Five Schools Receive State Recognition

(September 2, 2008)  The West Allis - West Milwaukee School District has once again gained recognition from the State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for having numerous schools on the “Wisconsin Promise Schools of Recognition” list.  For 2008-2009, the Wisconsin State DPI has recognized five of our “qualifying” schools. These schools include Franklin, Lincoln, Pershing, West Milwaukee and Wilson, as “Wisconsin Promise Schools of Recognition.”  Lincoln, Pershing, and West Milwaukee have each qualified the past three years, while Franklin and Wilson have been recognized the past two years.  With five schools on this list, the WAWM School District has had at least 29 percent of their schools recognized as promise schools the past two years.

 In order for schools to qualify for this list, they must be eligible to receive Title I funding and be among the highest poverty schools in the state, based on free and reduced-price school lunch data.  Additionally, student achievement on statewide reading and mathematics assessments must outperform the state average for schools with similar poverty rates and grade configurations.  Finally, the school must have made adequate yearly progress for the past two years as defined under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act.

West Allis-West Milwaukee Schools ranks first among the 20 largest school districts in the State with 29 percent of its schools receiving recognition followed by Fond du Lac with 23 percent, Oshkosh 16 percent, Appleton 14 percent, Sheboygan 13 percent, La Crosse 11 percent, Eau Claire 9 percent, Beloit and Green Bay 6 percent, and Milwaukee Public Schools 4 percent.

In the metro area schools receiving recognition, West Allis-West Milwaukee Schools also topped the list at 29 percent followed by Cudahy with 14 percent and Milwaukee Public Schools with 4 percent.

Congratulations to staff members at our five qualifying schools and to the entire staff in the West Allis - West Milwaukee School District for working hard and continuing to put children first.