State Test Results ‘Worthless’?

Changes in tests make it difficult to measure how MPS students are doing.

MPS Has Mixed History With Police Officers in School

Decision looms about what to do with state-mandated return of school resource officers.

MPS Consultant Will Guide Decisions

But it seems to be more about renovating or building new facilities than closing old ones.

Aycha Sawa Faces New Challenges as MPS Financial Officer

New CFO faces tough financial issues and sometimes tricky politics.

Milwaukee’s Students Are Disappearing

Decline impacting MPS, independent charter and even choice schools.

The School Finance Fixer Comes to MPS

Todd Gray has solved financial messes at other school districts. Can he clean up MPS?

The Unknown MPS Office

Office of Accountability and Efficiency playing key role handling financial crisis.

Who Is Eduardo Galvan?

New MPS Acting Superintendent takes rudder of badly leaking ship.

How Will School Board Hire New Superintendent?

What's the likely process and how were past decisions made?

The Fall of a School Superintendent

The inside story: Why MPS superintendent Keith Posley could be fired.

Board Proposal Would Take Away Two Carmen Charter School Facilities

Carmen's backers protest, board and superintendent back a month delay on proposal.

The Ups and Downs of Milwaukee’s School Enrollment

Regular school enrollment barely changed, charter schools down, statistics vary between MPS and DPI.

MPS Lost Just 51 Students This Year

Has long-term decline in enrollment ended? MPS officials see encouraging signs.

MPS Plans $60 Million In Budget Cuts

School referendum dollars and resulting state funding hikes come in slowly.

Milwaukee School Board May Investigate Board Member

Aisha Carr suspected of unethical conduct. Her supporters criticized the board.

Do Golden Eagles Mean Gold for Marquette?

Fun for basketball fans, yes, but not necessarily more dollars for the university.

Milwaukee Excellence Ends School Charter

Its demise leaves questions about 'zero-tolerance' approach to discipline.

Is Building Surplus a Factor in MPS Referendum?

Critics charge it is. But how much money could be saved by closing more buildings?

Rethinking Schools Rethinks Its Future

Milwaukee's nationally known progressive education group faces financial challenges.

MPS Slow To Right Size Its Building Footprint

Two board members want to see plan, faster action amid declining enrollment trend.

Will ‘Science of Reading’ Improve Learning?

Passage of Act 20, emphasis on phonics, may be too restrictive.

Schools Challenge AP Classes Curriculum

Too liberal for Waukesha? Too conservative for Milwaukee?

Report Finds High Teacher Turnover in State

Problem biggest for MPS and other districts and schools teaching vulnerable populations.

MPS Struggles With Teacher Shortage

Could take until 2028 until all classrooms staffed with licensed teachers.

MPS Struggles With Shrinking System

With less students and less money, how can MPS 'right-size' the district?

MPS Seeks To Revise School Calendar

Seeking earlier start to 2024-25 school year for elementary students, creating a uniform calendar for system.

MPS Foundation a Vital Resource

Nonprofit helps funds field trips, scholarships and other educational enrichment activities.

MPS Faces Future Financial Crisis

System will see deficits explode beginning in 2026-27 school year.

MPS Budget Underfunds Teaching Positions

Shortfall will hit $74 million, 14.4% of needed funding in 2024, report finds.

Will More Private Colleges In State Close?

Cardinal Stritch's closing has to scare other colleges with declining enrollment.

Teachers Union Wins Big in Milwaukee School Board Races

Board that once had conservative majority now overwhelmingly liberal.

State Data on Student Transfers Missing

MPS suspects private schools push students out after getting them counted for state aid.

Open Enrollment Plummeting at MPS

Down 44% in past decade, while numbers continue to grow for the state.

MPS Embroiled in a Real Food Fight

Student group protests quality of school lunches. School board considers changes.

Teachers Pay May Rise By 8%

Can MPS afford this? Will state funding be enough to prevent teacher shortages?

Milwaukee Charter School Enrollment Declines

After years of growth down 3% this year. Why? New report may shed some light.

Rethinking Schools Hires First Executive Director

Cierra Kaler-Jones calls it the nation's 'leading publication for racial justice in education.'

Schools Face Student Mental Health Issues

Post-pandemic adjustment difficult. MPS faces shortage of mental health clinicians.

Jeff Spence Plans Run for Two City Positions

Former school board member seeks return to board and election as 5th District alderman.

MPS Using Remote and Virtual Education

It's become an important part of educational programming. Part 2 of a series.

