Drafts of Elementary Progress Reports Infuriate KEA Members

            The KEA has received copies of progress report drafts for grades 2, 4, and 5. Members involved with the progress report discussions raised concerns at the April 24 AR meeting, inciting a lengthy discussion on the topic. If members have progress report drafts for other grades, please send them in to the KEA office.
            Major changes to the progress reports have to do with their length, stretching onto three pages for some grade levels. The math section alone is a full page of the 4th grade progress report draft. Members raised concerns about skills assessed in certain quarters. Changes in the progress reports are following standards and benchmarks, which are significantly different than the middle and high school progress reports. Teachers also expressed concern about the ability or inability to use Zangle with the lengthy progress reports.
            It was hoped that after the common assessments were required without additional time to perform or grade them, that the District would include these factors in future endeavors. Currently there is no information available about additional time being allocated to elementary teachers to fill out the ever lengthening progress reports. While equity issues do surface with this discussion, KEA members are more focused on the value of this information to parents and how much time it will take to fill the new progress reports out. Some elementary teachers feel that they spend a large amount of parent conference time explaining how the progress reports work instead of discussing other topics related to student performance and how parents can help. Also, with prep time and after school time being eroded by SIT meetings, IEPs, and other meetings, the already few minutes have been stretched further by new mandates, such as common assessments, with no additional time. The progress report drafts have been identified by elementary teachers as another straw on their broken backs.
            Teachers do not really care if the progress reports are one item long or 1,000 items long. They are ready and eager to do them…if they are given the time to do so.

Help People Vote -- Become a Special Registrar

Special Registrars can register voters anywhere in the state of Wisconsin. Multiple sessions are being held:

Racine Session: Monday, May 19 -- Gateway Racine -- 2-4 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.

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If you are interested in being sworn in for this duty, send your registration request to Jane Witt, janewitt@tds.net. To register provide the following information:

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Transfers – Most Recent Openings List

Below is the latest list of open positions. Please review the list carefully. If you are aware of any corrections that should be made to the list, please contact me at 262-654-2127, ext. 17 or e-mail kiriakij@weac.org. Keep in mind, the list will continue to change as more people may decide to submit their request for voluntary transfer. We will provide updates for you as the updates become available.