A new partnership between the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI), the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Wisconsin-based nonprofit Education Analytics has won a five-year, $6.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The project’s goal is to improve the academic achievement of elementary and secondary school students in the two-state region by advancing the use of evidence-based practices.

Forming the U.S. Department of Education Wisconsin-Minnesota Comprehensive Center (WMCC), the partnership intends to focus on key priorities identified by its state and regional stakeholders. They are:

• developing a single, comprehensive needs assessment to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• building and sustaining continuous improvement processes, including strategic planning and identification of evidence-based practices and how to implement them.
• understanding how to better support and retain effective teachers and leaders in high-needs urban and rural schools.
• identifying high-quality educational choices for students in rural and low-income communities.
• maintaining a strong focus on educational equity.

The WMCC will jointly engage the Minnesota Department of Education and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in an annual process to construct work plans to advance the priorities. As one of 19 regional comprehensive centers, the WMCC also will work with other regions and a national comprehensive center to share promising practices and leverage additional resources to deliver regional priorities.

The Department of Education’s Comprehensive Centers Program is designed to provide high quality and intensive capacity-building services to help state education agencies and their clients identify, implement and sustain evidence-based practices to support education outcomes pursuant to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015.