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After years of slow erosion of funding and enrollment, higher education in Wisconsin faces a flash flood. Financial challenges had been accumulating for the state's public colleges and universities, brought on by a tuition freeze, stagnant state funding, and demographic trends. Now COVID-19 threatens to wash away key pieces of a system that will be needed in the rebuilding years to come. Higher education has been critical to the state's success and that may be true now more than ever. In light of the growing challenges facing the state's flagship university and other institutions -- and the tremendous stakes involved -- the Wisconsin Policy Forum has undertaken a comprehensive review of the state's public colleges and universities. Commissioned by Badgers United, this report reviews the history of higher education in Wisconsin, its outcomes compared to other states, the limits on revenues such as in-state tuition, its recent enrollment declines, and the system's highly centralized governance and structure. In many respects, Wisconsin stands out for its unusual policies compared with those of other states -- differences that may be especially relevant given the strain brought on by the coronavirus. Though the authors do not advocate for specific solutions, it is hoped the impartial insights and discussion of the potential policy options will help guide the state's leaders as they seek to chart a sustainable course for Wisconsin's colleges and universities in the months and years to come. [Cover Title: "Falling Behind? The State of Wisconsin's Public Universities and Colleges." This report was funded by Badgers United. For the executive summary, see ED612823.]

Through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program, the federal government charged community colleges across the country with two things: training adults who had lost their jobs so they could regain employment and providing the education needed for those still working to be able to move up career ladders. Now, as health and economic concerns rise in this time of COVID-19, disproportionately impacting racially minoritized populations, low-income groups, and women, we need to understand how the TAACCCT investment worked and how it could inform future policy and practice.

Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013. The new standards set off a chain reaction of standards adoption and implementation across states, districts, and schools, including steps taken toward transforming science professional learning, instruction, curriculum, and assessment. It was in this dynamic context that Empirical Education conducted an impact evaluation, as part of an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, of WestEd's Making Sense of SCIENCE project, a teacher professional learning model aimed at raising students' science achievement through improving science instruction. Under this grant, WestEd and Empirical Education also partnered with Heller Research Associates (HRA) to conduct an implementation study and a scale-up study of Making Sense of SCIENCE. The impact evaluation, which is the focus of this report, was a two-year cluster-randomized control trial (RCT) that took place in California and Wisconsin across seven school districts and 66 elementary schools in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. The study randomized schools to either receive the Making Sense of SCIENCE professional learning or to the business-as-usual ("control") group, which received the professional learning (delayed-treatment) after the study ended. The study found that Making Sense of SCIENCE had a positive impact on teacher content knowledge (effect size = 0.56, p = 0.006) and a positive impact on a holistic scale of teacher pedagogical content knowledge (effect size = 0.41, p = 0.026). The study also yielded positive and significant impacts on the amount of time teachers spent on science instruction (effect size = 0.40, p = 0.015) and on the emphasis that teachers placed on NGSS-aligned instructional practices, with statistically significant effect sizes ranging from 0.40 to 0.49. This suggestive evidence that Making Sense of SCIENCE changes classroom science learning experiences in ways that align with expectations in NGSS, which is a hypothesized precursor to measuring impacts on student achievement, deserves notice. In regard to student science achievement, the study did not find statistically significant results for the full sample of students (effect size = 0.06, p = 0.494), or for the sample of students in the bottom third of incoming math and English Language Arts achievement, with effect sizes of 0.22 (p = 0.099) and 0.073 (p = 0.567), respectively. Notably, with the exception of one negative effect size, additional analyses on student achievement using different measures and samples yielded positive, but not statistically significant, effect sizes ranging from 0.02 to 0.12. Evaluators offer three potential contributors to the findings of limited impact on student science achievement. First, given the timing of the study in relation to the release of the NGSS in 2013, finding a suitable NGSS-aligned student science assessment was a challenge. Second, most study schools and districts had not yet adopted NGSS-aligned curricula and did not have access to NGSS-aligned curriculum resources. Third, the sample of teachers was unstable across the two years, with the percentage of teachers leaving the school congruous to the percentage observed at the national level. [For the appendices, see ED609254; for the research summary, see ED609256.]

