Volume 2, No.1

Broken Records, Broken Spirits

A Parent’s View of Assertive Discipline

By Paul Bietila and Sue Bietila

After moving to Milwaukee during the summer of 1986, we enrolled our two sons in the city’s public schools, where we soon had our first exposure to Assertive Discipline. Assertive […]

An Unsettling Settlement

After eleven weeks of painstaking testimony the settlement of Milwaukee’s metropolitan desegregation suit is anticlimactic. Expert witnesses documented the conscious and insidious forms of discrimination practiced by federal, state, and […]

Questionable and Coming Soon

Across the Board Tests

Increasingly the Milwaukee Public Schools have come under pressure to develop a more rigorous curriculum and to be more accountable for the achievement levels of students. We believe these ideals […]

School Discipline: Let’s Start Asking the Right Questions

In opinion polls parents often say that their greatest single concern about public schools is “lack of discipline.” So it is with pleasure that we are able to offer our […]

Getting Off to a Good Start

Teaching Ideas to Begin the Year

As another school year begins, teachers once more confront the problem of establishing a productive and creative classroom environment. Rethinking Schools has solicited from classroom teachers and educators some hints […]

Democratic Discipline The Class Council

By ​Ken Wald and Carol Hicks

It’s easy for us as teachers in the elementary school to say to our students, “You need to cooperate. You need to be responsible. You need to accomplish that yourself!” […]

Reactions to the Desegregation Settlement

Mary Bills The lawsuit- the Milwaukee Public Schools filed against the suburbs and the state was to prevent Milwaukee from becoming like Detroit, Chicago or St. Louis. The settlement makes […]

“The Best Teacher I’ve Ever Had”

by Patrick Esty Ms. Johnson was the name, or at least that’s what I think it was. It was such a long time ago—fourth grade, I think—but I still remember […]