Wisconsin has a “long way to go in all our racial/ethnic groups,” said Adam Gamoran, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison. My hope is that, given Wisconsin?s overwhelmingly white population, proficiency problems among white students will spur more people to push for policies inside and outside of school that help children ? all children ? learn.
Business, labor, community and academic leaders will get a briefing Thursday in Madison about a study in progress that will look at how well prepared Wisconsin is to meet the needs of businesses for skilled employees in coming years….The briefing will be hosted by Madison Area Technical College, UW-Madison, UW Colleges, UW-Extension and Competitive Wisconsin.
Mentions that University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Kenneth Mayer estimated more than 301,000 do not have a driver?s license or state ID card. That?s 9.3% of registered voters.
Charles Franklin, a political-science professor who directs the Marquette polls, said the depth of support around the state for Milwaukee?s economy took him by surprise.
Madison has the state of Wisconsin?s top hospital, according to a new study released by US News and World Report.
In its first ranking of hospitals by state, the magazine named UW Hospital and Clinics as the state?s top hospital, and among the nation?s top hospitals in seven specialties.
With the Natural Resources Board scheduled to vote on the final version of a fall wolf hunt Tuesday, a UW-Madison expert on wolf management says the agency?s plan to allow hunting with dogs is unsafe and that the 201-wolf quota set for the proposed hunt is too high. Adrian Treves, a UW-Madison expert on predators and prey, said in a letter to the board that “wolves and hounds will die in savage ways modern society abhors,” if the DNR allows hunters to use dogs to hunt wolves.
Nearly two-thirds of Wisconsin students who took the state reading test last fall scored below proficient, and less than half were proficient in math, according to recalibrated results released Tuesday by the Department of Public Instruction. In previous reporting of the same results, about 80 percent of students scored proficient on the reading and math tests. The difference is a change in the yardstick used to measure “proficiency” ? what students in a certain grade level should know and be able to do ? rather than a change in how students performed on the tests.
Still, the new results should be a “smack in the face” for Wisconsin, said Adam Gamoran, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison. “It?s going to be a wake-up call,” Gamoran said. “It?s a more honest reckoning of where Wisconsin students stand relative to other students across the nation and relative to the goals we want for all of our students.”
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay students aren?t just spending money on tuition and books when they return to class in the fall.
A new study from researchers at UW-Madison?s La Follette School of Public Affairs shows three payments are better than the usual two to get annual property tax bills paid on time.
The poll, conducted by UW-Madison professor Charles Franklin for Marquette University Law School, stands in stark contrast to a poll released Tuesday by Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina-based firm that frequently works with Democratic candidates, as well as a recent poll conducted for the campaign of Democratic candidate Tammy Baldwin, who will take on the GOP nominee in the general election. PPP showed Hovde ahead of Thompson by two points, 31 percent to 29 percent, whereas the Marquette poll has Thompson leading Hovde 35 to 23 percent. Franklin says he is puzzled by the gap between the two polls.
Department of Administration spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster blamed the University of Wisconsin System, which ?was late in turning their submission for this report and DOA did not receive it until May 2012, which delayed the report.? David Giroux, spokesman for the UW System, gives a different account….The new report shows state agencies spent $363.8 million on outside service providers, a 26 percent jump, while the UW System?s spending on outside service contracts fell slightly, to $125.1 million. Giroux speculates that ?reductions in contracting are the result of overall spending cutbacks at UW System institutions.?
An effort to give private-sector workers the ability to ditch their 401k?s and instead participate in a state-run retirement system that would offer a more reliable pension payout could be on the horizon in Wisconsin.
The University of Wisconsin System was a bit late to the digital education party, but at least it?s not a no-show.
Bucking a growing trend of state partnerships with Western Governors University, Wisconsin plans to go it alone to develop online competency-based degree programs for its students. Earlier this month, Governor Scott Walker and administrators from the University of Wisconsin system announced their plans to create flexible degree options for the system, which includes 13 universities and 13 two-year colleges.
The University of Wisconsin System was a bit late to the digital education party, but at least it?s not a no-show.The UW System is moving toward a “flexible degree” program built on flat-fee, at-your-own-pace online education, news that should be applauded by prospective students, business owners and state legislators. That?s true even if some elements of the education community itself remain suspicious of how well it will work.
