Why do we like this site?

Every month, there are a variety of things we look for in the Star School of the Month. We review each site for quality of content, test-to-graphics ratios, consistency of design, quality of design, browser-friendliness; the entire gamut of things to look for in a website. In past months, we've focused on simplistic sites, sites which reflect the diversity a truly world-wide World Wide Web site should possess, complicated sites full of bells and whistles and everything inbetween. This month, however, we choose the Cass Street School for two reasons: it its straightforward consistence in ease of use, and the incredibly high level of student-produced content.

When you load up the page, you're greeted with an easy-to-read style: black text on a white background. Notice that we use it a great deal here on CEARCH. That's because it is, quite simply, easiest to read that way. Along with a picture of the school and identification and mailto:' links for the Principal and Vice-Principal, giving the viewer an immediate way to get in touch with school administrators (making it a friendly site for parents, as well), you get the table which contains the list of topics covered in the site. Not only are there a wide variety of types of information accessible, links to all of them are right there, together, clearly labeled and quickly accessible.

Another nice point regarding the site is that information related to each of the topic areas listed on that main page is also on that main page. Each link in the table of contents goes to a section of that same page, from which there are other links to more specific information. What this means is that the user doesn't waste time waiting for more pages or images to come from the server. They get to their information, and go.

Best of all about this site, however, is the fact that nearly all information on it was written by the students. In the past we've commented in these reviews on how a site focused on showing student work, or focused on giving the viewer exposure to the students themselves via video, images, writing samples, etc. On this site, however, every discription of every class, every teacher, every program, is written by a student. The viewer doesn't just get to hear what's happening at the Cass Street School, they get to hear it from the people to whom it's happening. The creators of this site made no bones about their intention to make certain that the student body had a voice in the site which represents their educational institution and experience. That makes itself apparent from the first or second click around the place, and continues to do so continuously as one browses. That is a powerful statement about this school's commitment to children, and one more schools should consider attempting as well. While there are issues involved in posting student work, such as obtaining parental consent, student consent, etc., we feel that it's well worth the red tape involved to give students a voice such as that. And so, we award the School of the Month for June, 1998, to the Cass Street School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Who are the people behind this site?

The Cass Street School site is maintained by Alice Ring (ringak@mail.milwaukee.k12.wi.us) and Jerry Cigliana (cigliajd@mail.milwaukee.k12.wi.us). Their technology resources have been purchased through Title 1 funds, and they will in the future be, like almost all of us, writing grant requests for more resources. They also stated that the forward-minded administrators of their school have been of tremendous service.