Programs

Advanced Placement

Through Advanced Placement's college-level courses and exams, high school students can earn college credit, advanced placement and stand out in the admission process.

Athletics

Student-athletes learn a great deal from participating in interscholastic athletics. Lessons in sportsmanship, teamwork, competition, and how to win and lose gracefully are all integral parts of team goals. Athletic competition adds to school spirit and helps students, participants and community members take pride in their school.

Autism

Milwaukee Public Schools is currently supporting students on the autism spectrum. MPS recognizes best practices in working with neurological differences and stresses providing support in social/communication, rigidity, sensory and other individual factors.

Before & After School Care

Most schools serving elementary grades in the Milwaukee Public Schools family include before- or after-school programming (or both) that provides academic enrichment for students outside of regular school hours.

Breakfast Club: A Saturday Academy

In an effort to maximize opportunity for academic success for students enrolled in AP and IB classes in Milwaukee Public Schools, students will have the opportunity to participate in enrichment and review sessions throughout the school year on Saturdays.

Career & Technical Education

Career and Technical Education develops and supports career-themed curriculum, work-based learning, and community partnerships to prepare students for college and careers in high-demand, high-skill industries.

College & Career Readiness

Our goal is to prepare all students to succeed in college and careers. We offer numerous college and career readiness programs aimed at preparing students for that success.

Community Service

Students who participate in thoughtfully designed community service experiences are more likely to do well in school, graduate, vote, and become responsible citizens.

Comprehensive Math and Science Plan

Milwaukee Public Schools is taking the lead on a comprehensive approach to integrating the mathematics Common Core State Standards with science standards. As a plan of action to improve pre-K to grade 12 student learning and achievement in mathematics and science, the MPS Comprehensive Mathematics and Science Plan (CMSP) is designed to equip every student with the levels of rigor and relevance needed for success in college and career readiness.

Coordinated School Health

Coordinated school health can positively affect student academic achievement and empower students with the knowledge, skills and judgment essential to help them make healthy and responsible choices.

Dental Day

Dual Immersion

Two bilingual schools in MPS house Dual Immersion Programs, also known as Two-Way Immersion Programs (Spanish and English). This particular program serves English native speakers (beginning in the early childhood grades K3-K5) as well as English Language Learners from Spanish speaking homes.

Early Childhood Education

Early childhood education is critical to students' future academic success. We offer Head Start and state-licensed early childhood centers in addition to kindergarten programming that begins at age 4 in most schools, with some offering kindergarten at age 3. Many early childhood classrooms feature small classrooms thanks to SAGE funding. A number of MPS schools include HighScope early childhood programming.

Fine Arts

MPS is committed to building community through the arts by being a resource for fine arts pedagogy, cultivating a climate where creativity flourishes, engaging the community with the arts, honoring culture, and making the arts accessible to all.

GE Schools Grant

The GE Schools Grant Supports Milwaukee Public Schools to implement the Common Core State Standards and help students in achieving educational best practices.

Gifted & Talented

The Milwaukee Public Schools Gifted & Talented Development program is comprised of a continuum of services for students needing acceleration and/or enrichment embedded in the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework. State law requires that the District provide systematic and continuous instructional activities and learning experiences appropriate to the developmental needs of students from Kindergarten through grade 12 who are identified as gifted or talented in one or more categories.

Head Start

The Head Start program is based on the belief that children learn best through a combination of support services. This preschool program provides parental, educational, medical, nutritional, psychological, and social support to help children consistently succeed.

Health Education

The concepts and skills learned in health education become the cornerstone for developing healthy habits that students will use every day for the rest of their lives. Students will learn how to analyze influences, access accurate health information, use positive communication skills, make healthy decisions, set goals, practice healthy/safe behaviors, and advocate for their own health and those around them.

Home & Hospital

The MPS Home and Hospital Instruction Program services are available for any child residing in a hospital or another setting that is being considered a “child’s home” located in Milwaukee. Home and Hospital Instruction Program services are designed for Milwaukee residents enrolled in MPS public schools. Students confined to a hospital in the city may also be served if the parent/guardian enrolls the student in an MPS public school.

International Baccalaureate

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program sponsored by the International Baccalaureate is used in IB World Schools around the globe. Schools complete a lengthy application and authorization process to become authorized to offer one of the four standardized IB programs.

Language Immersion

Milwaukee Public Schools has long been known for its award winning language immersion specialty schools, which offer full immersion in French, German and Spanish and partial immersion in Mandarin Chinese and Italian. In a language immersion school, students learn core subjects in the target language.

Learning Journeys

Learning Journeys are highly developed, beyond-the-classroom learning experiences that connect standards-based classroom instruction for MPS students with real-world learning opportunities at Southeastern Wisconsin’s finest museums, cultural experiences, and scientific venues. The district is developing a common set of field-based enrichment experiences that are specific to each grade, K-8, and aligned to grade-level standards and curricula in the core subjects.

Literacy

The MPS Comprehensive Literacy Plan guarantees high quality literacy instruction and learning in every classroom, every day, for every student, including students with special education needs. MPS students LOVE to learn!

Mathematics

Milwaukee Public Schools mathematics department develops a deep understanding and appreciation for meaningful K-12 mathematics through engaging, appropriate, high-level teaching.

MPS C.A.R.E.S.

