It’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…

♦ 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…

Open 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…

School 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”…

The top choice news in the state at the moment: As in prior years, students in Wisconsin’s school choice programs have outperformed traditional public school students on the college-readiness ACT exam. See our press release here.

ChoiceWords wants schools and parents to be aware of the services School Choice Wisconsin provides. ChoiceWords sees SCW staff in action daily, helping schools plow through complicated paperwork and often making in-person visits. ChoiceWords sees how SCW functions as a lifeline for school administrators and others across the state. “We are here to serve our communities and schools,” says Nic Kelly, SCW president. “SCW has a dedicated history of supporting our schools and empowering parents to be able to make the choices they want for their child’s education. We are united in these efforts to provide quality educational experiences for…

  As we get deeper into the school year, it’s uplifting to see varied activities, success and growth at schools participating in Wisconsin’s choice programs. The schools participating in choice vary in size, budget and mission. Occasionally, ChoiceWords peruses the websites and social media pages of participating schools to see what’s up on their campuses and in their communities. Below are a few updates we found.   Catholic Memorial, Waukesha, had one of the biggest news items as the school announced an expansion with the acquisition of Infinity Fields Baseball Park, W234-S3555 Les Paul Pkwy. “The expansion, improvement of the…

♦ 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…

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…