States are grappling with policy strategies to determine attendance in the era of COVID-19 school closures and remote learning. Allowing districts and schools to develop an attendance policy using a combination of options to determine attendance can offer maximum flexibility. These options include, but are not limited to: (1) time on task (task can include engagement); (2) participation, evidence of student work; and (3) competency-based attainment with demonstrations of building skills, competencies, and knowledge. This issue brief contains examples of state policy examples for creating attendance policies for learning remotely, including competency-based attainment.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a signature federal program that in FY2019 provided financial assistance to 35 million low-income Americans. SNAP is a focused program that increases food access, reduces hunger, and improves the nutrition and health of low-income American families. It is in the interest of the nation and individuals that SNAP recipients be equipped with evidence-based information to guide the selection of healthy food purchases with their SNAP benefits and to engage in food preparation practices and behaviors that lead to improved health and quality of life outcomes. The provision of this information is accomplished through a formal SNAP-Education (SNAP-Ed) program. The United States' unique system of land-grant universities plays a central role in the delivery of SNAP-Ed across the nation. Land-grant universities (LGUs) are the home to Cooperative Extension, a long-standing outreach system that delivers educational content and best-practice knowledge to individuals and families at a local level. The report are the results of a detailed survey administered to the LGUs engaged in SNAP-Ed. The Community Nutrition Education (CNE) Logic Model was used as the foundation for collecting data for this report, similar to the previous reports generated for the LGU System. The goal of the FY2019 report is to provide a national "snapshot" of SNAP-Ed programs implemented through the LGU system. [The report was prepared by TEConomy Partners, LLC. It was prepared at the request of Cooperative Extension Service Directors/Administrators through the National Land-Grant University SNAP-Ed Assessment. Cover title varies: "SNAP-Ed FY2019: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education through the Land-Grant University System. A Retrospective Review of Land-Grant University SNAP-Ed Programs and Impacts."]

State and school district leaders in Wisconsin are interested in improving education outcomes among Black students across the state. To achieve this goal, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction encourages schools to implement culturally responsive practices, which prior research suggests are related to improvements in outcomes among racial/ethnic minority students, and supports a professional development program on those practices called Building Culturally Responsive Systems. The department and other stakeholders in Wisconsin have asked for more comprehensive information about schools' participation in the program. Using data from the 2012/13-2018/19 school years, this study examined the percentage of schools statewide that participated in the program, differences in the characteristics of schools that participated in the program and of schools that did not participate, implementation of culturally responsive practices among schools that participated in the program and schools that did not participate, and the relationship between participation and school-level academic and behavior outcomes. The study found that 4 percent of schools across the state participated in the program (meaning that teachers and administrators from the school attended at least one of the program's five sessions). Schools that participated in the program had a larger average enrollment, were more likely to be eligible for Title I funds, and were more often located in cities and suburbs compared with schools that did not participate, but there was no meaningful difference between the two school groups in the percentage of Black students (the difference was less than 5 percentage points). About 17 percent of schools that participated in the program reported implementing culturally responsive practices in reading instruction compared with 28 percent of schools that did not participate. Program participation was not meaningfully related to a school's "closing gaps scores" for English language arts or math, attendance rate, suspension rate, or expulsion rate one year, two years, or three years later, after school characteristics and pre-program academic and behavior measures were accounted for. The small number of schools that reported implementing culturally responsive practices might be a factor in this result. [For the Study Snapshot, see ED614051. For the Study Brief, see ED614052. For the appendixes, see ED614053.]

