Noted: I recently interviewed one of the foremost researchers of these â??Promiseâ? programs. Noel Radomski, a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, contacted me after I first wrote about Kalamazooâ??s plan. Radomski is helping determine the best way to spend a $175 million gift from the former Chairman of Cisco Systems to provide scholarships for Wisconsinâ??s public high school graduates. Radomski is also working with the mayor of Racine, Wis., to implement a program similar to the Kalamazoo Promise.
Radomski favors statewide programs although he takes care to applaud locally based programs like Kalamazooâ??s. He points to Indianaâ??s two-decade-old 21st Century Scholars Program. Central to the Hoosier State plan is a requirement that students take challenging courses.