October 1, 2011
Maurice Thomas returns to Milwaukee as a Teach For America executive director.
Get to Know Schools That Can Milwaukee
Teach For America - Milwaukee is a part of a much larger network of area organizations committed to this city and united to improve and increase the educational opportunities for our kids.
One of these organizations began in 2009 when a group of educational, political, business, and nonprofit leaders came together to launch Schools That Can Milwaukee. STC Milwaukee is a community effort to ensure that, by 2020, a minimum of 20,000 low income students are attending open enrollment college preparatory schools (a marked increase from the 2,000 who attend truly excellent schools today). While not an end point, the strategy is designed to both change the substance of Milwaukee's decades-old education debates and create a tipping point whereby the political will and urgency exists to produce long-lasting, structural change across the entire city.
In its first year, this coalition spurred the expansion of all three of our city's highest performing schools, succeeded in helping Milwaukee recruit Rocketship Schools, California's leading charter school network, and coached 15 principals on school transformation techniques. Along with these achievements, STC Milwaukee is bringing together community partners and creating the space for them to align all of their efforts towards the common goal of building a critical mass of excellent schools.
Teach For America - Milwaukee is proud to partner with STC Milwaukee and all of the organizations in this city who work tirelessly for our kids.
Region Timeline
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Milwaukee receives its first major influx of African American migrants spurred on by the promise of good manufacturing jobs. As in many Rust Belt cities, this in-migration is met with an out-migration of white, middle-class residents and many of the industrial employers whose plants had at one point anchored the city's center.
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Disproportionate segregation of Milwaukee's African American student population in lower-performing schools leads to both widespread public protests and 15 years of sustained legal challenges.
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The Chapter 220 program is enacted, allowing Milwaukee’s minority students to enroll in suburban schools and non-minority suburban students to attend Milwaukee Public Schools.
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Milwaukee attracts national attention by authorizing the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the nation's first school voucher system.
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Nearly two decades into the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the ways in which the initiative has shaped the debate on education in the city are clear. Years of passion on both sides of the issue have split education advocates in Milwaukee firmly into two camps—those who support school choice and those who ally themselves with the public school system.
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A group of educational, political, business, and nonprofit leaders come together to launch Schools That Can Milwaukee, a community effort to ensure that by 2020, a minimum of 20,000 low income students will attend open enrollment college preparatory schools.
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After a recall attempt against Governor Scott Walker, the popular narrative about both Milwaukee and our state is one of division. However, the spirit of cooperation in building great schools in our city's poorest neighborhoods remains.
Overheard
I joined Teach For America in order to change the community I came from. I decided at a young age that I would come back and help out someday. Teach For America gave me an opportunity to change the trajectory of many students’ lives firsthand, and to change the mindset of many in Milwaukee regarding the achievement gap.
Milwaukee Corps 2009
Press
March 16, 2011
Wendy Kopp is the founder and CEO of Teach for America, and you can hear her discuss a number of other education issues.
October 18, 2010
"When Teach for America committed to work with MPS, the goal was to help challenged urban youth. Unfortunately, seniority is squeezing out the young teachers..."