The annual report, posted Monday on the Department of Administration?s website, shows that state agencies spent $363.8 million on private contractors from July 2010 to June 2011 ? an increase of 26 percent compared to the previous fiscal year. In contrast, the University of Wisconsin System?s hiring of contractors decreased 2 percent during the same period, to $125 million.
A highly anticipated report ordered by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature and released on Monday recommended no changes to Wisconsin?s $77 billion pension system.
Although a new report gives the state pension system high marks, union leaders and Democratic legislators remain concerned Gov. Scott Walker may push for changes in his next state budget. ?You may have won the battle but the question is will you win the war?? says Rich Eggleston, a spokesman for participants in the Wisconsin Retirement System.
All workers deserve financial security in their retirement years. Wisconsin should use the Wisconsin Retirement System as a model and expand the WRS to cover workers in the private sector to ensure that all Wisconsin workers ? public and private ? will have financial security. Wisconsin could be the first state in the nation to provide a ?defined benefit? pension plan with guaranteed fixed payments for life to all retired workers.
Leave it to Wisconsin’s controversial governor to turn one of the least sexy topics in government ? public pensions ? into a nail-biter. There are plenty of things in state government in need of reforming, but Wisconsin?s pension system ain?t one of them. But even if you?re not particularly concerned about getting the best returns for WRS beneficiaries, you should know that the system?s administrative costs are low, according to UW-Madison public affairs and consumer science professor emerita Karen Holden.
MADISON ? A highly anticipated report ordered by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature and released on Monday recommended no changes to Wisconsin?s $77 billion pension system.
MADISON (WKOW) – A celebration marked the 100th anniversary of the dedication of Camp Randall?s arch and Memorial Park. State officials in attendance said Camp Randall serves as a symbol of the sacrifices of the 91,000 Wisconsin soldiers who served during the Civil War. “We?re honoring that generation, really, that built the foundation right here on these campus grounds,” said John Scocos, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs
A highly anticipated report ordered by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature is recommending no changes to Wisconsins $77 billion pension system.
Flexibility has not been the hallmark of higher education. Rather, tradition and familiar processes tend to rule the day on college campuses. All of which makes the recent announcement of a “flexible degree” program throughout the UW System so exciting. The concept put forth by UW System President Kevin Reilly and UW Extension Chancellor Ray Cross, with a strong endorsement from Gov. Scott Walker, makes so much sense.
When it comes to state retirement systems, Wisconsin has the best in the nation, according to one key observer. The Pew Center on the States says that Wisconsin alone out of the 50 states has set aside enough money to meet its promises to public workers. That?s a good reason for the administration of Gov. Scott Walker and other state officials to leave well enough alone as they study the state system. The state Department of Employee Trust Funds and the Walker administration are expected to issue a joint report soon assessing the $77 billion pension funds for both state and local workers and recommending changes. While other states have moved toward 401(k) plans like those offered by private businesses, we think the Pew report and other consistent measures of the Wisconsin pension system?s health suggest that isn?t necessary here. In other words, why fix what?s not broken?
Wisconsin needs more college degree holders. Our state is below the national average for percentage of residents with a bachelor?s degree ? 25.8 percent, compared to 27.9 percent nationwide.
Earlier this month, officials from the University of Wisconsin announced the school?s plans for a ?flexible degree? program, which would allow students to enroll when it suits them, study online at their own pace ? and gain academic credit for knowledge they?ve acquired outside the classroom.
Gov. Scott Walker?s administration has not filed its annual report on the hiring of outside contractors to perform services for state agencies, eight months after the deadline set by state law. The Department of Administration is required to file the report, which is scrutinized by public employee unions and others, by Oct. 15 each year….The unusual delay was caused by the University of Wisconsin System, which did not turn in its portion of the report until last month, DOA spokeswoman Jocelyn Webster said Wednesday. “We do anticipate the report being finalized and made public very soon,” she said.
