At that time, this year's award recipient for Clerical/Technical Personnel was just a few years out of high school working in the MMSD Library Media Department. It took 25 years for Vicky Woider to attend her first MMSD Recognition Award Ceremony; and she did so as an honored guest.

Since 1983, the annual tradition of sharing our success stories has carried on and grown. This year's festivities were held at La Follette High School, where 41 individuals and one team were in the spotlight.

Each honoree walked across the stage to receive congratulations from school board members and Superintendent Art Rainwater, who completed his tenth year as host of the ceremony.

To mark the occasion of the silver anniversary of the ceremony, and as a thank you to retiring Superintendent Art Rainwater, each honoree received a commemorative, specially wrapped chocolate bar.

An auditorium full of friends, family and colleagues heard of the accomplishments of the nominees and award recipients in photos and videos. Cheering sections were out in full force. It was a night that celebrated everyone - employees, citizens and students - who works on behalf of Madison's public schools and community.

Distinguish Service Award Nominees

Distinguish Service Award Recipients' Videos and Scripts

Joe Thomas Community Service Award for Students-Nominees

Joe Thomas Community Service Award for Students-Recipients' Videos and Scripts

Kohl Teacher Fellowship Nominees

Kohl Teacher Fellowship Winner

Hughes told the Wisconsin State Journal his actions on the Board will be, "Conscientious and careful and sensible — and committed to the success of all of our students." Passman told the paper the issues she intends to scrutinize are: the racial achievement gap, four year old kindergarten, ensuring that all students — including top performers — receive attention, maintain small class sizes and support fine arts programs and libraries.

Supt. Art Rainwater will retire at the end of June, and be replaced by current Green Bay Supt. Dan Nerad. Johnny Winston, Jr. has been on the BOE for four years and is currently the longest serving BOE member.

I enjoyed the opportunities to visit classrooms and talk with the staff in the schools; it gave me great insight into what was happening — and I saw so many creative approaches to learning. I also treasure the alternative programs' graduations that I attended; the difficulties the students faced in getting to the point of graduation made the ceremony itself ever so meaningful.

Looking back on my 18 years on the Board, I am impressed with the progress the district has made.

In 1990, the district was just at the start of its focus on the achievement gap. Since that time we have learned a great deal about how to increase achievement for all students. While the district's student body has changed tremendously — twice as many students of color, more than twice as many in poverty and about four times as many who don't speak English as their first language— we have made great strides in student performance in literacy and math — particularly in the primary grades.

Not only have we begun to reduce the achievement gap — we have improved the performance of ALL students — even those who were doing well already. We have also increased attendance and graduation rates for all students. We have reorganized the district under the Educational Framework — and I regularly hear staff talk about the importance of relationships, engagement and learning.

The last 15 years have not been easy or encouraging for people like me who feel that the most important duty of society is to invest in its children. The district has faced major challenges due to the state-imposed revenue caps. The budget cuts along with the changing student demographics have created major challenges for district staff. What continues to amaze me is the level of effort that staff put forth every day to serve children.

There are some accomplishments that I take personal pride in; to name a few:

• developing Wright Middle School to resolve a long standing community issue;
• renaming 5 middle schools to reflect the diversity of our school community;
• creating the Joe Thomas award to recognize outstanding high school students who have made significant contributions to their school.

I am very proud of all that the district has achieved and am grateful for the opportunity to serve during a time of such momentous changes.

For the 15th consecutive year celebrating Earth Day, Lake View ES students walked the half mile to Warner Park, this year planting white swamp oaks to protect the creek from parking lot runoff. The school's 270 students also picked up litter in the 180 acre park. Mayor Dave, Maynard, the Mallard's mascot, and other city officials joined the students at the park for a brief ceremony prior to the plantings.