Virtual Schooling Wasn’t a Failure

Both locally and nationally there's evidence it can work for schools. Part 1 of a series.

MPS Faces Teacher, Staff Shortage

System may be short as many as 600 staff.

How Did MPS Do During the Pandemic?

State tests show improvement in skills. National test shows less encouraging results.

Milwaukee School Board Debates Budget

Federal pandemic funding means more money to spend, but still not enough.

Lake Country Charter Tied To Controversial Hillsdale College

Lake Country Classical Academy uses controversial Hillsdale charter school curriculum.

What’s the Solution to Teacher Shortages?

It’s toughest to solve in poorer school districts. Second in a two-part series.

What Teacher Shortage?

There is no national shortage. But in Milwaukee and Madison there’s a problem. First in a series.

Schools Not Providing State Mandated Native American History

1989 Wisconsin law requires teaching of their history, culture and treaty rights.

State Leaves National School Board Association

Half of nation’s school board associations have left group, as schools become more politicized.

Waukesha Schools Face Exodus of Teachers?

Advocacy group cites 93% increase in resignations. School district disputes this.

Flush With Federal Funds, Schools Face Long-Term Drought

MPS, Madison face state funding squeeze and rising costs due to inflation.

Are Wisconsin’s Politicians Paid Too Much?

The issue arises anew after Milwaukee school board members give themselves a raise.

Why School Funding Referendums Fail

Why did so many in the state pass while the West Allis referendum failed?

Local Activists Pen Novel About Workers Rights

‘Standing Up: Tales of Struggle,’ by Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller, fictionalizes struggles of workers.

High School Advanced Placement Struggles With Race, Diversity

Milwaukee school offers AP course in African American studies.

School Board Races Getting More Partisan

Issues getting nationalized. Waukesha leads the way in Wisconsin.

How Should Schools Approach Diversity?

The politics of race and equity in education has caused backlash locally and around the country.

Waukesha School Board a Political Battleground

Primary election shows conservative momentum, a microcosm of national trends.

State School Boards ‘Consider’ Leaving National Association

19 states quit National Association of School Boards after it requested federal policing of board meetings.

MPS ‘Meets Expectations.’ Maybe

Better state report card for MPS comes with fewer students tested, and many questions.

Waukesha Schools Beset By Political Battles

All signs supporting student groups taken down. Citizens group files federal complaint.

Waukesha Teacher Suspended for Rainbow Flag in Classroom

Students, staff and teachers' union planning show of support for suspended teacher.

The Sign Wars In Waukesha Schools

"We have a bullying problem," says a Waukesha school board member.

Wisconsin School Boards Suspend Participation With National Association

State group joins mostly conservative states blasting NSBA for attacking “terrorism” against local boards.

How Will Local Schools Handle Afghan Children?

MPS, local educators have experience with refugees. But it’s not a simple undertaking.

Schools Without Masks Could Face Lawsuits, Lose Insurance

Insurers threatening to drop districts that fail to follow public-health mandates.

Analysis Questions Staff Cuts At Marquette

Report done for professor association questions claims of administration.

Milwaukee College Prep Sticks With MPS

Charter school group sued MPS, then decided to stay. It’s all about the money.

Student Poverty Data Flawed

Poor measures of student poverty complicate charter school debate.

Marquette University Cuts Reflect National Trend

A decline in commitment to liberal arts seen in Wisconsin and nationally.

MPS Fights Two Pandemics

COVID-19 and inequality. Lower rates of vaccination and less academic progress for minorities.

What Schools Learned From Virtual Education

Virtual techniques may become permanent part of educational approach for some schools.

The Failure of Corporate Charter Schools

They haven’t done so well in Milwaukee.

The Fight Over Standardized Testing

MPS, urban school systems push federal government for testing waivers, citing lost instruction time during pandemic.

How Milwaukee’s School Board Has Changed

More women, more with professional educational experience, and no voucher supporters.

Student Infection Rates May Soar

COVID variant, B.1.1.7. threatens children and rates are rising in neighboring states.

Reconsidering ACT Tests, School Report Cards

Questions after pandemic. Fears that schools serving poor students may get punished.

Marquette Lays Off Liberal Arts Staff

“Massive reductions” in English, history and philosophy, academic union says.

Will MU Become Marquette Tech?

Faculty worry that cuts in liberal arts, push for more technical education, threatens university’s Jesuit identity.

The Hammer of Student Testing

Republican legislators may use tests as a way to force schools to reopen.

Goodbye Columbus

And hello Cuba. MPS replaces Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Giving Schools a Shot in the Arm

Vaccinating teachers would enable schools to reopen. But it’s not that simple.

