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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…
Read MoreGood 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…
Read MoreLast night Marquette University hosted a GOP primary debate featuring three Republican candidates. Two of the candidates, Rebecca Kleefisch and Tim Michels, voiced support for universal school choice during the debate. Candidate Tim Ramthun has expressed support for universal choice on his website but made no comment on the subject last night. School choice continues to be a major topic of discussion among all parties here in Wisconsin. A statewide primary is set for Aug. 9. — School Choice Wisconsin
Read MorePeriodically School Choice Wisconsin provides you with news on happenings and trends in school choice and education in general. Among the most interesting news of late is a Gallup poll saying Americans’ confidence in U.S. public schools remains low, with 28% saying they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the institution. That figure is down from 41% in 2020. “Americans’ confidence in public schools increased early in the coronavirus pandemic as people rallied around professions that were severely disrupted by the economic shutdown, but that subsided a year ago and confidence has returned to its…
Read MoreParents and teachers may want to note that choice and public schools across Wisconsin will see a change in test-taking next school year, as the state is moving from the ACT Aspire test to the PreACT Secure. Both tests, given in grades 9 and 10, are meant to predict how students will perform on the college-readiness ACT test, which students take in grade 11. The vendor that supplies the test, Iowa-based ACT, has sunsetted the ACT Aspire, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The 2021–22 school year was the last for Aspire in Wisconsin schools. Among differences between…
Read MoreThe Wall Street Journal is among those noticing that school choice is garnering support around the country. Take a look at their recent editorial video on choice.
Read MoreBig choice news out of Arizona this week. The state legislature has passed and Gov. Doug Ducey is expected to sign a bill that will allow all the state’s students to take education funding to a school of their families’ choice. The bill will give all K-12 students in the state access to tax-funded ESAs—Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. Parents can use the accounts for tuition and other educational costs. Read more here. Congratulations to the more than 1.1 million students in Arizona and their families who can now take advantage of school choice. Educational Freedom Your Child, Your Choice — School…
Read MoreRecently we ran into a headline that piqued our interest here at School Choice Wisconsin: The four high schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District, the second-biggest district in the state, have enacted a concept called bridge week. Students who’ve earned Cs or higher were not required to come to school on June 7 or 8 as the schools planned to focus on kids who’ve logged Ds and Fs on those days, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The kids with higher grades were not to be marked absent. Final exams, which would have been an end-of-year focus, were scrapped more…
Read MoreSchool Choice Wisconsin set out to see what some of our choice schools did last year and will do going forward to combat the disruptions and learning loss that followed the pandemic lockdowns. See what we found. Recent headlines, such as this story in The New York Times and this piece in The Atlantic, cite a pandemic-related learning loss that is more serious than many had realized. The loss was worse for schools that stayed closed longer in response to the pandemic, according to a study from Harvard’s Center for Education Policy. “Remote learning was a failure,” wrote The New…
Read MoreTuesday’s ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in the Carson v. Makin case, a big win for school choice, may have implications for religious choice schools here in Wisconsin. In its ruling, the court struck down a law in the state of Maine that excluded schools providing religious instruction from a voucher program that allowed parents in areas with no public school to send their kids to private schools. “Maine’s ‘nonsectarian’ requirement for its otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the court’s opinion on the case. He was joined by…
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