chicago's Data and Accountability System
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The Chicago Public School system has gone through practical and philosophical changes since Mayor Daley was given control of the schools in 1995. Hansen will provide a summary of school progress in Chicago since the arrival of the new leadership team. Following that will be an overview of the accountability process in Chicago. This process demands real accountability for students, teachers, administrators and parents. It is an aggressive approach to school improvement with a goal of seeing immediate improvements made each year; incorporating a system of rewards for improvement and punishments for those schools that do not improve. The accountability process also includes a system of intensive and focused support for schools that are not moving forward.


Panel Four

Presenter: John S. Gardner, At-Large Director and Member of Milwaukee Board of School Directors
Topic: Milwaukee's Neighborhood Schools Initiative
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Gardner will focus on the specific research, planning, communications and political challenges presented by the Milwaukee Public Schools Neighborhood Initiative (MPS) and how they were successfully addressed. In November 1999 Wisconsin authorized MPS to develop a Neighborhood Schools Plan, converting annual transportation funds into 20-year construction bonds for up to $170 million in new facilities. By September 1, 2000 MPS was required to submit a plan that documented transportation savings, the location and types of new facilities and how transportations savings could repay the bonds. The Joint Finance Committee was authorized to give final approval for the Plan. Over a period of nine months MPS mobilized an unprecedented compilation, analysis, synthesis and presentation of demographic, transportation, educational program and public opinion data in an extended campaign to find out what type of programs Milwaukee residents, and especially parents, found attractive or acceptable. The Neighborhood Schools Initiative Final Report was submitted, after eight public hearings, to the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee and was approved by a vote of 13-3.

The MPS Office of the Superintendent has published its Final Report on the Neighborhood School Plan in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format at http://www.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/supt/nisInterPlan.htm

The Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau has published its report on the Neighborhood Schools Plan in PDF format at
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lfb/Section13.10/092600_MPS.pdf