Van Hise ES held their Annual Science Night event on April 22nd, with a "Going Green" theme. Projects focused on recycling, conservation, and solving energy and earth-related problems. Students in John Christopherson's 2/3 classroom performed their original rap, "Pollution Solution." Christopherson's classroom has been selling copies of their CD to make money for the rebuilding of Greensburg, KS, a tornado-ravaged town that is trying to rebuild and be the first entirely green community. Hamilton MS Earth Club also participated in the science night event.

Toki MS celebrates the earth annually in April. All Toki 7th graders visit Madison sewage treatment, landfill, and restore sites. Academic staff plan cross-curricular activities geared toward the understanding of the need in our community for these services and how an individual's/community's waste affects our earth. As the weather improves, students will be working in the Toki/Orchard Ridge School Forest to remove invasive species and learn how these affect Wisconsin's native plants.

Before the end of the school year, students will work with Thomas Wilke, McKay Nursery Co., on planting some trees on the grounds. Rollin Darst, Toddle-In Nursery of McFarland, is donating a dwarf shrub to Toki for planting.

Prior to the end of the school year, teacher Jody Lee-Lampe and arborist Corey George will work with 4th and 5th grade students to plant five trees around Shorewood Hills ES. This is the third year the team has worked together in this effort.

Some trees are planted in a specific area because of their added benefits such as providing shade, fall color, spring flowers, or year-round greenery. Some trees are planted to replace older ones that are diseased or close to the end of their typical lifespan. Types and varieties of trees are selected based upon their growth habits and the purposes they will serve. Students dig holes for all the trees, refill the holes with dirt after the trees are in place, mulch the base of each tree, and water the trees regularly until summer break.

Hawthorne ES students completed service projects outside the school and in the surrounding neighborhood, cleaning trash, working in the school gardens and other activities. Students also gathered next to the school's gardens to perform songs and skits and read poems.

I mentioned earlier that I was fortunate. I have a beautiful wife and 3 great children. I have a job that I absolutely love. I work with a staff that amazes me daily with their dedication to both Sherman Middle School and their students. I look forward to coming to school to feel the energy generated from the students.

Every day is a new day for both adults and students at Sherman. We have a sense of family which makes it an excellent learning environment. I look forward to interacting with the students because I like to joke and laugh and it seems that at times only middle school students get my sense of humor.

I said earlier I was fortunate; I think I meant lucky. I look forward to spending my academic career serving the students of the Madison School District. If you are ever bored or just looking for something to do for the day, come out to Sherman Middle School and spend the day with us. Maybe some of my luck will rub off on you.

This fall I brought all of my past, all of what I have learned and loved, to my new job as principal of Schenk Elementary School. It has been a wonderful, exciting experience. The students, staff, and parents have made my transition to a new school and position a pleasure and a joy. I appreciate all the kind words and support they have given me to help bring me into the MMSD and Schenk communities.

As the principal at Schenk I have had the pleasure of working closely with fantastic, professional educators who have demonstrated day after day how they love the students and families of the school. I appreciate their dedication and commitment to their practice. They have inspired me and keep me striving to improve my own work.

Despite all the wonderful support I have received, there are times as a new principal when I have felt overwhelmed and stressed out. In those times, I think about those things that have always kept me alive as a person. I think about my wife and two beautiful daughters. I think about the times I found solace in mountains of the Pacific Northwest. I think back to those who inspired me as a child. I think about the one child who I can now inspire.

This year has been a wonderful adventure for me. I look forward with great eagerness for the years ahead of me and the opportunities I will have to develop inspiring memories while at Schenk Elementary.

A committee consisting of community and FMPS Board members carefully selects grants, which must be approved by the Board of Directors.

To date, the Foundation has given over $600,000 through a variety of grants programs to MMSD projects.

The six project titles, grant amount, project leader, and project description:

Madison-City of Four Lakes, Our History and Our Home - $10,000
Susan Hamblin, Department of Teaching and Learning
This grant funds the graphic artist to complete the layout for the Madison-City of Four Lakes, Our History and Our Home book, printing of 2000 copies and the Web-based construction.

