News from WCER

Internal competition open for WTG Scholars Program providing PD for early-career researchers

April 19, 2024   |   By WCER Communications

The 2024 William T. Grant Scholars Program supports professional development of promising early-career researchers. The grant funds 5-year research and mentoring plans that significantly expand researchers’ expertise in new disciplines, methods, and content areas to address problems of inequality or to improve the use of research evidence.


Field Day’s media literacy game featured in story from Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin

April 12, 2024   |   By Karen Rivedal, WCER Communications

A story for 'Wisconsin Life' from Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin documents students in Marshfield High School class having fun and learning about journalism while playing Field Day's online educational video game 'Headlines and High Water.'


UW–Madison’s Halverson and Saldaña secure $2 million from Wallace Foundation for equity-centered school leadership research

April 11, 2024   |   By Laurel White, School of Education Communications

A new research project led by two School of Education faculty members will develop new ways to measure the process and outcomes of equity-centered leadership in schools. 


WEC’s Nicole Bowman guest-edits special issue of New Directions for Evaluation

April 1, 2024   |   By Karen Rivedal, WCER Communications

WEC Evaluator/Associate Scientist Nicole R. Bowman is one of four guest editors of a special issue of the quarterly journal, New Directions for Evaluation. Bowman, an expert in culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) and citizen of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation, also co-authors four articles for the 112-page special issue examining the history, legacy, and future of CRE.


New MEP reports examine second year of MMSD’s full-day 4K program

April 1, 2024   |   By Karen Rivedal, WCER Communications

Two new reports from the Madison Education Partnership look at differences in the experiences of students enrolled in full-day and half-day four-year-old kindergarten (4K) in the Madison Metropolitan School District during the 2022–2023 school year, which was the second consecutive year of the full-day program.


WCER researchers win School of Education Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship

March 30, 2024   |   By WCER/School of Education Communications

WCER researchers Bailey Smolarek and Matthew Wolfgram are this year's winners of the UW–Madison School of Education's Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship.


UW–Madison evaluator Nicole Bowman named one of Wisconsin’s most influential Native American leaders

March 15, 2024   |   By WCER Communications

Nicole Bowman, an associate scientist and evaluator with WCER's Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC), and a traditional community member and citizen of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation in Wisconsin, has been named one of the state's 32 most influential Native American Leaders for 2024 by Madison365, an independent news organization covering Black, Latino, Indigenous and Asian American communities in Madison and across Wisconsin since 2015.


UW–Madison School of Education to boost special education teacher workforce in Milwaukee with new initiative

March 14, 2024   |   By Laurel White

A new partnership between the UW–Madison School of Education and Milwaukee Public Schools aims to combat a shortage of special education teachers in one of the state’s most high-needs school districts by training and placing 36 master’s-level special education teachers in Milwaukee schools over the next five years.


IES training on single-case research methods set for July in Madison

March 7, 2024   |   By WCER Communications

The IES-funded Advanced Training Institute on Single-Case Research Methods is currently accepting applications for 2024. The intent of the training is to increase the national capacity of education researchers to design and conduct methodologically rigorous single-case intervention studies.


What is a cognitive lab and how does it work? WIDA Researcher Mark Chapman explains

March 5, 2024   |   By WIDA Communications

One important component of the test development process is a cognitive lab.


MSAN Institute to welcome K–12 leaders from across the country for learning on racial equity

February 19, 2024   |   By Karen Rivedal, WCER Communications

Registration is open now through March 21 for the 2024 MSAN Institute, a 2-day professional learning conference for K–12 teachers, principals, and school district leaders nationwide who want to learn about current research and district practices that further racial equity in schools.


Courtney Bell explains standards-based learning for story on phasing out letter grades

February 8, 2024

The story explains that students in those classes are being graded on a scale that ranges from “emerging” to “advanced” and is aligned to how well they are meeting specific learning standards for each class.


Katie Eklund shares expertise for PBS NewsHour program on addressing student mental health concerns

February 8, 2024   |   By WCER Communications

Eklund described how unmet mental health concerns can harm students in school and throughout their lives, then explained how a new WCER project funded by a $10 million federal grant will help address the issue.


Spencer Foundation offers new grant-writing guide

February 8, 2024   |   By WCER Communications

The guide includes chapters about addressing power dynamics, utilizing a strengths-based perspective, articulating rapport, and deciding which Spencer programs are best suited for proposals involving youth and/or community-based collaborations.


Wisconsin teachers and librarians to help create astrophysics learning game

February 5, 2024   |   By WCER Communications

The game development project is a collaboration of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Field Day Learning Games Lab in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the UW–Madison, and the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center (WIPAC). This new game will be based on current WIPAC research.