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		Past Extra Credits April 29 All issues

In March, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction announced the New Wisconsin Promise Schools of Recognition for 2004. Schools that received this recognition are high poverty schools that have met state defined No Child Left Behind Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for the last two years and whose students have achieved above the state average in both reading and math. The following are excerpts from a recent WBAY-TV story highlighting the hard work and success of Lincoln Elementary— one of the schools that received this recognition:

"Mike Responda teaches fifth grade at Lincoln Elementary. He and the rest of the staff have worked hard the last three years to make sure no child is left behind. Mike says that's meant a total commitment from every teacher. 'Sometimes it's re-teaching, sometimes it's calls home,' he says, 'sometimes it's going to the houses, sometimes it's bringing people in at all hours.'"

"'It tells me that my teachers aren't afraid to redo a chapter of math if I get a bad math score,' says Lincoln student Adam Swanson. 'They'll go back and show me where I made my mistakes so I can fix it later.'

"Since the program was started at Lincoln, school test scores in reading and math have gone up, and student confidence has gone through the roof."

"While the staff at Lincoln is proud of the honor, it aims to do even better. ... 'Every single person would walk through fire to make sure these kids succeed,' [says] Responda.

"The kids say knowing that makes them want to try even harder."

The complete text of this story is available online at: http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=1823540&nav=51s7Mftz

More information on the New Wisconsin Promise Schools of Recognition is available at: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dltcl/eis/pdf/dpi2004_35.pdf.