Strong evaluation systems are foundational to improving teacher and principal quality; evaluations recognize excellence, support development, and address ineffectiveness. They must be meaningful, objective, and fair. Wisconsin has adopted meaningful educator evaluations that measure effectiveness based on multiple factors. At least half of the evaluation for both teachers and principals must be tied to student growth. Teachers are also evaluated based on classroom observations and principals are measured in part based on their management of teachers. Wisconsin should improve its evaluations by requiring that they factor in student survey data. Wisconsin's evaluations are not subject to contract negotiations, ensuring these systems will be subject to change based on student interests alone.

Basing personnel decisions on performance is critical to building schools that retain effective teachers and make student achievement paramount. Wisconsin is behind in this area; specifically, the state does not use performance to drive decisions around teacher assignment, layoffs, and tenure. Schools do not have the authority to build and maintain an effective instructional team, including having the ultimate say over hiring decisions and dismissal of ineffective teachers. Furthermore, when laying off teachers during a budget-related reduction in force, the state mandates that seniority, not performance, determines layoffs. In regard to tenure, teachers receive this status after serving a short three-year probationary period. Attainment and revocation of tenure are not tied to performance. Prioritizing students and great teachers means that performance, evident through strong evaluations, is the driving influence for all personnel decisions.

To encourage a high-quality, diverse workforce, professional pay should be based on performance rather than other non-classroom factors such as seniority or degrees held. Wisconsin law is silent about requiring automatic pay increases for teachers with master's degrees and whether school districts can adopt compensation systems that tie pay increases to measures of effectiveness, although school districts in certain cities are required to establish a salary schedule for all classroom teachers. To strengthen teacher compensation systems across the state, Wisconsin should expressly prohibit pay increases for master's degrees alone and require all districts to implement pay for performance systems that prioritize student outcomes.

Wisconsin offers a state-run alternative certification program in limited subjects. The program requires 100 hours of instruction for candidates with a bachelor's degree, five years of experience, and content mastery in the subject area taught. To expand the quality teacher candidate pool, Wisconsin should remove subject limitations and require demonstration of knowledge through a content-area exam instead of an undergraduate degree in the subject to be taught. This limitation implies an alternatively certified teacher is not considered equal to a traditionally certified teacher, which deters qualified individuals from entering the teaching profession. Wisconsin should allow hiring of alternatively and traditionally certified teachers equally. Wisconsin has no clear process for authorizing, evaluating, or decommissioning ineffective programs. To increase the quality of its programs, Wisconsin should require annual evaluations based on teacher effectiveness data rooted in student achievement.

Wisconsin must take a number of steps to empower parents with information about their children's schools. The state currently requires that each school receives a report on its student achievement that is issued by the state superintendent. To further empower parents with clear and accessible school data, Wisconsin should require that each school's report include an A_F letter grade for that school based on student achievement. The state can also empower parents by requiring notifying parents when their children are placed with an ineffective teacher and allowing parents access to teacher evaluation information upon request. Additionally, Wisconsin should require that districts obtain parental consent for placement of a student with an ineffective teacher. Finally, Wisconsin should empower parents by establishing a parent trigger law that allows a majority of parents to band together at the grassroots level and petition to turn around low-performing schools throughout the state.

Wisconsin should work to ensure its students are not trapped in failing schools by creating policies that increase the number of high-quality school choice options for parents. The state must ensure high-quality public charter schools are encouraged to take root in the state and be held accountable for student achievement results. Additionally, the state should expand the limited public scholarship program in Milwaukee to the entire state, providing a lifeline for many struggling families with students in failing schools.

Children stuck in chronically failing schools should have an option to attend another school of their choice without being punished by the state through reduced funding. Wisconsin funds public charter schools using a separate appropriation from traditional public schools, which results in inequity. Additionally, although Wisconsin does not prescribe authorizer fees, it also does not prohibit this form of skimming nor does it prevent authorizers from requiring charter schools to purchase services from them. Wisconsin should ensure that public charter schools receive comparable funding and should also provide access to unused facilities and financing programs for charter school construction.

The ability to turn around failing schools is often hampered by bureaucratic red tape and politics. Currently, Wisconsin does not allow full mayoral or state control of low-performing schools and districts. However, the state superintendent does has limited authority to direct interventions in schools and districts in need of improvement. At the district level, the superintendent can direct local school boards to implement several options, including adopting fiscal accountability measures. At the school level, the superintendent can direct implementation of several measures as well as the creation of a school improvement council that makes recommendations for improving the school. The state could enhance the state's authority to intervene by creating a model that fully authorizes its Department of Education to operate low-performing schools. Further, the state could empower mayors to take control when their local districts fail to meet objectives.

Given the limited resources available for public education, states must ensure that districts spend as many dollars as possible in the classroom rather than in bureaucracy and that the dollars invested drive the greatest change. Wisconsin law permits staffing flexibility because it does not mandate burdensome regulations on class size past the third grade, which are far less effective than limits in earlier grades. However, Wisconsin should provide greater spending flexibility to school districts by removing restrictions that limit districts' ability to reallocate resources to their greatest needs. Moreover, Wisconsin should empower data-driven decisionmaking by linking the spending data it collects to academic achievement. Wisconsin should enable the state to initiate governance changes at school districts when resources are mismanaged.

Attracting a high-quality workforce will require a competitive retirement plan. Portable retirement options, such as 401(k) plans, are an essential component of compensation packages and make the teaching profession more competitive. It is a classic win-win for teachers and districts. Under current policy, Wisconsin requires employees of traditional schools and certain charter schools to participate in its defined benefit plan. These plans promise teachers a payout based on years of service and salary, not the actual amount contributed to or earned through the fund. If teachers leave before reaching retirement age, they risk losing a significant portion of their savings. To provide career flexibility and ensure sustainability of the existing system, Wisconsin should move to a portable employer-sponsored retirement plan and permit all public charter schools to opt out of the plan.