The "Participation in a Professional Development Program on Culturally Responsive Practices in Wisconsin" study examined the education outcomes among Black students across Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction encourages schools to implement culturally responsive practices, which prior research suggests are related to improvements in outcomes among racial/ethnic minority students, and supports a professional development program on those practices called Building Culturally Responsive Systems. Using data from the 2012/13-2018/19 school years, this study examined the percentage of schools statewide that participated in the program, differences in the characteristics of schools that participated in the program and of schools that did not participate, implementation of culturally responsive practices among schools that participated in the program and schools that did not participate, and the relationship between participation and school-level academic and behavior outcomes. The study found that 4 percent of schools across the state participated in the program (meaning that teachers and administrators from the school attended at least one of the program's five sessions). This document presents the following three appendixes that accompany the study: (1) Overview of the Building Culturally Responsive Systems professional development program on culturally responsive practices; (2) Methods; and (3) Supplemental analyses. [For the full report, see ED614050. For the Study Snapshot, see ED614051. For the Study Brief, see ED614052.]

State and school district leaders in Wisconsin are interested in improving education outcomes among Black students across the state. To achieve this goal, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction encourages schools to implement culturally responsive practices, which prior research suggests are related to improvements in outcomes among racial/ethnic minority students, and supports a professional development program on those practices called Building Culturally Responsive Systems. The department and other stakeholders in Wisconsin have asked for more comprehensive information about schools' participation in the program. Using data from the 2012/13-2018/19 school years, this study examined the percentage of schools statewide that participated in the program, differences in the characteristics of schools that participated in the program and of schools that did not participate, implementation of culturally responsive practices among schools that participated in the program and schools that did not participate, and the relationship between participation and school-level academic and behavior outcomes. The study found that 4 percent of schools across the state participated in the program (meaning that teachers and administrators from the school attended at least one of the program's five sessions). Schools that participated in the program had a larger average enrollment, were more likely to be eligible for Title I funds, and were more often located in cities and suburbs compared with schools that did not participate, but there was no meaningful difference between the two school groups in the percentage of Black students (the difference was less than 5 percentage points). About 17 percent of schools that participated in the program reported implementing culturally responsive practices in reading instruction compared with 28 percent of schools that did not participate. Program participation was not meaningfully related to a school's "closing gaps scores" for English language arts or math, attendance rate, suspension rate, or expulsion rate one year, two years, or three years later, after school characteristics and pre-program academic and behavior measures were accounted for. The small number of schools that reported implementing culturally responsive practices might be a factor in this result. [For the full report, see ED614050. For the Study Snapshot, see ED614051. For the appendixes, see ED614053.]

In August, the Manhattan Institute (MI) contracted with Rasmussen Reports to survey public opinion in five states about school choice policies generally, as well as charter schools specifically. Working with MI, Rasmussen crafted nine questions that were added to the organization's regular polling of likely voters for presidential and senatorial races in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This paper will discuss five key questions from those surveys and place the results in the context of what the authors know about charter schools and choice in these states and nationwide.

Internships are widely promoted extra-curricular experiences that can have positive impacts on student outcomes, yet how specific elements of internships contribute to these outcomes and facilitate learning is understudied. In this sequential mixed-methods study, we use sociocultural learning theory to interpret data from surveys (n = 435) and focus groups (n = 52) with students at five postsecondary institutions. After stepwise linear regression analyses indicated that supervisor behaviors were significantly associated with intern satisfaction and career development, analyses of qualitative data revealed features of positive (clear communication, availability, feedback) and negative (unavailability, inattention to learning) aspects of supervision. These results highlight the value of legitimate peripheral participation in internships, and the need for colleges and employers to carefully design and monitor these pedagogic spaces.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on many facets of students' successful transitions from secondary into postsecondary education, particularly for students who depend on in-person delivery of content and experience. For many young people, paid work-based learning has historically provided a needed source of income, and its importance has grown as youths and their families have been affected by the unemployment crisis. Moreover, the nature of work itself is changing, and policymakers must ensure that young people have meaningful and equitable access to learning about the world of work. This Policy Brief explores the structural challenges -- both new and old -- that prevent high school students from accessing quality work-based learning and transitioning to postsecondary education and on to the workforce. Drawing on evidence-based approaches and lessons from the field, it presents a set of state policy considerations to expand access to work-based learning experiences. This Policy Brief is one of six dedicated to various facets of the transition from secondary to postsecondary education, now complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on the populations already underserved in the nation's education system. The series -- which builds upon "A State Policymaker's Guide to Equitable Transitions in the COVID-19 Era" (see ED606369) -- provides actionable steps and examples for state policymakers to consider as they address the transition from high school to college and the workforce.