AVID Summer Training - $9,120
Tom Kanies, East High
AVID is a program designed to provide underachieving and underserved populations training for skills they will need to be successful in advanced level high school courses and four year college programs. This grants support summer training for teachers at the AVID institute.

Literacy Initiative Grant - $9,120
Annie Potter, East High
This grant supports 5.5 days of training for 12 East High teachers to learn content area reading strategies across all major content areas as implementation materials. The professional development is part of a sustained coordinated effort to improve literacy at East.

Learning to Read by Reading - $9,000
Mary Ellen LaChance, Department of Teaching and Learning
The grant funds the one time purchase of a Rigby PM software site license that will allow the district to pilot and, if successful, sustain an intervention for first grade struggling readers.

"Drama Days" - $8,256
Sylla Zarov, Muir Elementary
This grant funds equipment and a visiting artist to assist teachers in incorporating the dramatic arts in their teaching practices, help students understand the various elements of drama and experience dramatic performance themselves, and relate dramatic experience to Muir School's Above the Line activities.

General Music Expansion - $2,369 ($2,033 — Music Endowment Fund)
Ben Jaeger, Spring Harbor Middle
The grant will expand student experiences in general music through the purchase of guitars, keyboards and a digital recorder.

The Aristos program was launched in December, 2000. To date, $425,000 has been awarded to fund 65 grants. Aristos grants are awarded to district staff to support their creative initiatives in the areas of student engagement, learning, and/or engarelationships.

Gifts to the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools from the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation and the Kelly Family Foundation support the Aristos Grants and Scholars Program.

Aristos Grants 2008-09

Home-School Partnering with W-2 Parents and Families — Kathy Price
Kathy Price, Coordinator of Community Partnerships, is the recipient of a $9,850 Aristos grant. The grant intends to actively engage low-income parents receiving W-2 benefits in the schools their children attend. The grant will support home learning opportunities for students, strengthen parenting skills, and promote meaningful family involvement with school staff members.

Math Lesson Study — Michael Hertting
As principal of Lapham Elementary School, Michael Hertting authored a $8,200 Aristos grant to engage teachers in analyzing and discussing mathematics instruction in an innovative way. The process is loosely based Japanese Lesson Study that has teachers observing a math mini-lesson and then discussing their observations immediately after the lesson. The teachers will then teach the same mini-lesson to a small group of students. Finally, the teachers will reconvene, process their work, and determine ways they may fine tune their practice.

Open Schoolhouse — Sara Knueve
Sara Knueve is a social worker at Falk Elementary school. She will use her $7,290 Aristos Grant to engage families as they support their children's academic progress and positive connection to school. Through Open Schoolhouse families may access the school library, computer lab, math resources, gym, and other community connections each Tuesday evening.

New Aristos Scholars for 2008-09

The Aristos Scholars Academy is a prestigious MMSD Think Tank in which members explore district issues. Scholars serve three-year terms, participate in a fall Retreat, monthly meetings, and select future grant recipients. Aristos Scholars may be nominated or selected based upon their Aristos grant implementation.

Debora Gil R. Casado — Memorial High School, Social Studies

Susan Hamblin — Teaching and Learning, Social Studies

Julie Palkowski — Teaching and Learning, Fine Arts

Steve Somerson — East High School, Math Department Chair

Retiring Aristos Scholars - June, 2008

1. Tracy Carolan, Math Teacher La Follette High School, on leave
2. Susan Deming, Speech/Language Therapist, Glendale Elementary
3. Ginny Kester, Social Studies Teacher, West High School
4. Jan Lorch, Social Worker, Chavez Elementary School
5. Phonekeo Siharath, English Teacher, La Follette High School
6. David Wasserman, Teacher, Sennett Middle School

Solid theories about how to work with a disengaged student or a high achieving student do not take into account that we have very little time to devote to students in this regard. Research suggests different ways to help high school students navigate traditional academic coursework but none of the research accounts for the distorted ratios we have of student to staff.

