Wisconsin
Federal
Districts Feel the Pain From Standoff Over COVID-19 Aid
More layoffs and damaging cuts loom as districts move deeper into the school year with their budgets depleting and Congress stalemated over emergency relief.
School & District Management
How Layoffs Upend Life for Educators, Students, and Districts
Pandemic-inflicted budget cuts have cost thousands of educators their jobs. Here’s how that’s playing out in five districts around the country.
School & District Management
Virtual Teaching: Skill of the Future? Or Not So Much?
Leaders in some districts say remote teaching will now be a skill they will build even more in their existing teacher corps. Others are more skeptical.
Federal
Joe Biden Backs Two Proposals to Increase Education Funding in 2020 Swing State
Biden's campaign announced March 31 that the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate backs two local attempts to raise more tax revenue for schools.
Special Education
Dyslexia Is Not a Bad Word, Advocates Say. Schools Should Use It
A push to get dyslexia defined in state law and persuade educators to use the term has translated to new laws in 40 states.
Equity & Diversity
Autistic School Board Member Pushes for Inclusion, Understanding
Schools are "still dealing with the belief that children [with disabilities] can't be educated with their peers," says Nicki Vander Meulen, an autistic school board member in Madison, Wis.
School & District Management
Why Don't Struggling K-12 Districts Just Dissolve?
Emotions remain raw as educators and residents in a rural Wisconsin district dig for solutions after being denied the option of dissolving.
States
Educational Opportunities and Performance in Wisconsin
This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.
School Climate & Safety
Briefly Stated
Briefly Stated: Stories You May Have Missed
A special state panel in Wisconsin has rejected a financially strapped district's request to dissolve.
Student Well-Being
Open Enrollment Has Drained One District. It's Looking to Dissolve
Wisconsin’s Palmyra-Eagle district has lost more than half its students in the last decade, sparking a fiscal crisis. A special board is deciding whether the district should be allowed to dissolve.
Equity & Diversity
Should Schools Have an N-Word Policy? Uproar Over Guard's Firing Forces Hard Questions
The firing of a black staff member for repeating the n-word while telling a black student not to use it underscores how uneasy many districts, schools, and educators are with handling the use of racist language in any context.
Science
Who's Doing the Teaching After School Lets Out?
Faced with a push for academic programming, after-school providers are deploying new strategies to train and recruit effective educators.
School Climate & Safety
In Battle Against Bullies, Some Schools Target Parents
Looking for new ways to combat kids who bully, some communities are threatening to fine parents with no evidence that the approach is effective.
School Choice & Charters
Wis. Gov. to Seek Caps on Vouchers, Charters in Proposed Budget
Gov. Tony Evers is one of several Democratic governors to come into office this year calling for a pause to school choice expansion.