Hiring and retaining teachers of color is one approach that policymakers can use to support improved academic achievement and opportunities for racially and ethnically diverse students. National data show that while the student population is becoming more diverse, the teacher workforce remains largely white and female. While teachers from all races can inspire student success, research suggests that a more diverse teacher workforce could improve student academic, behavioral, social and emotional outcomes -- particularly for students of color. State policymakers are taking various approaches to building a diverse teacher workforce and ensuring all students reap the myriad benefits of teacher diversity in the classroom. This Policy Brief provides a summary of key research on the benefits of expanding the racial/ethnic diversity of teachers in K-12 classrooms. It also features examples of state-level action intended to advance diversity and ultimately improve students' academic experiences.

Last spring, the Covid-19 pandemic upended routines for over 56 million students and challenged more than 3.7 million teachers in over 130,000 schools nationwide to continue educating kids in an online format. This transition to "virtual learning" was understandably trying for all educators, schools, and districts, but some managed to do far better than others. Authored by Gregg Vanourek, this report summarizes key actions taken by leading charter school networks that were able to transition quickly and effectively to remote learning: (1) Achievement First; (2) Denver Schools of Science and Technology; (3) IDEA Public Schools; (4) KIPP DC; (5) Noble Network of Charter Schools; (6) Rocketship Public Schools; (7) Success Academy; and (8) Uncommon Schools. How did they manage the transition from in-person instruction to remote learning? What enabled them to respond as they did? What worked well, and what didn't? Drawing on interviews with school leaders, educators, and parents, this report distills major lessons learned and offers concrete recommendations for how to significantly improve the remote learning experience for all students, teachers, and families in the critical months and year ahead. Among them: (1) Create and enforce a typical school day for students, with a mix of live and recorded lessons and independent student work; (2) Prioritize student health and wellbeing and reach out to individual students and families on a regular basis; and (3) Lean into a team approach to teaching and instruction, centered around a common curriculum. As we enter a new school year, other charter, private, and traditional public school leaders and educators could and should follow the lead of these charter networks in the critical months ahead. We have no choice but to get better, faster, and fairer at remote learning for the sake of the "Covid Generation." [Foreword by Michael J. Petrilli.]

This document was created in response to a request from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to the Wisconsin Minnesota Comprehensive Center (WMCC) Region 10 to provide information on high-quality, qualitative studies about explicit, systematic phonics instruction in grades K-2. It is meant for internal use by the Department of Public Instruction to inform professional development provided to Wisconsin districts, schools, and appropriate stakeholders. The review, with the exception of one research brief from the International Literacy Association, utilizes only material from peer-reviewed journals. Using peer-reviewed articles helps ensure that the articles use rigorous methodology, answer meaningful research questions, and draw valid conclusions. Sources and databases used include Google Scholar; ERIC; "Journal of Early Childhood Literacy;" "Journal of Literacy Research;" "Language Arts;" and the International Literacy Association. [For a supplement to this review, see ED612072.]

This document was created in response to a request from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to the Wisconsin Minnesota Comprehensive Center (WMCC) Region 10 to provide information on high-quality, qualitative studies about K-2 explicit, systematic phonics instruction. This document is intended to supplement the review document: "Explicit, Systematic Phonics Instruction." This document contains additional resources and theories that may be useful in creating a comprehensive K-2 reading program. It is meant for internal use by the Department of Public Instruction to inform professional development provided to Wisconsin districts, schools and appropriate stakeholders. [For the original review, see ED612073.]

