The School of Education and many of its programs are widely regarded as being among the very best in the nation. The people and units that make up the School are addressing some of society’s most critical needs—from challenges in education at all levels to issues in health and other human services—while also contributing to the quality of life through the arts.
The Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s highly ranked public School of Education is one of the first and most productive education research centers in the world. It has assisted scholars and practitioners develop, submit, conduct and share grant-funded education research for more than 50 years.
WCER’s mission is to improve educational outcomes for diverse student populations, impact education practice positively and foster collaborations among academic disciplines and practitioners.
WCER is an incubator for advances in education policy and practice. It provides services and resources for UW–Madison researchers, graduate students and their collaborators, as well as educators, funders and communities locally and around the world.
The center empowers its researchers to lead innovative projects and effective teams to advance education in the state, nation and world by:
The center’s varied research has influenced educational policy and practice from preschool through doctoral programs.
WCER is best known for contributing to cognitive psychology, mathematics and science education, destigmatizing daycare and developing classroom materials that have been used around the world, most recently for teachers of English language learners.
