The vision of the Madison Education Partnership (MEP) is to improve experiences and outcomes for all MMSD students and reduce gaps in opportunity and achievement.
MEP brings together the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a locally based, nationally relevant, research-practice partnership. MEP joins research and practice by engaging in mutually defined, high-quality, problem-based research that contributes to policy, builds capacity, and strengthens practice.
Collaborating on MEP are UW Madison researchers and faculty; MMSD administration, teachers and staff; and stakeholders from the broader Madison community. The partnership enables research to be conducted more quickly and results released more efficiently—to advance strategies that benefit Madison students, families, and schools.
NEW JOURNAL ARTICLE
How parents make decisions about PreK enrollment
July 2024
NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES ON FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN 4K
New Article in the Journal of Children and Youth Services Review: Family engagement practices and children’s attendance and early learning skills in a public pre-kindergarten program and New Article in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education: Family Engagement Practices in a Public Pre-Kindergarten Program: Variation by Program, Classroom, and Staff Characteristics
July 2024
NEW COURSE
Training a New Generation of Education Researchers: UW-Madison Sociology 496 - Research to Enhance Equity in Education
July 2024
POST-PROJECT UPDATE
Improving the transition to Kindergarten
May 2024
Early Education
Full-day 4K Evaluation: MEP worked with MMSD to measure 4K students’ skills at the start and end of the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years in both full-day and half-day 4K classes. In 2022-23 we extended this work to 5K. We also looked at the distribution of culturally responsive and inclusive pedagogical practices in 4K classrooms. MEP and MMSD are working together now to take these findings and use them to influence the full-day 4K program in 2023-24.
Postsecondary Enrollment and Success
MEP is partnering with MMSD’s Research, Assessment & Improvement (RAI) team (1) to understand how the odds of a student completing a postsecondary education shift as they progress in their K-12 education and (2) to identify school-based programs and practices in the district that significantly change the odds a student will enroll in college and complete a degree.
Mental Health
In a mixed-methods study using data from 12 middle schools currently engaging in the REST program in MMSD, MEP is seeking to help improve screening, referral, and access to mental health services in Madison schools. This work is done in collaboration with the MMSD Student & Staff Support team.
Middle School Math Tutoring
MMEP is partnering with MMSD’s Secondary Programs and Pathways; Engagement, Diversity Equity, and Inclusion; and Research, Assessment & Improvement (RAI) teams and UW-Madison partners to develop, implement, and evaluate a tutoring intervention focused on middle school math. We will pilot this intervention in Spring 2024 and scale it up in 2024-25.