MPS C.A.R.E.S. is a community outreach and programming initiative with multiple components aimed at improving community conditions for Milwaukee’s children and young adults. This collaborative initiative is purposed to meet Milwaukee's emerging community needs.

Newcomer Programs

Newcomer Programs are specifically designed for recent immigrant students with limited English language proficiency. They provide intensive instruction in a special academic environment.

Occupational Therapy & Physical Therapy

Students learn best when they have structured and consistent movement breaks throughout the day. Movement helps the brain reorganize and helps the body re-energize. This is important at home, too – getting enough exercise throughout the day promotes a healthy mind and body.

Personalized Learning

A personalized learning environment enables students to choose their own learning path based on their individualized learner profile, which is reflective of their current academic performance and their unique gifts, skills, passions and attributes. Students are empowered to monitor and assess their own progress based on standards and use the various technological tools to engage in purposeful learning.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports

Research supports that a PBIS system, implemented with fidelity, effectively reduces classroom disruptions and student suspensions through a school-wide, systematic, tiered-intervention approach, which leads to increased student achievement. School-wide PBIS provides an operational framework for achieving these outcomes.

Project Lead The Way

PLTW is a nationally established program focused on preparing the future technical and engineering workforce. PLTW offers a middle school “Gateway to Technology” curriculum and a five-course “Pathway to Engineering” high school curriculum. Through PLTW, MPS students have the opportunity to explore STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education through a fully developed curriculum intended to stimulate interest in various fields of technology.

Response to Intervention

Response to Intervention (RtI) is an organizational framework that guides implementation of a multi-level system of support to achieve academic and behavioral success for all. RtI is implemented at all MPS schools around literacy and mathematics for academics and PBIS for behavior using the MPS RtI Process.

School Counseling

The Milwaukee Public Schools recognizes that comprehensive school counseling programs are essential to each student’s academic achievement, personal and social development, and career success. College and career readiness is a major aspect of the experience at our schools. School counselors serve as a school leader, student advocate, and team collaborator to remove systemic barriers to student success.

School To Work Transition Program

The School to Work Transition Program is comprised of three separate, but highly related programs devoted to the development of federally mandated employment readiness for our students with special needs: Community Assessment Training Program (CATP), On the Job Training/Education (OJT/E), and Employment Training Program (ETP).

Section 504

Section(§) 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act (amended in 2008) were written and passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit discrimination against and to protect the civil rights of individuals with disabilities. In order to fulfill its obligations under §504 and the ADA, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors and the Milwaukee Public School District recognize a responsibility to avoid discrimination in policies and practices regarding its personnel and students. No discrimination against any person with a disability will knowingly be permitted in any of the programs and practices in the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Services Plans

Special education students who attend private schools may be eligible to receive some services within their school. A services plan describes the specific special education and/or related services the student will receive from the Milwaukee Public Schools. To the extent appropriate, the services plan includes IEP elements that vary depending on the services to be provided.

Special Education

Milwaukee Public Schools is dedicated to identifying, locating and evaluating student with suspected special education needs from the ages of 3-21. Eligible students with disabilities will be provided with a free and appropriate public education consistent with the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Special Education - Behavior

All Milwaukee Public Schools participate in a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system. This is a schoolwide, systematic, tiered-intervention approach to behaviors that effectively helps to reduce classroom disruptions and student suspensions. Students whose behavior continues to interfere with their learning or that of others after intensive behavioral interventions may qualify for special education services to address their individual needs. Special education teachers work in conjunction with other school personnel to develop strategies and goals to address each student’s strengths and weaknesses in order to help the student make changes in his or her behavior.

Speech/Language Services

The Speech and Language Disabilities Program serves approximately 6,000 students in public, private, and parochial schools within the corporate boundaries of the district. Spoken communication is the foundation for reading, writing, and all human interaction. Speech-language pathologists emphasize the delivery of collaborative, curriculum-aligned services to all students to help them develop competency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Student Wellness and Prevention

The Wellness and Prevention Office includes the MPS Health and PE departments, MPS Ropes and Challenge Course, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and other grant funded programs. Our mission is to support the physical, social, emotional, and academic development of all students. Our goal is to develop confident, self-reliant, and self- directed individuals who are capable of reaching their full potential as productive members of society.

TEAM GEAR UP

In 2011, Milwaukee Public Schools was awarded a seven-year, $14.87 million federal GEAR UP grant to promote college awareness and readiness at selected schools. Local matching funds brought the total grant opportunity to nearly $30 million. The project supports students from the high school classes of 2017 and 2018. For the upcoming school year, we will support 9th and 10th grade students at eight participating high schools.

Turnaround Arts

Milwaukee Public Schools is proud to be part of Turnaround Arts! Turnaround Arts is the signature program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. It empowers high-needs schools with innovative arts, dance, theater and music programs, arts integration across subject areas, arts resources, musical instruments and high-profile artist mentors, as a proven strategy to help address broader school challenges and close the achievement gap.

Visual Art

MPS is committed to building community through the arts by being a resource for fine arts pedagogy, cultivating a climate where creativity flourishes, engaging the community with the arts, honoring culture, and making the arts accessible to all.

World Languages

In MPS, there are three types of elementary program models for world languages: foreign languages in the classroom, full immersion and partial immersion.