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Get the latest news and research from Badger Institute
- Do Madison’s schools underperform Milwaukee’s? Let’s talk about it.
- Milwaukee-Racine-Kenosha rail idea back on radar, despite costs, existing options
- Three policy avenues to help public schools flourish
- Data center boom means good times for old-line manufacturing, 50 or 500 hires at a time
- Strong foundations, untapped potential: Wisconsin’s economy
- Want to help families, Wisconsin? Stop raising childcare costs
- Wisconsin’s childcare subsidies, regulations fail for families
- How a development tool can increase property taxes
Browsing: K-12 Education
As math proficiency continues to decline in Wisconsin schools, the Legislature is considering a plan to improve numeracy.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence after accusations of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers.
Vague Wisconsin laws have allowed teachers who are sexual predators to groom children without fearing either appropriately severe criminal penalties or sufficient scrutiny of their teaching licenses, according to testimony Thursday from law enforcement and education administrators.
A family’s huge bet on bettering the lives of thousands of Milwaukee children is moving a step closer to launch as St. Augustine Preparatory School starts taking names for its $104 million north campus in Glendale.
When asked about whether Evers would wave his hand to let Wisconsin taxpayers use a new federal tax credit for education-related donations, the governor slammed the door.
Gov. Tony Evers’ refusal to let Wisconsinites donate to public and private schools by using a federal tax credit is baffling.
Overwhelmingly popular new mandate spurs action from nonprofits Editor’s note: Fourteen years ago, the Badger Institute (then known as WPRI)…
School choice is 41 percent more effective in Racine, and in the rest of Wisconsin, money going to choice is spent 33 percent more effectively than in district schools.
There are 541 days until the next Legislature’s sworn in, and there’s plenty of unfinished business
The big picture: For every kid who enters MPS as a freshman each fall and goes on post-secondary education, there are at least two who do not, at least not in the year after high school ended.
“Decoupling” is an excellent way to simplify Wisconsin school choice funding and eliminate choice’s impact on property taxpayers.
Starting in 2009-10, transfers between districts for Wisconsin teachers began to steadily climb. The average transfer rate from 2013-14 to 2019-20 of 4.4 percent was 3.6 times greater than the historical baseline.
If Brittany Kinser wins Wisconsin’s race for state school superintendent, it would be the first victory over union-backed candidates since 1981.
Years after we first reported on daily calls to police from MPS high schools, the Milwaukee Public Schools finally obeyed a judge’s order and placed cops back in the hallways this week.
Wisconsin was one of the lowest-ranked states in a state-by-state index of teacher morale released by the news outlet Education Week in early March.
A Milwaukee County judge lambasted the Milwaukee School Board in a rare broadside aimed at finally getting cops back in MPS high schools.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has flatly stated that the most pressing challenge currently facing the state education system is teacher retention. Two different analyses conducted by the Badger Institute at a statewide level appear to contradict the DPI’s findings.
Badger Institute supports 2025 AB 1, because no matter how lousy our kids’ and schools’ test scores are, it’s both counterproductive and plain wrong to pretend otherwise.
Badger Institute supports realigning educational standards with NAEP, using common sense language for describing the levels of proficiency, and setting higher expectations for our kids.
Wisconsin’s public schools are losing students faster than districts are downsizing their staff, analysis of data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction shows.

