Milwaukee Public Schools has received a grant renewal from National Education Association Foundation to help bridge the achievement gap for elementary and high school low-income and minority students.
The grant money, totaling $591,000, comes from the NEA Foundation’s Closing the Achievement Gaps Initiative. The initiative hopes to accelerate underachieving, low-income and minority students to close the gap with their more affluent peers, according to NEA’s website.
In a statement, the NEA said they will be awarding funds of $1.2 million for projects in Milwaukee, Seattle, Connecticut and rural Ohio.
“We are very excited, and the Milwaukee Teacher’s Education Association is very excited and proud to receive the grant,” said Wisconsin Education Association Council spokesperson Christina Brey. “We know it will target necessary areas and provide development that is meaningful and provide for research to see what is really working in classrooms.”
MPS is working with several organizations to implement this initiative, including WEAC, Milwaukee Teacher’s Education Association and Milwaukee Partnership Academy.
“MTEA is affiliated with WEAC and the foundation grant was awarded to them and MPS, and I’m sure they will work collaboratively for the best solutions,” Brey said.
The first city to receive grant money was Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2004, followed by Milwaukee in 2005 and then Seattle in 2006. They are planning an additional five cities, according to the group’s website.
MPA’s website states they are trying to raise achievement levels with literacy and mathematics specialist and coaches to work with students on a personal level.
They also are using funding research and data to find the practices that are helping students the most. Another goal is to improve family involvement not only with students but with teachers as well.
The 20 lowest-performing MPS schools were selected for participation in the initiative, according to the NEA’s statement. It also said the schools are predominantly low-income and African American with a high enrollment of special education students.
The NEA website reports that in 2009, the participating schools achievement rates rose above the average of the rest of MPS for the first time.
Kevin Benish, spokesperson for Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, said any news of additional funds is great.
“The achievement gap in MPS is unacceptable, and we are working on legislation to help reduce that,” Benish said.
Grigsby is the co-author — with Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee — of the Reforming and Advancing Children’s Education for Success Act, which hopes to reform MPS by creating a partnership with the School Board, the Milwaukee Common Council and the mayor of Milwaukee.
“Rep. Grigsby approves of the work WEAC and MTEA have done to help education,” Benish said. “We are committed to their goals, and that’s why they support our bill. With this funding, we can keep moving forward and finding other solutions and changes for MPS.”
