Compiled by MCJ Staff
Twenty-one current and former educators representing Milwaukee public schools, secondary education, the faith-based community, business community and government recently presented recommendations to the school district to improve academic achievement and increase high school graduation rates for all students in MPS.

Led by state Representative Annette Polly Williams, the group, the African American Education Council (AAEC), the recommendation were presented during an all-day meeting Saturday, June 16 to a district task force consisting of representatives from MPS, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) the organization that represents the district’s teachers and the Greater Milwaukee Committee.

The district task force’s charge is to examine the problems and issues facing MPS students in improving academic achievement.

The recommendations presented by the AAEC calls for maintaining what it described as "the best of what works while embracing change."

Innovation and change are the basis for many of the AAEC’s recommendations, which emphasize the need for curricular improvement and development, schools that establish personal connections with students, learning plans that help individual students accomplish their goals, post-secondary preparation and access, a safe nurturing environment for teaching and learning, continuous centralized professional staff development, a clear and concise organizational structure that provides guidance to students, their families, staff and community, clear access to post secondary options and opportunities, and solid business and community partnerships.

"Our tradition of sharing responsibility of education among local entities requires that extra time and effort must be dedicated to defining desirable outcomes and achieving agreement among multiple constituencies," read the executive summary of the AAEC report.

Those constituencies include school board members, elder persons, county supervisors, state legislators, the mayor, federal elected officials, religious institutions, parents, business, colleges/universities, community leaders and students.

According to the summary, the recommendations advanced in the report "set an agenda for aggressive and effective actions. Several of the recommendations will require action outside of our comfort zone.

"We must work together to ensure that our children (all children) are highly prepared for citizenship, college, and the workplace. High levels of accountability are essential for our students to be successful in MPS, while MPS staff members are primarily accountable for improving students’ achievement, our improvement is without question.

"We can achieve our dream if we are willing to work collectively for the good of all."