As one of 19 federally funded centers, the Wisconsin-Minnesota Comprehensive Center - Region 10 (WMCC10) provides high quality and intensive capacity-building services to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), as well as local school districts and other educational organizations. It’s operated by three organizations: the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI), the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC), and Education Analytics (EA). The three regionally-based organizations operating the WMCC10 add unique value to these capacity building services through their cross-state collaboration.
Areas of Expertise
Other Project Partners
- Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI)
- Wisconsin Education Collaborative (WEC)
WMCC10 aims to improve the academic achievement of elementary and secondary school students in the two-state region by advancing the use of evidence-based practices. The WMCC10 team has extensive experience working with the Wisconsin Department of Instruction (DPI), Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), regional education support organizations, professional associations, and school districts to translate research into practical applications.
WMCC10 engages the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Minnesota Department of Education in an annual process to construct work plans to advance the following key priorities:
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.
WMCC10 also collaborates with other regions, the National Comprehensive Center, and the U.S. Department of Education to share promising practices and leverage additional resources to deliver regional priorities.
WMCC10 Highlight
In Wisconsin, Emergency Order #1 required all public and private schools in the state to close as of March 18th and subsequently through the end of the school year. The effort to contain the spread of COVID-19 while also maintaining continuity of learning for students meant districts and schools had to quickly, in the span of 8-10 days, develop and implement remote learning plans.
WMCC10 conducted two phases of a “scan” of district remote learning plans to take a systematic snapshot of how school districts in Wisconsin developed remote learning plans in Spring and Fall of 2020. The primary purpose of the scans are to identify patterns in how districts have adapted learning plans, connections between learning plans and things like enrollment or internet access, and surface emerging promising practices within the context of COVID-19 to share with school districts (LEAs) and inform how the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) might target assistance and resources moving forward. Additionally, the scan of district remote learning plans may surface promising practices for more general contexts in how to ensure equitable and high-quality learning opportunities to students in future situations that require universal remote learning. The scan is not intended to be used to identify and call out specific districts, but instead for formative learning towards overall improvement of plans and SEA support structures. A third phase of the scan will be done in Winter 2021, as well as linking the plans to additional variables such as enrollment, student demographics, internet connectivity, etc. Eventually, we hope to leverage the WMCC10 framework to learn across efforts in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.
What Lies Ahead
The WMCC10 has initiated a new era of cross-state collaboration of which EA is proud to be one of three partner organizations. Working with our partners at the University of Wisconsin (WEC) and University of Minnesota (CAREI), the WMCC10 uses a co-build approach to provide high-quality capacity-building services to local stakeholders in Wisconsin and Minnesota that strengthens their ability to identify, implement, and sustain evidence-based practices and programs. As the WMCC10 continues to bring Wisconsin and Minnesota together in addressing common needs, we envision a brighter future where the states work stronger as a region to move the needle forward at the local education agency level to improve educator and student outcomes.
