Return to Report Contents Page
High
tech" means different things in different decades. When I was in high school, a
high-tech facility was one where students used calculators instead of slide
rules, notices were typed on an electric typewriter instead of a manual, and
the filmstrip projector actually worked during school assemblies.
Today's high schools, of course, are light years beyond, with computerized class scheduling, cordless microphones for student performances, and high-speed Internet access capability in libraries.
One Milwaukee high school will soon be raising the bar for what it means to be high tech, and UWM is pleased to be a partner in this effort.
On May 20, UWM formally entered into an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement to develop and operate the Lynde and Harry Bradley School of Technology and Trade. The goal of this public high school is to deliver state-of-the-art technical and trade training to high school students in Milwaukee. Participating with UWM in this innovative collaboration are the Milwaukee Public Schools and Milwaukee Area Technical College.
At the signing ceremony at the school, I found it exhilarating to be in the company of people from such a wide range of educational, corporate, civic, and community groups, including the teachers unions, the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and Mayor John Norquist.
After months of conversation, planning, and attention to detail, I believe that together we have forged one of the most unique educational partnership agreements in the country. This agreement is especially exciting for UWM, because it presents us with an opportunity to work collaboratively with MPS and MATC to meet Milwaukee's workforce needs. We have the capacity to inform teaching and learning in this state-of-the-art facility, and to work together in new and novel ways.
Under the agreement, an 11-member commission will be established to oversee the construction and operation of the school. The commission will consist of representatives of the three educational institutional parties to the new agreement, as well as business, labor, and community leaders.
Plans for creation of the school were unveiled last December at the Annual Meeting of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, which has spearheaded the effort to create a broad-based governance structure representing diverse community partners. At that time, a planned gift from Jane Bradley Pettit was announced as the cornerstone of private funding for approximately one-half of the projected $50 million school building initiative. It is predicted that construction on the building, which will be housed in the existing South Side location of Milwaukee Trade and Technical High School, will begin this fall.
At the request of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, UWM is taking the lead on the next phase of the collaboration by hosting a Curriculum Summit in late June or early July. At the summit, we will bring together those who have been involved since the early stages of curriculum design for the new school, as well as nationally recognized curriculum experts. All of these folks will have at it in UWM's Group Decision-Making Laboratory.
The Group Decision-Making Lab, housed in our School of Business Administration building, is a marvelous tool to aid groups in collaborative decision-making. The lab uses group decision-making software designed to help groups reach consensus more efficiently and effectively than they could in conventional meetings. This facility has the capability of taking a large number of individuals with diverse perspectives into a common setting to achieve common decisions on complex topics.
Rolling up their sleeves in the lab will be a variety of representatives from local organizations: MATC, Tech staff, appropriate representatives from MPS, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, UW-Stout, the Racine Public Schools, and other successful high school sites.
In addition, several school/college deans from UWM want to get their colleagues directly involved in further curriculum development. These include our Schools of Education, Library and Information Science, the Arts, Architecture and Urban Planning, and our Information and Media Technologies Division. Already, our College of Engineering and Applied Science has contributed to the curriculum planning efforts.
To enhance the efforts of our own fine team of curriculum planners, we are inviting nationally renowned educational, vocational, and technical experts from around the country. These include leaders of design teams from the most successful tech schools in the country, and the principal of one of the most innovative urban high schools in the nation. Also invited is a local university expert who leads national reform efforts in contextual teaching and learning, teacher professional development, and leadership training.
We are also in the early stages of planning a second summit this summer to engage people in decisions about other design elements of the new school. Whereas Summit I will focus on curriculum, Summit II will begin to orient the new commissioners to such critical issues as the physical aspects of the building, administrative and governance issues, business alliances, apprenticeship and internship opportunities, and systemic relationships that will build a diverse clientele for Milwaukee Tech.
As I have discussed in this column in previous months, one of the "First Idea" projects of The Milwaukee Idea is the Consortium for Economic Opportunity, which links university resources and expertise with community partners to improve economic conditions and opportunities in Milwaukee. Participating in the Tech high school coalition will help ensure the economic vitality of our city in the years ahead by providing a pool of qualified and skilled technical employees. With the talent and resources we have at UWM, I know we can contribute significantly to the success of this groundbreaking collaboration.