Thanks to a grant from the Aristos Program and the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools, at West we've developed the online Personal Education Plan (PEP). The heart of PEP is it collects and stores information students enter into it on the subjects we discuss with them throughout their four years in high school. Even more valuable, the information is accessible to the student, parent, teacher, counselor, or principal, to help support that student in their schoolwork and goals for their future.

For example, an 11th grade male student expresses boredom with classes and is not engaging in school activities. With PEP, I access his profile and note that in 10th grade he expressed interest in an "artistic/humanities path."

I go right to the goals he set of joining a few clubs, job shadowing a few careers, and trying a few hobbies. He says, "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." We start setting some goals over the next few weeks to follow through on commitments he made to himself the year before.

Now I have time to talk about more personal things with him. If he can stick with this follow through plan, it can help him to re-think how his education can serve him and be personalized enough to become more interesting to him.

The important thing is the information is accessible for each student's whole support network; parents, teachers, principals, psychologists, social workers, coaches, etc to help them succeed in school.

We're working on increasing the variety and efficiency of ways in which we help students. We've come up with some handy tools to do so. These tools will be made available district-wide in MMSD starting this fall. We're trying to educate all who work with our students about the tools available.

Mid-March through November is Employment's busiest time of year.

Budget allocations and staffing plans for the ensuing school year are sent to schools and departments in March. New staffing plans, surplus information and vacancy notices are then turned in to Employment to begin the staffing process for the upcoming school year.

Internal postings are created for all known vacancies in each unit. Employment oversees the internal and external selection process and maintains the records for each of them. It is not uncommon for one teacher or EA vacancy to result in the posting of five more vacancies due to the internal transfers that take place.

At the same time, Employment staff are recruiting, screening and ranking external candidates in the applicant pool. MMSD receives over 2,400 applications each year through the electronic applicant system. Hundreds of referrals are made from the applicant pool to fill more than 200 teacher unit vacancies and more than 80 classified (EA, custodial, food service, trades and security assistants) vacancies each year. More than 300 new substitutes are also hired each year and approximately ten new administrators.

In addition, around 350 summer school staff are hired at this time.

Each time an external hire is recommended, Employment staff prepare the official written offer and complete the final steps of pre-employment screening, such as criminal record checks, verifying licenses, securing transcripts, scheduling pre-employment physicals and ultimately issuing a contract or confirming a final offer of employment. Further, Employment staff builds the Human Resource Information System database that drives the payroll and benefits system and interfaces with position allocation controls in the budget.

In March the Employment Unit also issues approximately 2,400 teacher contracts for the ensuing school year. A copy of each signed contract is returned to Employment where it is logged into the system to confirm the returning staff.

Keyboards are tapping and phones are ringing but there is no lack of smiles, laughter and treats (we are known within the Doyle building for our awesome treats). The Employment Unit runs smoothly thanks to the exceptional staff who put in countless hours and are always willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. These individuals are committed to performing outstanding work and providing the quality customer service that you have come to expect.

If you ask them why they enjoy working here, you will universally hear that they like their co-workers and care about their work. They recognize the impact their work has on schools and are dedicated to our district. They are an outstanding team whose efforts and commitment are greatly valued.

Fifteen student actors participated in a third quarter drama class that prepared them for a live show in front of a full house of supportive families, staff and community members.

The play was created as a result of a year of staff and student inquiry about the life of James C. Wright. Students interviewed people that knew him and worked with him, collected news articles, sermon notes, photographs and other artifacts that told the story of his important life as a social activist and pastor on the south side of Madison.

With generous donations from Full Compass, Wright's gymnasium became a professional venue with a stage, lighting and sound. Student actors provided extraordinary performances, and the school community learned a great deal about how much James C. Wright meant to people of Madison.

Mother Jackie Wright, sitting in the front row, was central to the student and staff's learning about her husband. She generously provided photographs and stories, and was fully involved in the past two years of work preparing for this event. WYOU also generously taped the event that will feature on Cable access Channel 4.