Reading Apprenticeship is a research-based professional learning model and instructional framework designed by the Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) at WestEd to improve student literacy and learning. Based on understandings of the close relationship between curricular reform and professional development (Heller & Greenleaf, 2007), Reading Apprenticeship components include an instructional framework and associated professional development model for secondary and post-secondary teachers across the academic subject areas. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Education awarded SLI a Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant to disseminate the Reading Apprenticeship approach to literacy instruction across the subject areas in middle and high schools. The funded project, called Reading Apprenticeship Across the Disciplines (RAAD), was awarded in October 2015 and concluded in October 2019. Through RAAD, SLI served middle and high school teachers in 6 states (California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin). Three key goals shaped the RAAD project: (1) Increase the number of highly effective secondary teachers serving high needs students by providing Reading Apprenticeship professional learning; (2) Improve high needs students' reading comprehension, academic achievement, metacognitive skills, and positive learning dispositions by increasing opportunities to learn; and (3) Build local capacity for strong and sustained implementation and dissemination of effective academic literacy practices through teacher leader development, school, and regional network support. An independent impact study was conducted by IMPAQ International with 7% of participating sites to address project Goals 1 and 2. This report focuses on formative assessment of project activities that address SLI's capacity to accomplish project Goals 1 and 3. [For the impact study, "Evaluation of Reading Apprenticeship across the Disciplines (RAAD): Effective Secondary Teaching and Learning through Literacy Leadership," see ED622055.]

As part of our research on the community college baccalaureate (CCB), we studied the prospects of adopting and scaling CCB degrees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Higher education leaders in these six Great Lakes states recognized the potential for CCB degrees to increase academic, geographic and financial access to higher education but concerns about mission creep, program duplication, and competition with universities within their states were on their minds. All leaders thought a more in-depth approach to analyzing labor force demand for CCB degree graduates would be helpful. In response, we used federal and state datasets to estimate job vacancies and annual degree conferral and found openings in business, software development, early childhood education, and registered nursing that may hold promise for CCB degrees in one or more Great Lakes states. [For Data Note 8, see ED608176.]

By coupling statewide vacancy/application records with administrative data, we find that activity on the teacher labor market is substantially greater than previously documented, with 53% of novice teachers searching for new positions after their first year and 27% changing schools or leaving the public system. The empirical evidence favors preference alignment theory, showing that first-year teachers are more likely to reenter the labor market after their first year when their preferences and their current employment context diverge. This finding is particularly true for the individuals with a preference for a suburban locale and for school and student characteristics, such as the proportion of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Once an individual has initiated a job search, preference alignment appears to be unrelated to subsequent mobility. The findings suggest that processes that can facilitate a stronger initial match of novice teachers to their desired employment situations may help mitigate turnover in the following year.

The 2015 reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) placed a state-level 1.0% threshold on student participation in the alternate assessment based on alternate academic achievement standard (AA-AAAS). ESSA also stipulated that state education agencies (SEAs) may not impose on any local educational agency (LEA) a cap on the percentage of students administered an alternate assessment. Nevertheless, LEAs are required to submit information to the SEA justifying the need to exceed 1.0% and SEAs must provide appropriate oversight of these districts. The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO), at the request of states, initiated a 1% Cap Community of Practice (CoP) as a private forum for regular videoconferences. A password-protected website was established by NCEO so that the 1% CoP states could learn how other states were approaching implementation of the ESSA 1.0% requirements, including oversight of LEAs, and to share resources and information with and among states that would further the purpose of the ESSA legislation in this regard. The purpose of this report is to highlight the work of states in the 1% CoP that have successfully reduced their alternate assessment participation rates of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. It identifies the strategies, challenges, resources, and plans for the future of five states that volunteered to share these with the CoP in an effort to provide a collective base of knowledge about "what works" to reduce alternate assessment participation and improve appropriate assessment participation decision making for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. [This report was written with contributions from: Robin Stripling, Tabitha Riendeau, Dan Wiener, Deb Hand, John Jaquith, Marcia O'Brien, Antoinette Dorsett, Sharon Heater, and Iris Jacobson. It was prepared in collaboration with the National Center on Educational Outcomes's (NCEO's) 1.0% Community of Practice (CoP).]

