Teacher preparation programs are geared toward preparing educators for traditional school models, which is reasonable, given that traditional models make up the lion's share of schools, but this means that the pool of talent available to alternative models might be small or nonexistent. If nontraditional schools have to essentially create their…

In this article, the authors discuss how a system change framework was developed to change the way a school system worked for students. Decades of reports documented inequitable placement into and completion of remedial mathematics in the University of Wisconsin System (UW System). Incoming "undecided" students often enrolled in college…

Proteins are "magical" workers inside our body, as they accomplish most of the cellular functions. Here we report on a novel approach to teach protein folding and unfolding, using magnets and flexible 3D-printed protein structures. To illustrate this physical process, we used colored circular magnets designed for whiteboards, connected…

The primary purpose of this guidebook is to support a learning community that promotes the growth, quality, and sustainability of Community Schools across Wisconsin. This document provides an overview of Community School models and supports, including: a list of the current districts implementing Community Schools in Wisconsin; information on how…

The Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) has conducted a review of relevant literature on and existing efforts to promote youth participation in decision making, particularly in the context of education. The purpose of this review is to support capacity building efforts within the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WI DPI) and the…

With the increasing use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) nationally, several states have developed systems to recognize exemplar schools that are implementing PBIS with fidelity. These systems serve the dual purpose of identifying model PBIS schools for other schools to emulate while also reinforcing schools' effective PBIS…

Corequisite remediation involves placing students who have been designated as underprepared directly into college-level courses with concurrent supports--such as in-class tutoring, online learning labs, or a supplemental class--rather than making them take non-credit-bearing developmental courses first. There are multiple corequisite course…

The principalship is a challenging endeavor. Without question, principals need support. The idea of mentoring as a leadership capacity development strategy for school leaders is present in recent literature and has been utilized frequently as a serviceable tool throughout the past few decades. Mentoring models exist in many shapes and forms.…

Four-parameter models have received increasing psychometric attention in recent years, as a reduced upper asymptote for item characteristic curves can be appealing for measurement applications such as adaptive testing and person-fit assessment. However, applications can be challenging due to the large number of parameters in the model. In this…

Despite good intentions and efforts of individual educators and school systems across Wisconsin, broad K-12 achievement gaps exist. Indeed, the gaps between white students and students of color are among the worst in the nation; what's more, these gaps have persisted for over a decade (NAEP, 2015). Wisconsin's nearly 50,000 English Learners, over…

Collaboration among Tribes, state educational agencies (SEAs), and local educational agencies (LEAs) is essential for supporting Native students and their education. This infographic highlights the importance of Native education and provides resources, examples, and funding opportunities to enhance collaboration.

This qualitative case study examined the process Northcentral Technical College (NTC), a two-year institution, navigated to design and implement a standardized prior learning assessment (PLA) program. With the projected labor market shortage, PLA is one strategy colleges have been recommended to use to provide the opportunity for students to apply…

This article discusses a set of projects that build on the following concepts: the private sector has the ability to fund undergraduate research projects, the private sector is hungry for projects that focus on the scholarship of application and engagement, and students can be empowered beyond a particular research project in this funding model.…

While grassroots and student activism surrounding the first Earth Day in 1970 played a role in fostering environmental studies programs around the country, this dissertation narrates the untold story of other forces that served as crucial catalysts. Established conservation education models, the dynamics of college and university funding, and the…

Corequisite remediation involves placing students who have been designated as underprepared directly into college-level courses with concurrent supports--such as in-class tutoring, online learning labs, or a supplemental class--rather than making them take non-credit-bearing developmental courses first. Despite the growing number of studies on…