Although Madison Prep was voted down by the School Board in December and missing from the board’s agenda in early February, a number of energetic supporters means the controversial charter school is still in the spotlight.

The Madison Prep educational model planned to educate 120 sixth grade students—60 boys and girls—in single-sex classes over the first year. In an effort to close the achievement gap between African American and Hispanic and white students, the school would primarily have served minority and low income students.

Over the next three days, middle school students from across the city will face off in an educational battle, testing their literary knowledge against their peers.

Cherokee Heights Librarian Laura Holt said that the students have been preparing for the competition since mid-November, reading from a suggested list of books, including titles by Roald Dahl, Phillip Pullman, Mark Twain, and Jon Krakauer.

Students competing in this week’s events have already won their school-level Battles. Battle of the Books champions will be awarded with a medal and a traveling trophy.   

The competition challenges students to read carefully, learn about literature, and explore genres they might not try on their own. Teams of readers will be put to the test as they work to answer trivia questions about the books’ content.

The Madison Metropolitan School District will hold information sessions for Dual Language Immersion programs for the 2012-13 school year, with the first community-wide information session this Sunday, Feb. 19 at 3:30 p.m. at Centro Hispano.

DLI programs offer academic instruction in both Spanish and English with a goal of full academic and cultural literacy in both languages for every student.

Community-Wide Info Sessions: