"Wisconsin Public Schools at a Glance" provides in a single page document statistical information on the following topics: (1) Total number of public schools (2015-16); (2) Student (2015-16); (3) Attendance & Graduation (2014-15);(4) Staff (2013-14); (5) School Funding; and (6) Student Performance (2014-15). [For the previous report…

California's alternative education options for youth vulnerable to dropping out of school have been established at different historical points and for different student age and target populations. For purposes of this brief, "alternative school" is defined as belonging to one of six legislatively authorized types of public (non-charter)…

The school quality assessment process under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is criticized for oversimplifying and overemphasizing standardized test results and unfairly targeting diverse, urban schools. There has been much development in alternative test score evaluations, especially value-added models. These developments have tilted the public…

Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program (MPCP) includes 110 schools today, having experienced both exits and entrants from its roster of 111 schools in the past decade. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), fall 2013 voucher enrollment was 25,820 students, about double the 13,268 enrolled in 2003-2004. Thus, while the…

In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB), as the nation's major law governing public schools. ESSA retains the requirement that states test all students in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school, as well as the requirement that…

The study reviewed in this report examined the effectiveness of the "Milwaukee Parental Choice Program" ("MPCP"), which provides vouchers for low-income students to attend private schools. The study analyzed data on about 600 students who were given "MPCP" vouchers in the 2006-07 school year. The authors created a…

Using data on housing voucher recipients with school-aged children residing across the state of Wisconsin, we perform a three-stage analysis of the relationship between voucher receipt and the educational opportunities of children in recipient households. First, we examine the extent to which voucher receipt results in households relocating to a…

Few school choice evaluations consider students who leave such programs, and fewer still consider the effects of leaving these programs as policy-relevant outcomes. Using a representative sample of students from the citywide voucher program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we analyze more than 1,000 students who leave the program during a 4-year period.…

The purpose of this report is to provide descriptive data regarding the test scores of Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) students in grades 4, 8 and 10 in reading, math, and science, as reported to the School Choice Demonstration Project 2008-2009. The tables, graphs, and histograms presented in this paper provide a snapshot of these…

The purpose of this report is to provide descriptive data regarding the test scores of Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) students in grades 4, 8 and 10 in reading, math and science, as reported to the School Choice Demonstration Project 2007-2008. The tables, graphs, and histograms presented in this report provide a snapshot of these…

Public schools can be considered a form of workforce development, and thus it is important to measure the "work product" of the schools. The Public Policy Forum's annual analysis of public schools in the 50 districts serving southeastern Wisconsin measured absenteeism as educational opportunities lost because children were not in class.…

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment (TSA); for the first time in NAEP's history, voluntary state-by-state assessments were made. In 1992, the NAEP Program included an expanded TSA in fourth-grade reading. The 1992 reading assessment considered students' performance in situations that…

In 1998 for the first time, the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) administered a writing assessment at the state level. This report describes the writing achievement of Wisconsin eighth-grade students and compares their overall performance to students in the Central region of the United States and the nation (using data from the…

The 1998 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) state level reading assessment measured fourth- and eighth-grade students' reading proficiency in situations that involved reading for three purposes: reading for literary experience, reading to gain information, and reading to perform a task (grade 8 only). This report describes the…

Although the hope for charter schools is the lessening and eventual elimination of the achievement gap that exists by race and income, this report indicates that charter schools in Milwaukee are mirroring the test score gap of both Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the state of Wisconsin in both fourth grade reading and fourth grade math. Other…