Following the play, a gallery of student work showcased Wright Middle School's charter focus on social action. This included the unveiling of a book written by school social worker, Monica Wightman, titled James C. Wright: The Man, His Work, His Legacy. This book acts as a legacy product that will continue to teach and inspire students to learn about and participate in social action in their communities.

As educators, we have a responsibility to provide our students with the skills that are necessary to prepare them for being a citizen who can communicate effectively with the tools that are currently being used in order to provide a strong foundation for professional possibilities.

This is the 7th year of Digital Art classes at Memorial HS, and we have seen amazing growth with student interest and support of our administration and community.

The first year of the program started in a word processing lab before the school day even started. These brave early-rising students and teachers — led by Geoff Herman — knew the importance of these skills. That first year was a success.

After 2 years, we were able to garner enough support to create a lab within our arts complex using second hand G3 computers from within the district. This lab enabled our department to expand our offerings from one course and 25 students, to three courses, seven classes and 175 students - with additional lab access to all 600 per semester art students for independent studies projects.

When we moved into our own art complex, we were able to convince administration that we could effectively use the cascaded G3 systems until we could afford first run computers and current software. This solution proved vital to continuing our still youthful program.

Life expectancy of modern day computers and software is 3-5 years and we were already pushing the limits on our six year old G3's. Since the beginning of the digital curriculum, we had been researching funding sources and potential solutions for our lack of hardware and software, but with our systems sputtering out and keys not performing, we had to kick our efforts into high gear.

After a year of fund-raising, letters to parents and community members, several student, staff, and community artists donating artwork for art sales, strong parent support, evening fund-raising events, and constant communication with our school district technology supporters (Thank you, Joan Peebles and Chris Stoner,) we were able to fundraise over $15,000 for software, and money was allocated from a technology grant to cover the additional $25,000 needed for hardware and peripherals.

Teaching, maintaining and troubleshooting in this new lab has made life so much more efficient for instructors and students. We have reliable systems and the current software that allow us to focus on solving communication and design challenges. Students are able to create and make changes to their concepts without waiting for unnecessary processing hang-ups.

The lab has extremely low maintenance due to an off-site server and a great school computer technician, Alex Blohowiak. Having the ability to access student work has streamlined evaluations.

As we strive to design the best teaching and learning environment for all participants, it is clear that we cannot do it without additional financial support. If you are able to assist us, please contact the Memorial High School Art Department.

We have also established a Memorial Art Department pass-through account with the Foundation for Madison's Public Schools. Click here to use their online donation form.

Curriculum can be thought of as the planned educational experiences taught in each subject area at each grade level. Standards-based instruction focuses on teaching the knowledge and skills which support students' continual progress toward meeting the standards.

This article focuses on assessment, the process of using multiple strategies to measure student learning.

The remainder of this article will use mathematics as an example of a content area to demonstrate the use of standards-based assessment. MMSD teachers assess the content standards (i.e., number and algebra) as well as the process standards (i.e., communication, problem solving, and reasoning).

Research indicates that in addition to quizzes and tests, a variety of daily assessment tools (i.e., questioning, observations, discussions, and presentations) are needed to create a more thorough picture of what a student understands.

The teacher's best chance to assess a student's level of understanding is through student explanations and justification of solutions to problems. These frequent assessments determine what students are thinking, how they are reasoning and what the next instructional steps should be. Such daily assessments give students feedback about their continuing progress and help students identify what they are expected to learn.

To obtain a current picture about a student's level of achievement at the end of a unit, math teachers employ different types of assessment items. When a student is learning the next level of a concept or skill, the teacher needs to know that the student can apply this concept or skill in all kinds of settings and that the student can correctly respond to a variety of items, such as selected-response and constructed-response.

Multiple choice (selected-response) items allow a student to select from answer choices. Short answer or essay (constructed-response) items require students to produce an answer and explain the strategy used, or develop a second strategy to solve the problem.