This brief is one in a five-part series in which the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) documents insights from their efforts to understand how educators and researchers can build relationships that support a shared action research agenda around social and emotional learning (SEL). CASEL has developed three theories of action, guided by four focus areas that are scaled to their position within the system. Each theory of action provides a roadmap to systemic SEL implementation. This Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) series inquiry seeks to demonstrate the emerging coherence of CASEL's theories of action across the tiers of our education system and provide insights into where additional action and support are needed to foster equitable learning and development for children from diverse backgrounds. Specifically, they want to understand how actions within CASEL's State Theory of Action influence district and school actions. When states engage in the activities within the State Theory of Action, the assumption is that states are creating the conditions for districts and schools to implement systemic SEL. To begin exploring those assumptions in this RPP, CASEL and Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI) co-constructed research questions to examine ways in which its resources, guidance, and professional learning promote systemic SEL. The insights presented here were co-constructed by CASEL with DPI staff. This RPP presents evidence supporting how a state education agency (SEA) can approach and lead SEL professional learning and the influence these sessions have on the perceptions and actions of district- and school-level educators that attended the professional learning.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the most difficult semester in generations on college campuses across the United States. With that semester now wrapping up, public colleges and universities are facing costs that already dwarf the $7.6 billion in federal stimulus funds that are on their way to these institutions. Absent dramatic new action from Congress, many of the public colleges that support social mobility will confront an existential threat. As dramatic as colleges' losses already are, a much bigger threat is in the offing: the potential for multiple years of severe state budget cuts. Forty-six states and Washington, D.C., have constitutional or statutory requirements to balance their budgets. States are already reporting record deficits in revenue during the pandemic as lost wages, low sales, and people staying home translate into less tax revenue. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that states will face a $765 billion shortfall over the next three years. Therefore, Congress must act now to protect higher education by distributing the necessary additional funds for public colleges and universities. This includes investing at least $46 billion in states for higher education, including funding a strong a maintenance of effort (MOE) provision to ensure that state funding per student remains at levels comparable to before the pandemic, as well as requiring institutional reporting on factors such as enrollment and withdrawals by income and race to not deepen existing societal disparities.

Among the challenges confronting Wisconsin's K-12 education system are long-standing disparities in educational opportunity and achievement on the basis of race. Racial and ethnic achievement gaps also largely correlate with related socioeconomic differences within students' communities in terms of income, poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment. While students of color have been rising as a share of Wisconsin's K-12 student population, the state's teacher workforce has remained overwhelmingly white. This is the first in a series of Wisconsin Policy Forum reports aimed at informing policy discussions about how to address this imbalance. The report analyzes available public data both to outline the magnitude of Wisconsin's teacher-student race gap over time and to illustrate some of the educational attainment trends that contribute to it. It begins with a brief overview of the Wisconsin context for this issue as well as national research on the connection between teacher diversity and student outcomes. The report then draws on several public data sources to: (1) describe Wisconsin's teacher-student race and ethnicity gaps in terms of their magnitude, how they have changed over time, how they differ by race, and how they vary by geography; and (2) explore high-level potential causes and conditions of such gaps through analysis of trends by race and ethnicity at selected stages of the teacher pipeline, from high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment, to participation in educator preparation programs. Finally, the authors reflect on these trends to illustrate how they affect the nature of the teacher-student race disparities seen today. [For the executive summary, see ED612774.]