School Boards Debate Racial Mascots

Tough talk, but Wisconsin Association of School Boards passes watered down resolution.

The Campaign to Save Snow Days

Will virtual classes replace snow days where kids got a break from school? Not all officials agree.

The Push to Reopen Schools

Virtual schools working poorly, but in-person schools are risky. Legislators, others pushing to reopen.

Troubles At Marquette University

$20 million shortfall, declining enrollment, half-empty dormitories, faculty discontent.

Hybrid Education May Not Work

Some experts say half-virtual, half-in-person classes may actually be worse at spreading COVID-19.

Pandemic Causes Shortage of Teachers

Across the state school districts face shortages. Many teachers infected or in quarantine.

School Districts Battle Over In-Person Classes

Parents push for this as health officials, teachers say state’s spiking pandemic makes this unsafe.

School Districts Rethink Reopening

Oak Creek Franklin district votes to go virtual. Will others follow?

School Reopening Plans Get Failing Grades

State teachers union analysis gives 'F' to Oak Creek, Cudahy, Franklin, Greendale, may scare away teachers.

Public Schools Fight for Funding

MPS, other public school districts have gotten no federal CARES funding while choice and charter schools get millions.

The School Policing Blindspot

Why a program of police meeting with students at MPS was a failure.

School Districts Consider Defunding Police

Madison, Green Bay, Milwaukee among districts that may end programs. Milwaukee school board votes Thursday.

High Rate of Turnover for School Superintendents

Some superintendents leap frog from district to district, advancing their career or salary.

The Demise of Standardized Tests

Pandemic is speeding the decline of longtime measures of student achievement.

Private Colleges on Life Support

Pandemic accelerates the demise of increasingly fragile colleges.

State’s Schools Scramble to Teach Online

Uneven access to virtual classrooms, mixed results at MPS, other school districts.

School Leaders Reject Ban On Indian Mascots

Proponents of policy "shocked” and “disappointed” by WI Association of School Boards’ vote.

Puerto Rico’s Earthquakes Touch the City

Puerto Rican Wisconsinites having trouble making contact with friends and relatives.

Do Selective Schools Help Poor Students?

If not, what's their real purpose?

The Rationale for MPS Referendum

Despite scare stories, ballot initiative asks for annual funding increase of $87 million, not $640 million.

How Does Residency Change Affect Teachers?

24% of MPS teachers now live outside city. Does that matter?

After Shootings Officials Discuss School Safety

Should security be beefed up at MPS, other school districts? Opinions vary.

St. Paul a Model for MPS Funding Effort?

That city's successful school funding referendum was backed by local officials.

MPS Program Offers “Ambitious Instruction”

Will new approach mean more skills taught or more teaching to the test?

Some School Districts Could Disappear

Shrinking population, open enrollment, other factors threaten state's smaller districts.

Can St. Francis Schools Survive?

Small southern suburb faces enrollment decline that will make that very difficult.

The Move Away From Standardized Tests

Marquette and other colleges no longer require ACT or SAT. Why?

How Should MPS Use Rainy Day Fund?

Typically used for school emergencies. Union pushes to use it to hire more staff.

Who is Bob Peterson?

New Milwaukee school board member is acclaimed educator who doesn’t always agree with teachers union.

Elite Schools Aren’t Worth the Cheating

Research shows students who miss the cut do just as well elsewhere.

Is Student Mobility Hurting MPS?

Yes, many students transfer between schools, but that may not be the real problem for them.

MPS Gives $100,000 in Pay Raises Without Board Approval

None of these raises have been officially reported to the school board.

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Is Charter School Bubble About to Burst?

Their shaky financing is causing failures locally, nationally. Yet Trump wants more.

Why Schools Are Abandoning Zero Tolerance

Even the theory’s biggest promoter has. But what is the alternative?

Why Did State’s ACT Test Scores Plummet?

Actually achievement hasn’t dropped. But we were never as good as we claimed.

Police Outreach to Teens a Failure

Violence over weekend dramatizes issue. School board called for changes in outreach program.

How MPS Changed School Expulsions

Echoing national trends, school board has moved away from “zero tolerance.” Here’s why.

Why Thornton Is Leaving MPS

It's all about moving back home, not about frustration with Milwaukee.

Common Core is Here to Stay

And the black helicopters are coming!

The End of Suburbs?

So argues a new book. And former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist agrees. Are they right?

Send in the Cops?

Ald. Donovan wants more cops in MPS, Chief Flynn wants a different approach. Who’s right?