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School leader to state: Give us more enrollment periods

September 14, 2022

♦ 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 second installment in a periodic ChoiceWords series. More enrollment periods, please. That’s what one new school leader would like to see in the statewide school choice program. Currently the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program has one annual period when parents can enroll their kids, which goes from February through mid-April (see info from the Department of Public Instruction…

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Nail-biter of a week for one Milwaukee school and an assist from School Choice Wisconsin

September 9, 2022

“You’ve got half the community here,” someone shouted at Edward DeShazer as he welcomed students into Greater Holy Temple Christian Academy Thursday. “We want the whole community,” he responded. Positive energy was in abundance this week as the K4­–8 school held a grand opening of its new home, at 9520 W. Allyn St. in Milwaukee, the former Fletcher Elementary. Uniformed students walked the red carpet Thursday leading into the school to the beat of “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.” The choice school overcame a snag this week, as the Department of Public Instruction put the brakes on the opening due…

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Tammy Olivas passes outreach torch to Nataly Andrade

September 6, 2022

Nataly Andrade is the new outreach coordinator for Hispanics for School Choice/School Choice Wisconsin. It’s shaping up to be a school year of opportunities and challenges for Hispanics for School Choice. There are many opportunities to educate parents around the state about school choice. The challenge lies in being able to reach parents and educate them about their options on school choice, getting the info to them when they need it the most. Many parents in Wisconsin, Hispanic and otherwise, still lack information on how to access the state’s four choice programs and navigate the many barriers to enroll in…

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Families need more chances to enroll in statewide choice program

September 2, 2022

♦ 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 first in a periodic ChoiceWords series. Do you know in April what you’ll be doing in September? Do you have all the paperwork filed for those plans? Maybe. But we all know life happens and you don’t know what your situation may be six months from now. The reality that “life happens” bedevils parents in the…

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Top of mind: We need changes in the pathways to becoming a teacher in Wisconsin

September 1, 2022

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…

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Pandemic shutdowns leave wreckage in their wake as students’ reading and math scores plummet

September 1, 2022

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…

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Word from the choice chair: Support for choice stronger than ever

August 22, 2022

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…

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Schools know the value of choice

August 19, 2022

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…

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What We’re Reading: Choice has grown exponentially

August 3, 2022

As the 2022­–23 school year draws nearer, we’re seeing a flood of articles across the U.S. media supporting school choice. Some articles focus on the new or enhanced programs in Arizona, Tennessee and elsewhere as the choice universe has grown exponentially. In 2021, 19 states enacted 32 new or expanded choice policies. Other articles point out that the pandemic and some public schools’ reactions to it have pulled many parents toward choice. The pandemic also exposed curriculum and content that some parents found objectionable or a waste of time. A scan of the media also shows that polling is looking…

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School Choice Wisconsin sees increase in schools wanting to join choice program

August 2, 2022

Good news for educational freedom: School Choice Wisconsin is seeing an increase in entrepreneurial activity on the statewide school landscape. In the last two months, eight schools have reached out to SCW for onboarding assistance as they seek to participate in the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program. The statewide Wisconsin Parental Choice Program provides students whose families meet income qualifications the ability to attend a participating private or religious school of their choice, tuition free. Of the eight schools who reached out to School Choice Wisconsin, five are new start-ups. The five are in various stages of planning and launching. The…

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