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Month: October 2022
Month: October 2022
If you’re a parent out there benefitting from choice, spread the word! In ChoiceWords’ experience, parents like to hear about options for their kids. Also, please contact ChoiceWords at [email protected] to share your story. Educating parents on the fine points of Wisconsin’s four parental choice programs is key to making sure they get their kids into a school that fits their family. Many Wisconsin parents may know about choice but not know the particulars of how to get into the programs. Principal Megan Sagat introduced school choice at St. Peter’s School, a Catholic school in East Troy, five years ago. Sagat…
Read MoreSchool Choice Wisconsin and DPI’s Customer Service Team hosted a webinar on October 26, 2022 to assist your school’s staff in preparing for the upcoming data snapshot on December 6, 2022. You’ll learn about the WISEdata tools used to verify the accuracy of the data that is used to generate school report cards and how to use the WISEdata Portal most efficiently. The data that will be captured in the snapshot will also be reviewed, including 2021-22 Year End Attendance and Completion, 2022–23 Third Friday of September Enrollment, and student demographics. Title: School Choice Wisconsin and DPI’s Data Snapshot…
Read MoreIf your school is considering participating in one of Wisconsin’s choice programs, consider this: School Choice Wisconsin is here to help with applying and onboarding. ChoiceWords attended a session in September with a school looking to join one of Wisconsin’s choice programs. The essential informational session was run on-site at the school by School Choice Wisconsin Vice President of Operations Carol Shires. Shires is among the onboarding experts at SCW. The school was excited about a future with the choice program, but had many financial, paperwork, deadline, state regulatory and enrollment questions. Each school’s situation is different. At the September…
Read MoreFor Immediate Release October 17, 2022 Contact: Nicholas Kelly Newly released data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction show that students in Wisconsin’s school choice programs continue to outperform those in traditional schools. “These results explain year-after-year growth in the numbers of families enrolling their children in the state’s choice programs,” said Nic Kelly, School Choice Wisconsin president. As previously reported, students in Wisconsin’s school choice programs outperformed traditional public school students on the college-readiness ACT exam. See School Choice Wisconsin’s release here. DPI also has released data on the state’s Forward and ACT Aspire exams. The Forward Exam…
Read MoreMPCP ELA Proficient & Advanced Choice +/- MPCP 3rd Grade 12% MPS 3rd Grade – Low 8% 4% MPS 3rd Grade – Full 11% 1% MPCP 4th Grade 17% MPS 4th Grade – Low 10% 7% MPS 4th Grade – Full 14% 3% MPCP 5th Grade 17% MPS 5th Grade – Low 10% 7% MPS 5th Grade – Full 14% 3% MPCP 6th Grade 22% MPS 6th Grade – Low 11% 11% MPS 6th Grade – Full 15% 7% MPCP 7th Grade 22%…
Read MoreIt’s been a good news Friday for choice. The latest: Waukesha-based Open Sky Education is now a semifinalist for the annual $1 million Yass Prize. Congratulations! The Yass Prize is a competition overseen by the Center for Education Reform spotlighting education providers who aspire to deliver education that is Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless (STOP). As a semifinalist of the Yass Prize, Open Sky Education will receive a $200,000 award and will take part in a four-week hybrid accelerator program, in addition to earning a chance to compete for the grand prize. The money awarded to Open Sky will fund…
Read MoreGood news! Choice is growing in Wisconsin! According to numbers released today by the state Department of Public Instruction: • The state’s four private school parental choice programs reported a headcount of 52,189. This was an increase of 6.7 percent over 2021. 4K headcount in the private school parental choice programs increased by 8.5 percent, kindergarten increased by 5.1 percent and grades 1-12 were up by 6.8 percent. • Independent charter schools reported a headcount of 11,150, an increase of 4.5 percent from September 2021. • Wisconsin’s total school district headcount was 807,657, a decline of 0.85 percent from September…
Read More♦ Life Happens: A ChoiceWords series ♦ The state needs to add additional enrollment periods for the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program. The state should also end the program’s grade-level entry points, which can prevent families from accessing the program for years. This is the third installment in a periodic ChoiceWords series. This time we stop in Wisconsin Rapids. Rough-edged challenges hit families across Wisconsin Rapids when the town’s Verso paper mill shut down in 2020, Assumption Catholic Schools President Dan Minter told ChoiceWords in a recent chat “I don’t care what town you’re in, but anytime a major employer closes down, it…
Read MoreOpen Sky Education, of Waukesha, and its newest division Soaring Education Services will go on to the next phase of the Yass Competition. Congratulations! The $1 million Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless (STOP) education is powered by the D.C.-based Center for Education Reform in partnership with Forbes. Open Sky and 63 other quarterfinalists were announced this week at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Detroit. The Center for Education Reform will announce the semifinalists of this year’s Yass Prize on Oct. 13. The winner will be announced on December 14 at Forbes on Fifth, in Manhattan. Soaring…
Read MoreSchool choice continues to be a major focus in Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states around the country, especially with the midterm elections nearing. For the latest pertinent news here at home, see School Choice Wisconsin’s press release headlined Results again show that parental choice programs work for parents, students and schools. “As in prior years, students in Wisconsin’s school choice programs have outperformed traditional public school students on the college-readiness ACT exam,” says the release. Check out a few updates from around the country. Also see the interesting story about record numbers of young people in “Generation COVID”…
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