Programs

Academics

In general, most students with disabilities are capable of learning the content, scope, and sequence of the general education curriculum when the necessary modifications and adaptations in content and instructional strategies are made. The majority of students with disabilities are instructed along with their regular education peers using the Common Core State Standards. At times, the IEP team may determine that a student requires a replacement reading curriculum.

Advanced Academic Programs

Advanced Academic Programs is home to three areas: Advanced Placement, gifted and talented, and International Baccalaureate.

Adventures in the Arts

MPS is teaming up with Arts @ Large, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, and SHARP Literacy to offer dance, theater, music, and visual arts adventures for every student this summer.

Assistive Technology

Assistive technology provides students with disabilities access and communication for successful learning.

August 2021 Selections

Learn about the book selections for August 2021. Titles include Strictly No Elephants/No se permiten elefantes, The Last Last-Day-of-Summer (A Legendary Alston Boys Adventure), Los chicos sí que lloran, and The Contender.

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.

Bilingual Multicultural Education

MPS offers Spanish/English bilingual education, bilingual education for students of Asian descent, and two-way bilingual education. Students learn subjects in both English and their first language, helping the child to maintain his or her first language while learning English. Two-way bilingual instruction offers the English speaker an opportunity to learn Spanish. Both languages are used in the classroom.

Career and 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 and Career Centers

Milwaukee Public Schools College and Career Centers are a free resource for students grades 6-12 and beyond.

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 Literacy Plan

The MPS Comprehensive Literacy Plan educates all students to proficiency and beyond in order to prepare them for success in higher education, careers, and responsible citizenship.

Contracted School Services

The Office of Contracted School Services (CSS) supports the development, successful implementation and ongoing accountability of charter schools, partnership schools and other contracted education programs within MPS.

Credit Recovery

The Edgenuity program uses an online curriculum that aligns to MPS expectations regarding curriculum and rigor.

Curriculum and Instruction

Early Childhood

Milwaukee Public Schools offers early childhood special education programs for children three to six years of age who have been identified with a disability.

Elementary Programming

Elementary students can jump-start their summer and improve critical reading and math skills by enrolling in Summer Academy.

Extended Learning Adventures

Extended learning adventures and camps give students K5-grade 12 the opportunity to pursue new interests, discover their passion, and engage in hands-on experiences.

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 in implementing the Common Core State Standards and helps students to achieve through education best practices.

Gifted and Talented

The MPS Gifted and Talented Development Program comprises a continuum of services for students needing acceleration and/or enrichment embedded in the RtI framework.

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 and Hospital Instruction Program

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.

Instructional Technology and Personalized Learning

The Instructional Technology Department provides leadership, instruction, and guidance to the Milwaukee Public Schools community in using technology efficiently and effectively to achieve district goals. Instructional technology refers to the technologies implemented by educators to maximize student learning in the classroom. In order for students to use technology for learning and to graduate digitally literate, teachers must have the knowledge and skills to integrate technology in the classroom. Teachers must also be able to utilize technology in ways that require students to use it for higher-level tasks, such as sorting information, conducting research, communicating through reading and writing, and creating real-world products.

International Newcomer Center

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

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 Italian. In a language immersion school, students learn core subjects in the target language.

Learning Journeys Program

Learning Journeys are educational field trips for all MPS students. The goal of each Learning Journey is to put content-based instruction into practice that enables students to develop skills not only for academics but also for professional development. Each Learning Journey implements a curriculum and instruction (C&I) framework and an academic and career planning (ACP) framework to ensure that students develop college and career readiness skill sets. The C&I framework provides standards-aligned instructional materials for teachers at each grade level. The ACP framework emphasizes holistic learning objectives in career awareness (K3–grade 3), career exploration (grades 4–8), and career planning and preparation (grades 9–12).

Literacy

The vision of the Milwaukee Public Schools literacy department is to educate all students to proficiency and beyond in order to prepare them for success in higher education, careers, and responsible citizenship.

MATC Emerging Scholars Program

The Emerging Scholars Program is an alternative education option that allows students to accelerate on credits, graduate from high school, and take coursework as preparation for certain technical careers. Instruction takes place at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC).

Middle and High School Programs

Learn about the opportunities for middle and high school students to meet expected graduation dates.

Milwaukee Virtual Education Program

The Milwaukee Virtual Education Program (MVEP) provides a high-quality education for children who need a flexible schedule or have specific education needs. All MVEP classes and supports are completely online.

MPS 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.

Nursing and Health Services

School nursing and health services at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) advance the well-being, academic success, lifelong achievement, and health of students.

Occupational Therapy and 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 reenergize. 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.

Programming

Programming for K5 to grade 12 students includes project-based learning, hands-on experiential learning, credit recovery, and credit acceleration options.

Psychological Services

School psychologists help students at all grade levels to succeed academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. They collaborate with school staff, parents, community agencies, and other professionals to help create healthy and supportive learning environments. School psychologists also help to strengthen the home/school/community connection for all students.

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.

Ropes and Challenges

The MPS ropes and challenges education curriculum is based on the experiential learning model and takes a sequential approach in activities designed to help individuals and groups develop/enhance positive social skills.

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 composed of separate but related programs devoted to the development of federally mandated employment readiness for our students with special needs: Community Assessment and Training Program (CATP), On-the-Job Training (OJT), On-the-Job Experience (OJE), the Employment Training Program (ETP), and Project SEARCH.

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 Schools 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.

Service-Learning

Service-learning is a way to teach and learn that connects classroom studies with the care and concern students naturally have for their world.

Social Studies

Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.

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).

STEM

STEM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that removes the traditional barriers separating the four disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Success Center

The Success Center supports students in grades 4–12 whose behavioral challenges create a significant barrier to their success, happiness, and well-being at school. Students receive Success Center supports for up to 12 weeks and participate in activities, interventions, and curriculum to enhance their social, emotional, and academic progress. After completing a customized program, students return to their schools to continue their education with the goal of graduating with their classmates.

Summer Adventures

Summer Adventures offer students hands-on opportunities to explore our community. These FREE field trips focus on Wisconsin's heritage, the natural environment, and exploration in science.

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.

Virtual Programs in MPS

Milwaukee Public Schools offers two full-time virtual programs for families who feel that virtual learning is the best choice for their children.

Visual Impairments

Specialists in Milwaukee may work with any student who meets the Wisconsin eligibility criteria for visual impairment, including those who have additional disabilities and those who are deaf-blind.

Wisconsin Challenge Academy

The Wisconsin Challenge Academy is an opportunity for students ages 16 years 9 months to 18 years to attend a six-month residency at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. Students accepted for the program work on soft skills and high school equivalency diploma test preparation.

Youth Apprenticeships

Thinking about a career but not sure if it’s right for you? Try a youth apprenticeship!