Milwaukee Public Schools Annual Report

This is a book talking about the changes that have taken place in the Milwaukee Public Schools over a period of fifty years. It is seen from the eyes of a man who went from student to teacher, in the school system and worked year round at various other MPS jobs. As a student in the 1950s and 1960s, the high quality of the school system was evident. The changes started to be noticed in the 1970s, as the authors teaching career was beginning. By the year 2004, the time of retirement, Milwaukee has become a failing school system mired in mediocrity. The story of a young boy who had the opportunity to go to school in a fine school system becomes a teacher in the system and sees the changes that take place first hand. The system that had been outstanding was being attacked on all sides for its failures. This all takes place in one lifetime one career. How bad has it become? After reading these five decades of stories and events you decide!

This history of one of the most contentious educational issues in America examines bilingual instruction in the United States from the common school era to the recent federal involvement in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing from school reports, student narratives, legal resources, policy documents, and other primary sources, the work teases out the underlying agendas and patterns in bilingual schooling during much of America s history. The study demonstrates clearly how the broader context - the cultural, intellectual, religious, demographic, economic, and political forces - shaped the contours of dual-language instruction in America between the 1840s and 1960s. Ramsey s work fills a crucial void in the educational literature and addresses not only historians, linguists, and bilingual scholars, but also policymakers and practitioners in the field.