This is the executive summary for the report, "A Teacher Who Looks Like Me: Examining Racial Diversity in Wisconsin's Teacher Workforce and the Student-to-Teacher Pipeline." Among the most urgent challenges confronting Wisconsin's K-12 education system are long-standing disparities in educational opportunity and achievement on the basis of race. Significant achievement gaps persist between white students and several groups of students of color, but disparities between Black and white students are especially stark. National data expose Wisconsin's math and reading disparities between Black and white students as among the widest in the country. Proficiency gaps between Black and white third graders over the past four years on the Wisconsin Forward Exam exceeded 34 percentage points, with fewer than 15% of Black third graders able to read proficiently. These disparities limit equitable access to educational, employment, and other opportunities. Consequently, they carry profound implications for racial equity and inclusion as well the overall economy and quality of life across the state. [For the full report, see ED612773.]

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced school districts and state education agencies (SEAs) across the country to pivot abruptly to universal K12 remote learning. In Wisconsin, Emergency Order #1 required all public and private schools in the state to close as of March 18th, 2020 and remain closed through the end of the school year. The effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 while also maintaining continuity of learning for students meant districts and schools had to quickly, in the span of 8-10 days, develop and implement remote learning plans. The purpose of this initial scan was to take a systematic snapshot of the development of remote learning plans in school districts in Wisconsin during the Spring of 2020. The primary intent is to identify promising practices that emerged within the context of COVID-19 to share these practices with school districts (LEAs) and to inform how the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) might target assistance and resources moving forward. An additional purpose of this scan was to recognize promising practices that ensure equitable and high-quality learning opportunities for students in future remote learning circumstances. The scan is not intended to be used to identify and call out specific districts, but instead as a formative learning tool to improve plans and SEA support structures.

Recent work has broadened the scope of school effectiveness research to consider not only academic achievement but also other outcomes, especially college attendance. This literature has argued that high schools are an important determinant of college attendance, with some contending that high schools matter more for college attendance than for academic achievement. A separate branch of research has illustrated how place-based opportunities facilitate college attendance. We merge these two literatures by asking if schools' geographic context can explain apparent variation in effectiveness among Wisconsin high schools. We find that geographic context explains more than a quarter of the variance in traditional estimates of school effectiveness on college attendance, because factors like proximity to colleges are strongly associated with college attendance. Accounting for geography is therefore important in order not to overstate high schools' role in higher education outcomes. Results are based on multilevel models applied to rich administrative data on every Wisconsin public high school entrant between 2006 and 2011. [This is the online version of an article published in "Research in Higher Education" May 2020.]

Strong and stable school leadership is critical for success in schools across the nation. The duties of the principal are many and varied. Principals, for example, can oversee instruction, purchase curricular materials and supplies, and provide professional learning and supports for teachers. Carrying out these duties effectively makes a difference for student achievement and graduation. Principal leadership also impacts teacher satisfaction and teacher turnover. Unfortunately, many schools do not have stable principal leadership. To better understand the phenomenon of principal turnover, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) and the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) collaborated on a study. The survey and focus groups asked principals about their intentions to stay in the principalship, as well as the extent to which they experience conditions that research has shown to be related to principal retention and turnover. This report discusses the following findings: (1) Survey and focus group responses reflected national concerns about principal turnover; (2) Working conditions and district supports related to working conditions emerged as major concerns; (3) Principals' compensation and financial obligations were related to their mobility plans; (4) High-stakes accountability systems and evaluation practices can discourage some principals from remaining in their school or position; (5) A lack of decision-making authority was a concern for some principals; and (6) Many principals reported facing obstacles to professional learning opportunities. [For the research brief, see ED606480.]

Social distancing and school closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic present extraordinary challenges for education. While the nation is just beginning to understand the impact of the last few months and what the months ahead will mean for students, families, and educators, the depth of students' connectedness to school and the quality of their relationships with adults and peers in school are critical to learning and thriving in life. State leaders can take action now and through the 2020-21 school year and legislative sessions to advance policy solutions that develop, maintain, and strengthen the crucial connections and relationships that are necessary for healing and learning. This document recommends 10 actions designed to help state education leaders maintain focus on fostering social and emotional development and school connectedness.

