Wisconsin state lawmakers wrapped up their legislative session this month, after passing several bills affecting education. Several proposals that received a significant amount of media coverage did not pass.
We’re all aware of racial achievement gaps that exist across the country and right here in Wisconsin, but there’s another racial gap in education worth noting: suspensions and expulsions. A nationwide look at suspension and expulsion rates, broken down by race and ethnicity, shows that black and American Indian students are more likely...
Last week the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) took an important step in recognizing the tremendous impact of child poverty and other social determinants of health in child development. They also recognized the critical role pediatricians can and should play in identifying and helping to address the needs of patients impacted by...
New data show that signups for Marketplace insurance plans took another significant jump in Wisconsin during the most recent open enrollment period, and the average monthly premiums are unchanged for people who qualify for premium tax credits. More specifically, the latest figures released by the Dept. of Health and Human Services for...
The recent Netflix documentary Making a Murderer unleashed a wave of scrutiny over procedures in the criminal justice system, including investigation and interrogation practices. In that vein, we posted a few weeks ago discussing what Making a Murderer shows about juvenile confessions—that false confessions by youth can be fairly easily...
In Part 1 of this blog, we discussed the good news that rates of youth confinement are declining nationally, demonstrating a 40% decline in youth confinement from 2003 to 2013. However, we also alluded to a caveat—the data doesn’t look equally as good for all groups of youth, especially youth of color. A further analysis of youth in...
Many are aware of the high rates of incarceration in America and, not surprisingly, this applies to youth as well, with the United States holding more youth in juvenile detention, correctional facilities, and residential facilities than any other industrialized country. Fortunately, as evidence builds that confining youth is...
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on Wisconsin poverty rates shows that the number of Wisconsin residents living in poverty averaged 13% across the 2010-2014 post-recession time frame — the highest since 1984, according to the analysis by UW-Madison's Applied Population Laboratory. But for children, it’s even worse. Nearly one in...
As the Assembly wrapped up its work last Thursday, it passed a measure that could significantly change public benefit programs in Wisconsin. That might be positive or negative – depending on how two state agencies respond to the open-ended directive to develop changes. The proposal in question, Assembly Joint Resolution 109, is very...
BadgerCare participation grew modestly over the last couple of months, but less than I had hoped it would. During the 2014-15 open enrollment period for the federal Marketplace, there was a very substantial increase in BadgerCare enrollment (about a 4% rise from November 2014 to March 2015). Based on preliminary data, the increase in...
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