Dive Brief:

• The University of Wisconsin School of Education and Madison Metropolitan School District are partnering to create a closer relationship between curriculum and practical application.
• The 5-year plan will begin with the Forward Madison Initiative, implementing a comprehensive induction strategy, and will also look to add more socially and culturally relevant topics in Madison schools' curricula.
• The effort will also include an effort to diversify the workforce with early outreach to teach high school students about a variety of professions, potentially encouraging those students to consider education careers.

Dive Insight:

Part of making careers in education more appealing in these early outreach efforts, The Badger Herald reports, is to instill the idea of a teacher as an authority figure capable of influencing social change. This makes sense, as students don't just develop a sense of "right and wrong" from their family or religious affiliations, but during their K-12 schooling, as well.

In the bigger picture, it makes sense for a top-ranking education school to partner with a local K-12 district not just for the benefit of that district, which could pick up the best and brightest new teachers each graduation, but for the benefit of the program, as well. The district has repeatedly ranked among the best in the nation and can likely serve as a solid example of best practices for teachers in training.