Just half of public school students grades three through eight are testing proficient or better in English and math. The results of the Third Annual Forward Exam were released Monday.

They show that benchmarks haven’t been met in the previous two years, either.

Achievement gaps also persist. More than 40 points separate white and black students in many categories. Some 455,000 students across Wisconsin took the exam between mid-March and early May.

A merger of the UW-Systems two and four year campuses is bringing new names to the colleges.

Eleven of the two year campuses are taking the names of their sponsoring University.

The former UW-Marathon County is now University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Wausau. And the former UW-Marshfield/Wood County is now University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Marshfield. New signage, reflecting the purple and gold school colors, will be in place in September.

Other name changes came in Waukesha, Rice Lake, Sheboygan, Marinette, Manitowoc and Richland.

The campus merger program was approved last year, and UW officials say the change allows for better access to classes and education, and hopefully attracts more students to the University system.

WSAU

A committee of faculty, students, and staff at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point has submitted a document with several ideas to help save some or all of the 13 programs that were proposed to be cut as part of a curriculum re-structuring proposal released in March.

Mick Veum, a professor of Physics at the University and co-chair of the program and/or units discountenance consultative committee, says the document contained several ideas that they would like to see those in power consider before making a final decision. “We’ve looked at a variety of options in terms of re-structuring, one of which is looking at a clustering model for curriculum.”

For example, instead of eliminating the German major altogether the committee would like to see remain in a scaled-back form as part of a language studies major. Veum says that would maintain the identity of the department while bringing students who are studying under similar majors together in a “home base” type atmosphere at the University.

He says the major theme of the proposal is doing more with less. “If we have to be smaller, how do we still provide the opportunities and the education that we have been able to in the past when we have been a bigger University with more personnel?”

Veum says he has taken the cause to heart because he wants what’s best for the students, both currently enrolled and those who will be enrolled in the future. “I’m not in a position to guarantee that student’s don’t have to be afraid of this. My concern that we are going to lose [some programs] is what’s motivating me as a faculty member to be involved in this committee.”

Ultimately Veum says he would like to hear from the Chancellors, Provosts, and Vice-Chancellors which ideas are viable and why. The committee says they would like to hear that feedback by August 22^nd. Veum says just because they have put these new ideas out there doesn’t mean that they will stick. It’s still possible that some or all of the 13 programs could be cut.

WSAU