Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), located in Madison, Wisconsin, is an education research center founded in 1964 as a branch of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. WCER currently has extramural funding of approximately $40 million, and is home to over 500 faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students who are engaged in more than 100 research projects that investigate a variety of topics in education.
Mission
Throughout its history, WCER has maintained a commitment to improving American education by studying varied learning environments and interventions and their effects on students. Of primary concern to this mission has been the question of how educational processes and social policy can best meet the needs of students from different cultural and educational backgrounds. WCER researchers have continually asked how educational "best practices" can be made more efficient, better supported, more strategic, and thus easier to implement.
Research projects
ALTELLA - Alternate English Language Learning Assessment Project
C2L - Contextualize to Learn
CALL - Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning
CCHER - Culture, Cognition, and Evaluation of STEM Higher Education Reform
CCWT - Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions
The Discussion Project
CEE - Center for Ethics in Education
CIMER - Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research
CIRTL – Center for the Integration of Research, Training and Learning
CRECE - Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
Epistemic Analytics
Field Day
Fortalezas Familiares
Family-School-Community Alliance
EMPOWER
The Institute for Innovative Assessment
ILDL - Interactive Learning & Design Lab
ITP - Interdisciplinary Training Program in Education Sciences
The LEAD Center - Learning through Evaluation, Adaption, and Dissemination
Learning, Cognition, and Development Lab
MEP - Madison Education Partnership
MSAN – Minority Student Achievement Network
NSIA - National Study of Intercollegiate Athletics
RERIC - Rural Education Research & Implementation Center
School Mental Health Collaborative
Study of Children's Thinking
TDOP - Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol
TPdM - Tracking the Process of Data Driven Decision-Making in Higher Education
WCER Fellows Program
WEC - Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative
Wei LAB – Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory
WIDA
VETWAYS - The Veteran Education to Workforce Affinity and Success Study
WCER Clinical Program
Notable faculty
Courtney Bell became the director of WCER in 2020. Former WCER Director Adam Gamoran, is the president of the William T. Grant Foundation. He remains the John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and Educational Policy Studies. Gloria Ladson-Billings is an American pedagogical theorist and teacher educator on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education. She is known, among other things, for her groundbreaking work in the fields of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Critical race theory.
References
University of Wisconsin School of Education
Wisconsin Center for Education Products and Services
"Report: Wisconsin above average in SAT, AP scores" Badger Herald
"WCER’s Web site is reviewed favorably by the Internet Scout Project." "Teacher-Evaluation Logistics Challenge States" Education Week.