The "Forum Guide to Exit Codes" provides an updated taxonomy for exit codes, information on best practices related to exit coding, and case studies that highlight different education agencies' approaches to and experiences with exit coding. In 2006, the Forum addressed the need for a voluntary, common format for tracking data about when…

Digital inequity has been a long-standing issue in the education community. A lack of home internet and technology devices can not only hinder students' ability to access educational resources at home, but can also have a detrimental effect on student achievement. Education agencies have taken steps over the past decades to address digital…

Throughout the school year, recommendations were revised several times to reflect what was currently known about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and best public health practices as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). The situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic…

This "Equity by Design" brief highlights equity issues that arise in the process of reopening schools during a global pandemic. The authors examine state plans and guidance for reopening schools across states in the Midwest & Plains Equity Assistance Center (MAP EAC) region which includes the 13 states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa,…

The Forum Guide to Early Warning Systems provides information and best practices to help education agencies plan, develop, implement, and use an early warning system in their agency to inform interventions that improve student outcomes. The document includes a review of early warning systems and their use in education agencies and explains the…

Our 32nd annual report analyzing data from southeast Wisconsin's public school districts finds progress on some college readiness indicators and largely positive showings on district report cards. Those results are offset, however, by discouraging results on standardized tests and continued substantial achievement gaps between students of…

Principals aim to hire outstanding teachers. But how do they do this? How do they reduce the large number of applicants to a workable number? What process do principals use to hire and to what extent does variation exist among hiring practices? This article investigates the current hiring practices of K-12 principals. Principals were examined on…

For 24 consecutive years, the Public Policy Forum has compiled and analyzed data from southeastern Wisconsin's public school districts in order to better inform policymakers and the public about the effectiveness of the region's K-12 education system. This analysis of the 2009-10 academic year, like many of the previous reports, indicates cause…

Outlines findings from a Wisconsin study to identify problems hindering the process of implementing mainstreaming programs in secondary schools. Includes eight recommendations and a reference list. (MD)

This planning guide encourages reformation of the Wisconsin art education curriculum toward a less linear, sequential, and compartmentalized approach. The new program draws on recent knowledge of how students learn and how curricula components can be integrated. Focusing on themes and concept development, the guide supports independent thinking…

Replies to James G. Ward's objections to the author's recent "Journal of Education Finance" article, which concluded that comprehensive collective bargaining had no significant effect on teachers' salaries or fringe benefits in Wisconsin school districts during 1979-80. Calls for alternative strategies to improve teachers' economic…

This curriculum guide is a resource book for designing a comprehensive health education curriculum for grades K-12. After an overview on the philosophy and goals of health education in the schools and a preview of the ten major content areas, the following topics are covered: (1) accident prevention and safety; (2) community health; (3) consumer…

This guide was developed by a Wisconsin Policy Advisory Board for school boards and school administrators to provide a practical and understandable method of hiring, paying, and evaluating school administrators. The manual begins with the premise that clearly stated job descriptions must be developed as the basis for evaluating performance and…

Attrition statistics were analyzed for the entire teaching population in Wisconsin from 1984-1988. Teachers with provisional certification were more likely to leave teaching than were fully certified teachers during the first 2 years of the study, but during the third year of the study, attrition rates were comparable. Attrition rates of special…

This guide is to be used by Wisconsin physical education curriculum planners as a model for curriculum building, an instrument for evaluating existing curricula, and as an example of what is current and defensible in the physical education field. The content of the guide deals specifically with a philosophy of physical education which is…