Hollywood director David Zucker and one of the stars of his “Airplane!” movie plan to work together again after 32 years ? on a Wisconsin tourism commercial. Zucker, who also produced a winter tourism commercial for the state, asked Robert Hays, who played Ted Striker in the 1980 movie “Airplane!,” to take part in the summer ad.
MADISON, Wis.- Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to receive high marks for its public employee pension system. The Pew Center on the States report says only Wisconsin has enough money set aside to meet its current obligations for pensions. The “solid performer” ranking is for fiscal year 2010. That?s before Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature required public employees to contribute more to their pension.
In 1957, after years of dwindling membership, the church was closed, with the exception of the occasional funeral, according to church history. Nine years later, Robert McCabe and Clay Schoenfeld, two UW-Madison professors with ties to Hyde, helped form the Hyde Community Association and bring the shuttered chapel back to life. McCabe and Schoenfeld each studied wildlife ecology and purchased land near the chapel. McCabe bought his in 1963 for hunting and fell in love with the area. “He wanted to become part of a community,” said Maureen McCabe, his widow.
The announcement last week of the University of Wisconsin System?s new “flexible degree” is a worthy start. The program, to be rolled out over the next year, will allow students to learn online at their own pace and provide college credit for proving they?ve mastered skills learned at work. It?s about time the public education establishment started really shaking up the standard high school-to-college-to-career path. Economists and education-reform types have been saying for years that a changing world requires changing education models.
Scott Spector is attempting to remake progressive politics in Wisconsin. A native of Oceanside, New York, Spector, 31, became politically active as a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison over a decade ago, as a representative in student government as well as the campus director for New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley?s unsuccessful presidential campaign.
The University of Wisconsin plans to start a ?flexible degree? program online focused on allowing undergraduates to test out of material they have mastered.
When Gov. Scott Walker on Monday announced plans for a new online education program PDF at the University of Wisconsin System, it was news not just to the public, but to most UW staff and many high-level administrators.
A new self-paced, competency-based program for finishing a college degree online, and ostensibly making college more affordable and accessible, was announced Tuesday by Gov. Scott Walker and two top University of Wisconsin System officials.
“This is the first public university in the country, actually in the world, to do this,” said Ray Cross, the chancellor of U-W Colleges and U-W Extension.
Ron Biendseil spent 25 years in public service, most of it as coordinator for the Dane County Youth Commission. While with the county, Biendseil worked to curb teen violence, reduce alcohol and drug use and generally improve the lives of young people. In other words, hard work for a good cause. Now retired, Biendseil counts on a monthly payout of $1,500 from the Wisconsin Retirement System to supplement his Social Security income. But Biendseil and thousands of other current or retired public employees in Wisconsin are worried about their financial future ? and with good reason. Employee pensions are the latest target of small-government advocates looking to cut taxes and reduce spending.
Sleep apnea ? repeated pauses in breathing during sleep ? is much more common than previously thought. The condition increases the risk of high blood pressure, depression, heart disease, cancer and death. Losing weight and exercising can offset it. People who sleep too little or too much, regardless of whether they have sleep apnea, are more likely to be overweight. Those and other findings about sleep are common knowledge among scientists today thanks to Don Chisholm, Mary Ellen Havel-Lang, Paul Minkus and more than 1,540 other participants in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study.
Wisconsin was the only state in 2010 to fully fund its pension plan and was only one of seven states to fund 25 percent of its health care liabilities, according to a new report from the Pew Center on the States.
Considering that Wisconsin is below the national average in the percentage of adults who have college degrees, almost any move to make college more accessible should be applauded.
The University of Wisconsin System on Tuesday announced a new flexible degree program aimed at graduating nontraditional students. It will focus on competencies rather than class work and allow students to move at their own pace. As WUWM?s LaToya Dennis reports, the program is in its early stages, but the hope is, to have online classes ready to go by fall.
MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Working adults, military veterans and others pursuing college degrees in the University of Wisconsin System will soon be able to get college credit for knowledge already gained through work or life experience.
The University of Wisconsin System wants to churn out more degree-holders with a new online plan that will grant students college credit for their work and life experiences.
People soon will be able to improve their job prospects by earning college degrees at their own pace, wherever they are, through a new University of Wisconsin System Flexible Degree program.
