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The Wisconsin Idea

January 16, 2007

As part of the University of Wisconsin, WCER contributes to the “Wisconsin Idea,” a tradition begun by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904. Van Hise declared that he would “never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state.” Three current WCER initiatives involve particularly close work with policymakers and practitioners in our own state. The Value-Added Research Center (VARC) works with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Milwaukee Public Schools to find more sophisticated and meaningful ways to evaluate the effectiveness of schools and teachers and educational programs and policies. CPRE director Allan Odden leads a collaboration with the chairs of the State's legislative education committees, superintendents of the Milwaukee and Madison Schools, teachers, and business representatives to determine what it would take programmatically and financially to attain the state’s curricular standards and performance standards. Finally, WCER's SCALE project is a national network of more than 50 working groups of educators and researchers focused on improving mathematics and science teaching and learning at all levels. One SCALE institutional partner is the Madison Metropolitan School District, the second largest district in the state.