As the school year starts, top of mind for many schools in Wisconsin is the current teacher shortage. The problem has garnered lots of nationwide coverage. Staff shortages plague both public and private schools in the state. In mid-July, School Choice Wisconsin did a survey on this topic. The 133 choice schools that responded reported 355 open positions at the K­–12 level. This is a much higher than usual rate, according to longtime education administrators at School Choice Wisconsin. Forty providers offer teacher preparation programs in the state. To become a licensed teacher, one must follow one of four pathways. The road can…

First-ever drop in math, biggest drop in reading in 30 years Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and pandemic policies continues to manifest across the nation. The latest: Reading and math scores of 9-year-old students nationwide dropped between 2020 and 2022, according to results released today from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). A Wall Street Journal story on the scores cites experts who say it could take decades for the worst performers to rebound. “These are some of the largest declines we have observed in a single assessment cycle in 50 years of the NAEP program,” said Acting NCES…

Did you know that there’s an academic chair focused on school choice? ChoiceWords decided to look into this. We caught up with the man who occupies the chair, Patrick Wolf. Wolf, Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and 21st Century Endowed Chair in School Choice in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, has kept one of the most trained eyes on school choice as it has experienced major growth across the country. Wolf got into school choice in part because his graduate school mentor was Harvard’s Paul Peterson, another well-known figure in the field. “Once I got…

Here at School Choice Wisconsin, we regularly get comments from schools and parents expressing the tremendous value of school choice to their families and communities. We’ll share these comments with you from time to time on the ChoiceWords blog. “School choice provides kids opportunities they would never have otherwise. A great school can change the life and direction of not just a student, but an entire family.” St. Augustine Preparatory Academy, Milwaukee “This program gives our school the ability to enroll students from 18 different cities. Without the school choice program, these kids might not have the opportunity to build…