"Milwaukee's story is unique in that its struggle for integration and quality education has been so closely tied to [school] choice." --from the Introduction "Educating Milwaukee: How One City's History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools" traces the origins of the modern school choice movement, which is growing in strength throughout the United States. Author James K. Nelsen follows Milwaukee's tumultuous education history through three eras--"no choice," "forced choice," and "school choice." Nelsen details the whole story of Milwaukee's choice movement through to modern times when Milwaukee families have more schooling options than ever--charter schools, open enrollment, state-funded vouchers, neighborhood schools--and yet Milwaukee's impoverished African American students still struggle to succeed and stay in school. "Educating Milwaukee" chronicles how competing visions of equity and excellence have played out in one city's schools in the modern era, offering both a cautionary tale and a "choice" example.

This case study uses data from a school district with a voucher plan that has been in place since 1990 to determine if increased competition resulted in improved student performance.

Build better readers in bilingual classrooms! Bilingual Reading Comprehension is a valuable resource for bilingual, two-way immersion in third-grade classrooms. This book provides bilingual reading practice for students through identical activities featured in English and Spanish, allowing the teacher to tailor lessons to a dual-language classroom. Fiction and nonfiction activities reinforce essential reading skills, such as finding the main idea, identifying supporting details, recognizing story elements, and learning new vocabulary. This 160-page book aligns with Common Core State Standards, as well as state and national standards.

Despite heightened attention to the problem, bullying remains a scourge in U.S. schools, linked to a myriad of negative outcomes including substance abuse, suicides, and school shootings. As a young high school teacher, Tina Owen-Moore saw the damage being done by bullying first-hand and despaired. A former victim of bullying herself, Owen-Moore did what she could to help students see the harm and prevent it. But in 2005, when she and her fellow Milwaukee teachers were offered the opportunity to start new schools, Owen-Moore "knew what she had to do" - create a school in which bullying was not the norm. In The Alliance Way, Owen-Moore details the beliefs and practices that have made the Alliance School of Milwaukee a focus of national attention as a safe, student-centered and academically challenging school. The book illustrates how creating a safe and inclusive environment goes beyond a programming approach that targets bullying to a more holistic one where building relationships, restorative practices, and planning to prevent harm take center-stage.--

“Miner’s story of Milwaukee is filled with memorable characters . . . explores with consummate skill the dynamics of race, politics, and schools in our time.” —Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work Weaving together the racially fraught history of public education in Milwaukee and the broader story of hypersegregation in the rust belt, Lessons from the Heartland tells of a city’s fall from grace—and its chance for redemption in the twenty-first century. A symbol of middle American working-class values, Wisconsin—and in particular urban Milwaukee—has been at the forefront of a half century of public education experiments, from desegregation and “school choice” to vouchers and charter schools. This book offers a sweeping narrative portrait of an all-American city at the epicenter of public education reform, and an exploration of larger issues of race and class in our democracy. The author, a former Milwaukee Journal reporter whose daughters went through the public school system, explores the intricate ways that jobs, housing, and schools intersect, underscoring the intrinsic link between the future of public schools and the dreams and hopes of democracy in a multicultural society. “A social history with the pulse and pace of a carefully crafted novel and a Dickensian cast of unforgettable characters. With the eye of an ethnographer, the instincts of a beat reporter, and the heart of a devoted mother and citizen activist, Miner has created a compelling portrait of a city, a time, and a people on the edge. This is essential reading.” —Bill Ayers, author of Teaching Toward Freedom “Eloquently captures the narratives of schoolchildren, parents, and teachers.” —Library Journal