Recently concluded conference entitled Opportunities Beyond Obstacles, which

addressed educational disparities in Madison School District, was an applauded effort by

Consortium for the Educational Development of Economically Disadvantaged Students
(CEDEDS).

It brought in an eclectic group of people, ranging from city leaders, school teachers and
officials of Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) to community service
providers and parents.
While talking about the effectiveness of this conference, it was not an event but the
beginning of a process, informed Dr. Floyd Rose, the President of CEDEDS, in a postconference email interaction.
The process signifies closing equity gap.
And resonating with the idea, the conference kicked off with a presentation entitled City
of Madison Budget Initiatives to Close Equity Gap by Honorable Paul Soglin, Mayor of
City of Madison.
In order to tackle the problems of equity gap city council has developed a
interdisciplinary research team that comprises of city employees from various
departments: police, fire, bus drivers, housing inspectors, librarians, public health nurses,
IT specialists and etc. Their duty is while maintaining the traditional position of their
department, serving a community of a specific geographical region as a resource team.
In addition to continuing investment programs like apprenticeships and consortium
employment program, Madison Out-of-School Time (MOST) initiative, emerging
opportunity program, etc. there has been a new inclusion called Racial Equity and Social
Justice Initiative, a-little-over-a-year-old program to handle this social quandary.
All these programs are two-generational approach. It must engage adults and kids, said
Soglin.
All these programs are based on five critical components that everyone needs to sustain:
housing, a combination of education and doctrine, transportation, quality child care, and
health care that includes mental health as well as challenges and subsidiaries.
Soglin emphasized on a holistic approach depicting all the community members as
community guards. In order to be successful in this endeavor he mentioned some of the
projects: community gardens program management, fresh food development projects,

more youth employment opportunities, affordable housing fund - $24 million over six
years to add hundred more units - , creation of Data Projects Coordinator position to track
progress on achieving objectives related to Racial Equity and Social Justice Initiative,
Wi-Fi on city buses to help the students save out-of-school time.
While Soglin portrayed a lot of promising initiatives to tackle equity gap, Dr. Jennifer
Cheatham, the Superintendent of Schools, MMSD pointed out the educational growth
that had already occurred in the session of 2013-14.
They are our children and the future, commented Dr. Cheatham about minority children
and children with disabilities.
She highlighted the role of school teachers and officials of MMSD in curing this
problem.
Who better than us to address this challenge, mentioned Dr. Cheatham.
She believes every student of each school should graduate from high school and get into
college.
Talking about institutional role of schools, she held MMSD responsible for not being able
to raise students achievement level and close gaps.
We have not made sufficient progress in raising students achievement and closing gaps
because we havent cultivated the culture of excellence and equity, underscored Dr.
Cheatham.

Dr. Jennifer Cheatham addressing the audience at CEDEDS conference

By excellence she meant to hold high expectation from students irrespective of any
circumstances. To help the students meet this expectation and to perpetuate the culture of
excellence and equity, she mentioned the teachers had obligation to challenge the point of
view that prevented to do so.
She clarified her take on common parlance parents dont value education. Its not the
parents but the culture within them, she said.
That said, she produced a result showing the improvement made by students groups
under her leadership.

From Annual Report, 2013-2014 on the MMSD Strategic Framework

Though these results reflect definite education growth, we need to step up and create
school-based support for African American and Latino students, she said.

This conference was a platform that allowed people across the spectrum of MMSD
fraternity to have an idea of how the city leaders were planning to tackle this cultural
jinx.
Asked about any similar initiative in future by CEDEDS, Dr Rose said, There is much
more to come.