Wisconsin?s public colleges and universities aren?t making the grade as tuition continues to rise at three times the rate of inflation and student loan debt soars, according to a sobering state-by-state “Leaders & Laggards” report card issued Tuesday in Washington.
Quoted: David Drake, wildlife specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) announced the creation of a new, online degree program for University of Wisconsin system students Tuesday morning.
When it comes to Wisconsin politics, divisions begin at the local level. But one group looks to put the issues into a new light, by resurrecting an old idea. The Wisconsin Idea has been reborn, and is taking on the hard hitting issues from around the state, with people from right here in the Northwoods.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be in Green Bay this morning to announce what is described as “a major University of Wisconsin System economic development initiative.”
College tuition and student loan costs have been a hot topic this year, even becoming a signature issue of the presidential campaign.
Ralph Armstrong, whose convictions for the 1980 rape and murder of a UW-Madison student were overturned, filed a $58 million federal civil rights lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin on Friday seeking compensation for about 30 years behind bars for the convictions. Armstrong filed the lawsuit by mail from his prison cell in New Mexico, where he is serving a sentence for a parole violation for earlier criminal convictions in that state in the 1970s.
In Dane County, prices rose 7.6 percent to an average $5,851 per farm acre from 2010 to 2011 ? according to a study by the UW Center for Dairy Profitability ? and by 11 percent between 2006 and 2011. The center also found farmland values statewide rose 6.7 percent in 2011, to $3,475, and by 31 percent over the past six years in south-central Wisconsin, or from $3,739 to $4,902 per farmland acre. ?Agricultural land values have continued to be a bright spot in the otherwise weak real estate market,? said A.J. Brannstrom, a farm management specialist who does the center?s annual farmland surveys.
The first few days featured Republican gloating and Democratic finger-pointing, but now — two weeks after the recall vote — two mega-themes have taken shape that will resonate in Wisconsin politics for years. First is what to do about the apparently unprecedented antagonism that exists between people who live in the same communities, the same neighborhoods, even the same households. On talk radio and in Internet comments, that antagonism seems to border on hatred.
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Charles Franklin
Dropping out of the Wisconsin state pension system could be tempting to some government employees, but experts say it would cloud their future financial well-being while potentially undermining a pension fund ? now one of the country?s strongest ? by reducing participation. Some critics of public employee pensions, however, say workers should have more options to make government employment more attractive, while opponents of government spending say the state system is too costly because it collects $1.5 billion in tax-funded employer and employee contributions annually.
The wave of public sector retirements that occurred last year after Gov. Scott Walker introduced sweeping collective bargaining changes hasn?t carried over into 2012, though the number of retirement applications is still up from 2010. There were 4,552 retirement applications in the first four months of this year, according to the Department of Employee Trust Funds. That?s down from 7,876 last year, but up 12 percent from 4,063 in 2010.
For weeks, it?s the topic that?s drawn thousands of UW-Madison employees into meetings, late night forums and heated debates.
After I posted my previous blog entry, ?Priced out of education? (which also was published in Monday?s hard-copy edition of the Leader-Telegram), I received a couple of emails saying I?d missed half of the picture in my rant about the rising cost of college. I?m accustomed to complaints about my writing, but in this case they were exactly right.
It?s a small yet significant step toward boosting Wisconsin?s brain power. High school students across the state will have more access to college coursework by 2013, the state Department of Public Instruction and University of Wisconsin Colleges announced this week. Some of the UW courses will be offered online at high schools. Others will be taught by high school teachers with oversight from college professors. And here?s the cool part: The new classes will count toward high school and college diplomas at the same time. It?s called “dual enrollment,” and it?s something Wisconsin needs more of ? individualized instruction using technology to help control cost.
Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political science professor who conducted the widely followed Marquette Law School Poll this year, says it will become a challenge for organized labor to find ways to maintain its influence in the public arena.”Union people are the ones who show up to make calls on behalf of candidates from morning until night. These people aren?t going away, but their financial resources are going away, and that will make the unions weaker,” Franklin says. “The Democratic Party will have to evolve to replace some of that monetary support and to retain the people power that unions provide to the party.”
