A selection of work from Wisconsin Watch photographers that provides a glimpse into the daily lives of the people who help us tell our stories.
Category: Education
Midwestern community colleges work to lure, and keep, students struggling with poverty and other barriers
From free tuition to food pantries, two-year colleges try to counteract plunging enrollments with new programs to make college more affordable and accessible.
MATC broadens access for Milwaukee students amid historical inequities, dropping enrollment
Milwaukee Area Technical College offers free tuition, debt forgiveness, early credit to make college cheaper and more available to a diverse student population.
Wisconsin’s special ed system: High stress, sparse state funding
Over the past five decades, state support for special ed has dwindled, and staff shortages and turnover make it difficult to provide required services.
Wisconsin schools called police on students at twice the national rate — for Native students, it was the highest
School officials refer thousands of children to the police each year. In Wisconsin, children with disabilities or who are Black, Latino or Native bear the brunt of it.
Wisconsin school districts keep begging voters for more money. Is the state funding formula broken?
Proposals to update the state’s nearly 30-year-old revenue scheme stall out in the Legislature as voters increasingly are asked to OK new spending.
Drop out or drown in debt? Many Black students in Wisconsin face stark choices in paying for college
Cutting or eliminating student loan debt would ‘change everything,’ says one Black University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee alum struggling with a six-figure debt.
As semester ends in Wisconsin, COVID-19 fears shrink — while concerns of academic slide grow
Schools are not the superspreader sites that many feared, but research indicates U.S. students fell behind in math during the pandemic
Wisconsin schools ‘whipsawing’ as COVID-19 hits rural districts
As infections in the state surge, some rural schools are forced to suspend in-person instruction or integrate virtual students into classrooms.
Pizza lunches and iPads: A single mom speaks to her son about returning to school
Jessica Barrera said her son Niko did well learning at home after coronavirus shuttered schools nationwide this spring. She has decided to continue with remote learning for him this year as well.
Wisconsin’s rural students face a digital divide as some return to screens instead of school
Schools in Wisconsin have spent millions of dollars on hotspots to help students with poor internet service learn online as the coronavirus pandemic grinds on.
‘Regulatory vacuum’ exposes Wisconsin children to lead in drinking water at schools, day care centers
Gaps in federal drinking water standards enforced by the state leave numerous school and day care sites untested for lead in drinking water; numerous lead service lines remain.