This event brings Wisconsin K–12 teachers to the UW–Madison campus to engage with the university’s education researchers. WCER hosts Teacher Speakout! to better inform and connect its research to the realities of Wisconsin classrooms.

WCER held the first Teacher Speakout! on May 15, 2017, when nine public school teachers from seven rural districts participated in a panel discussion and shared their experiences of teaching in Wisconsin’s small towns and rural areas. You can learn more about this day-long event through the links below.

Browse the event photo album

View the panel discussion

Teacher Speakout! in the news

Rural Teachers Speak OutWCER Communications, June 23

Shirley Wright had an idea. “What if we created a forum where teachers could talk directly to education researchers about the challenges they face in the classroom?” In her capacity as the assistant to the director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), Wright’s job does not take her into the field, so she rarely sees the direct link between research and classroom practice. “Are we really listening to our teachers?” she wondered. Read more.

Rural Teachers Share Perspectives with UW–Madison Education ResearchersWEAC Region Three, June 7

WEAC members were front-and-center on a panel of public school teachers representing Wisconsin rural districts at the first-ever Teacher Speakout! at UW–Madison. The teachers provided researchers with a first-hand look at what it’s like to live and work in rural schools. Read more.

Echoes of Rural Teachers Heard by Researchers at UW–MadisonDodgeville Chronicle, May 25

Out of the 424 school districts in Wisconsin, 233 are considered “rural,” 95 are “town,” 79 are “suburban” and 17 are considered “urban.” Yet little information is known about those “rural” school districts by researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) and School of Education. Read more.