Additional information about MMSD K-12 Mathematics is available by clicking here. The three previous articles in this series can be found in the three previous editions of MMSD Today.

A future edition will address standards and the central role they play in reporting.

Since its inception in 2000, Terrace Town has introduced architecture and community design to over 1,400 elementary school students and educators. Ten thousand square feet of model cities created by over 800 elementary school and middle students demonstrated what makes a quality "green" city.

During their visit at Monona Terrace, the students also participated in hands-on learning activities.

The program aims to teach students how cities are planned, what makes a quality city, and how citizens can participate in the improvement of their community.

The program also trains teachers in using the built environment - buildings, streetscapes, neighborhoods, communities - as a resource for subjects they already teach, including social studies, math, science, or the visual arts.

The teachers and students work with classroom mentors such as planners and architects from the business community for several months in planning their city.

The nationally recognized "Box City" curriculum provides a framework for classroom activity. Lessons emphasize:

• "reading" the visual language of your surroundings for information about the past and present
• discovering the unique character of "sense of place" of your hometown or neighborhood
• evaluating your community and identifying any aspects that do not work
• proposing a solution and redesigning, using cardboard boxes to model ideas

The event culminated on Saturday, March 1, when parents, family, classroom mentors and the community had the opportunity to view the cities and celebrate the students' work.

Terrace Town is a biennial program next scheduled for the 2009-2010 school year.

A	B	C
D	E	F

Nydia Rojas, Bilingual Resource Specialist, Lincoln ES
Nydia Rojas amazes the Lincoln staff daily in her role as bilingual resource specialist. She has a gentle and encouraging approach with her students. She collaborates with teachers. She advocates for students and parents. And most importantly, supports the Lincoln community as a whole. She dedicated her service to the MMSD since 1997 and served in the role of bilingual teacher and bilingual resource specialist. She has many talents that reach beyond her school day, like scrap-booking.

Chrissy Mitlyng, 7th grade teacher, Sherman MS
Chrissy Mitlyng does an amazing job as an educator of students at Sherman Middle School. She is a true professional, performing her duties with the students' best interests in mind at all times. She is equally dynamic in the classroom, as well as after school working with staff in professional development activities. Sherman MS is lucky to have a teacher of Chrissy's character.

Maya Martinez-Hart, 2nd grade teacher, Nuestro Mundo
Maya is a tremendous asset to the Nuestro Mundo community. She has a passion for student learning that is infectious. She is a member of the school's Math Action Team and she makes efforts to connect with our parents. We are very luck to have her.

Jay Affeldt, Science Teacher, Memorial HS
Jay has brought life back into the Backyard Program (Smaller Learning Community) with his energy, innovation and ability to get stakeholders to work together around student engagement. One of the most well liked and respected teachers by students because of his sincere love of teaching and his ability to connect with students. Every impression he leaves is favorable. Jay is an excellent leader. A person of his caliber is hard to find. An asset to the JMM Educational Community.

Andrew Tonies, MSCR Allied Learning Center Assistant
Andrew has been employed full time with MSCR for five years as the Allied Learning Center Assistant. He is responsible for the day to day management of Safe Haven after school and summer childcare programs. Andy is a soft spoken professional who is loved by the children in Safe Haven. Andy interacts with 85-100 children per day, serving as a role model for children in a field where men are a rarity. When talking with Andy about his work, his passion for children and their well being is apparent.

Kirsten Mangano, 8th grade teacher, Whitehorse MS
Kirsten Mangano is an 8th grade teacher who goes above and beyond her assignment. She is coordinating the talent show for us. She does lunch duty. She helps out at concerts. She is there whenever we need her and she does it with a smile and positive attitude. Her response is always, "No problem."

Answers:
A. Andrew Tonies
B. Jay Affeldt
C. Nydia Rojas
D. Kirsten Mangano
E. Chrissy Mitlyng
F. Maya Martinez-Hart