Although numerous studies confirm the importance of school principals, schools often experience high turnover rates and principal shortage. However, we know little about the staffing challenges in rural schools and what promotes applicants to apply for and be hired for principalship. In partnership with the Wisconsin Education Career Access Network, we examine the principal labor dynamics in rural schools using statewide job-openings and application information in Wisconsin. We find that all rural communities--"rural fringe," "rural distant," and "rural remote"--receive equal or high number of applications compared to urban districts. Female candidates are significantly less likely to apply to rural districts, while working in the same district is a considerable advantage to being hired. Among district characteristics, the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch tends to reduce the number of applicants in rural schools. Our results highlight the need for policies that are better attuned to the subtle differences in rural contexts.

High-stakes, standardized testing plays an important role in the lives of many students as they apply to college and compete for scholarships. In states where college readiness measures, like the ACT® test, are used for school and district accountability, the ACT scores of all students, whether college-bound or not, are a top priority for school administrators and teachers. To ensure all students meet the proficiency standards set by states for each subject, educators are employing a multifaceted approach to prepare students for taking the ACT test. In this paper, the authors report some of the strategies, practices, and perspectives educators shared with them. The shared experiences and perspectives may provide useful insight for other educators grappling with similar challenges across the country.

Bridge-to-college programs aim to help people complete high school and enroll in postsecondary education, two milestones that increase access to economic opportunity. These programs help students obtain their high school credentials while encouraging postsecondary transition and success. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) in Green Bay, Wisconsin, implemented a bridge-to-college program in 2015 to help more students earn their GED credentials and transition to postsecondary education. This GED Bridge program had three components that distinguished it from NWTC's traditional GED class, called GED Prep 2: (1) a NWTC-developed "contextualized" curriculum -- one that focused on original texts and materials related to specific careers (to build students' academic skills and raise their awareness of those careers) -- in contrast to GED Prep 2 classes that focused on GED test preparation materials; (2) individual support to help students plan their transition to postsecondary education, plus career exploration and transition planning in class; and (3) managed cohort enrollment, meaning that students started each class section together, in contrast to the open enrollment of the GED Prep 2 class where new students could enroll at any time. This report describes an evaluation of NWTC's GED Bridge program that included impact, implementation, and cost analyses. The impact analysis employed a random assignment design. Eligible applicants were randomly assigned to either the GED Bridge class or the GED Prep 2 class and followed for 18 months. The research team used administrative data to measure differences in class attendance and persistence, GED testing and completion, and enrollment in postsecondary education. This evaluation contributes to a small but growing body of research that suggests that bridge-to-college programs may be effective in improving both GED completion and postsecondary enrollment.

As additional states embark on the process of implementing four-year degrees at community colleges, they can learn from others' experience for help navigating the legislative, regulatory, and program approval processes. This brief uses examples from states currently offering bachelor's degrees at their community colleges to provide guidance for policymakers setting up these degree programs.

This study introduces a new approach to measure effectiveness of teacher preparation programs at U.S. universities (TPP) by examining to what extent TPPs produce employable teacher candidates. We use teacher application data in Wisconsin public schools from 2014-15 through 2016-17. We find that attending a specific university's TPP makes a difference for novice teacher applicants' job outcomes. However, the competitiveness of a TPP is inextricable from the geographic locale in which it operates. These findings call into question the validity of a contextual and absolute TPP rankings. Our results suggest that graduates of TPPs with strong school and community partnerships are more competitive in the local labor market.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies or standards derive from SEL frameworks. In this report, the terms "SEL competencies" and "standards" are used interchangeably to refer to statements about "what students should know and be able to do," recognizing that states may use different terms such as "competencies," "learning goals," or "benchmarks." In 2019, 14 separate sets of K-12 "learning standards" or "competencies" were analyzed for SEL that states have developed. This report updates that previous analysis to include four additional sets of learning standards (for a total of 18 states) and provides important updates about the original 14 states. The goal in this brief is to examine the specific SEL frameworks the states use and the competencies they have articulated based on these frameworks.