RAISING THE BAR - Raising the Bar - Local and National Lessons for Milwaukee’s K-12 Schools - March 2025

Oct 15, 2026

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Report outlines local and national lessons for improving Milwaukee’s K-12 schools, positioning the work as a second and final installment on the city’s education ecosystem. It recounts the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s nonpartisan research mission, summarizes findings on what enables high-growth, higher-achieving Milwaukee schools, and connects them to challenges and actionable policy levers. National cases, data validation, and guidance on sustaining long-term strategies are synthesized into a roadmap for moving education forward.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages59

Reading Time2 h 29 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Local exemplars demonstrate the possible

Some Milwaukee schools stand out positively

Common characteristics of high-growth, higher achieving schools in Milwaukee

School leaders identify critical levers for success

Challenges to success

Applying lessons to Milwaukee as a whole

Summary: What works inside Milwaukee?

National examples offer promising practices

National data validate city’s challenges and highlight alternatives

Moving Milwaukee education forward

Conclusion

Appendix A: WPF study advisory committee members

Appendix B: High-growth, higher achieving Milwaukee schools, 2023

A bout the Wi sconsin Policy Forum The Wisconsin Policy Forum was created on January 1, 2018, by the merger of the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum and the Madison-based Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance. Throughout their lengthy histories, both organizations engaged in nonpartisan, independent research and civic education on fiscal and policy issues affecting state and local governments and school districts in Wisconsin. WPFis committed to those same activities and that spirit of nonpartisanship. P reface and A cknowledgments This report is the second and last in a series on Milwaukee’s education ecosystem and is the successor to Roll Call: A Landscape Review of the Students, Financing, and Performance of Milwaukee’s K-12 Schools, published in August 2024. We wish to acknowledge and thank the Northwestern Mutual Foundation for its generous support of Roll Call and through the initial stages of research for Raising the Bar via the funding of a dedicated research fellow, Robert Rauh. His participation allowed us to complement the Forum’s research expertise with the experience of a respected Milwaukee education leader. In addition, we would like to thank the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Lannon Stone Foundation for their general support of the Forum’s education research. We further offer gratitude to the organizations and individuals who shared their time, talent, and thoughtfulness through many hours of meetings, draft report reviews, and interviews. School leaders across Milwaukee and civic leaders in many of the national centers highlighted in this report were exceedingly generous with their time and insights. Most particularly, our study advisory committee members (listed in Appendix A) provided diverse perspectives and critical feedback throughout the development and execution of this research. The analysis offered in this report, however, should be attributed to the Wisconsin Policy Forum alone. RAISING THE BAR Local and National Lessons for Milwaukee’s K-12 Schools March 2025 Report authors: Sara R. Shaw, Deputy Research Director Jason Stein, President Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................3 Local exemplars demonstrate the possible ...............................................................................................5 Some Milwaukee schools stand out positively ......................................................................................5 Common characteristics of high-growth, higher achieving schools in Milwaukee ..............................7 School leaders identify critical levers for success .................................................................................9 Challenges to success .......................................................................................................................... 14 Applying lessons to Milwaukee as a whole ......................................................................................... 16 Summary: What works inside Milwaukee?.......................................................................................... 16 National examples offer promising practices.......................................................................................... 18 National data validate city’s challenges and highlight alternatives .................................................. 18 Washington, D.C.: “Time, talent, and neighborhood”......................................................................... 20 Chicago: “Time, focus, and patience”.................................................................................................. 26 Department of Defense schools: Internal drive, external supports ................................................... 31 Highlights from other selected cities .................................................................

FAQs

What is the purpose of this report?

The report synthesizes local and national lessons to improve Milwaukee’s K-12 schools and to inform policy discussions with nonpartisan research insights.

How does the report relate to earlier work by the Wisconsin Policy Forum?

It is the second and last in a series on Milwaukee’s education ecosystem, following Roll Call: A Landscape Review of the Students, Financing, and Performance of Milwaukee’s K-12 Schools (published in August 2024).

What kinds of lessons are included for Milwaukee?

The report covers what works inside Milwaukee, highlights common characteristics and critical levers in high-growth schools, and adds promising practices validated through national examples and data.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Melati