Programs

What types of schools and programs are offered by MPS?

There are several different grade level configurations across MPS.

Number of Grade School Offering in MPS

Bar chart showing the number of schools in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) system by grade offerings. The chart lists the number of schools offering grades PK-8 (57 schools), PK-5 (42 schools), 9-12 (29 schools), 6-8 (7 schools), 6-12 (4 schools), PK-12 (4 schools), 1-8 (1 school), 3-12 (1 school), PK-6 (1 school), and PK-K (1 school).

MPS schools are predominantly PK-8, Elementary and High schools, though there are a total of 10 different grade level configurations in the district.
Students enrolled in MPS have a variety of schools to meet their needs but large number of grade types can create challenges as students matriculate to higher grade levels.

Around 65% of all MPS schools offer specialty programming.

The majority of MPS schools offer specialty programming, which ranges from whole-school programs like Montessori to optional programmatic offerings like Advanced Placement courses. The main specialty program types offered at MPS schools are:

Advanced Placement
Arts Focus
Bilingual
College Support Programs
Community Schools
Career & Technical Education

Dual Enrollment
English as a Second Language (ESL)
Gifted & Talented
International Baccalaureate (IB)
Language Immersion
Montessori
Project Lead The Way (PLTW)

Specialty programming options across MPS vary with regards to access and popularity.

- - The graph below plots MPS specialty programming average utilization rates by average student travel distance.
  - It shows both whole-school programs (blue circles) and programmatic offerings (orange circles).
  - The size of each circle indicates the number of MPS schools that offer the specialty program.
  - How high a program is on the vertical axis shows how well utilized the schools offering that program are on average.
  - How far to the right a program is on the horizontal axis indicates how far students travel on average to attend the schools with the specialty programs.

MPS Specialty Programming: Average Utilization Rates by Average Student Travel Distance

This chart displays different MPS educational programs, positioned by their average student travel distance on the x-axis and their utilization rate on the y-axis. Programs are represented as dots, colored in orange for program-specific offerings and blue for whole-school programs. Key data points include Bilingual programs and Montessori programs, both with high utilization rates, plotted towards the higher end of the chart, and Community Schools with lower utilization, positioned towards the lower left. The chart also highlights ESL, Dual Enrollment, Advanced Placement, and other programs, with various utilization and travel distances. A legend explains the color coding and the dot sizes, where larger dots indicate programs available in more schools.

74% of traditional MPS high schools offer Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs.

Number of CTE Pathway Types at MPS Schools

Horizontal bar chart titled 'CTE Pathways' showing the number of schools offering various career and technical education (CTE) programs. Programs listed from top to bottom with the number of schools in descending order include: Health Science (6 schools), Information Technology (4 schools), Web and Digital Communications (4 schools), Construction (3 schools), and multiple others such as Restaurants + Food & Beverage Services, Biomed, Business, each offered in 2 schools. Single school offerings include Agri Business, Food Products & Processing Systems, Plant Systems, Welding, Manufacturing, Marketing, and several others.

MPS offers 21 different Career & Technical Education (CTE) pathways across the district.
Health Science, Web and Digital Communications, and Information Technology are the most commonly offered CTE pathways.
There are 12 different CTE pathways that are only offered at 1 school within the MPS portfolio.

Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) CTE pathways are offered at MPS high schools throughout the city.

CTE Pathway Types by MPS School Board District (SBD)

Stacked bar chart titled 'CTE Pathway Types' showing the number of Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways available in each of eight school board districts (SBD 1 through SBD 8). Each bar represents a district and is segmented to display the distribution of programs in various CTE categories including Agricultural Sciences, Arts and Communication, Business, Education, Health Science, Hospitality and Food Service, STEM, and Trades & Industry. The chart highlights SBD 1 with the highest number of Business pathways at four, and SBD 6 offering a diverse range with three Hospitality and Food Service pathways. It visually illustrates the differing focus and scope of CTE offerings across the districts.

The graph above shows the distribution of different CTE program types across the city. Board regions 3 and 5 offer the fewest CTE pathways.
Some program types, such as STEM and Hospitality and Food Service, are available at schools throughout the city while others such as Business and Education are more limited.
Certain programs such as Agricultural Sciences may require appropriate available space in order to host the program.
This data can help identify potential gaps in service and opportunities for expansion of CTE programming.

MPS School Board District (SBD) Boundaries

*Data current as of September 2023

How accessible are other program types to students across the city?

Students requiring special education (SPED) services have different school travel demands based on what part of the city they live in.

Number of SPED Students by Area and Travel Distance to School

Map depicting the distribution of special education (SPED) students across eight school board districts in Milwaukee, colored according to the number of SPED students and their travel distances to school. Each district is shaded differently to represent four categories: 'More SPED Students, Short Travel Distance,' 'More SPED Students, Far Travel Distance,' 'Few SPED Students, Short Travel Distance,' and 'Few SPED Students, Far Travel Distance.' The map shows a varied distribution with districts 1 and 2 having more SPED students with long travel distances, while districts like 6 and 7 indicate more SPED students traveling short distances to school.

The map shows both the number of MPS students requiring SPED services by area and how far those students travel to get to school.
Students requiring SPED services who live in the northern end of the city travel greater distances on average to reach their schools compared to students requiring SPED services who live in the southern end of the city.
This data can help identify potential gaps in service and opportunities for expansion of SPED services and programming.

MPS schools offering free childcare Community Learning Center (CLC) programs are relatively well distributed throughout the district.

1-Mile Driving Distance to CLC Programs by Density of Economically Disadvantaged Students

Map showing the location of schools with afterschool Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in relation to areas of economic disadvantage in Milwaukee. Orange dots represent schools that offer afterschool CLC programs. The map is overlaid with a grid indicating the concentration of economically disadvantaged students, with areas shaded in varying shades of blue: lightest for 0-6 students, light for 7-19 students, darker for 20-36 students, and darkest for 37-60 students, and very dark blue for 61-125 students. Black outlined areas show the one-mile driveshed around each school. The map highlights schools across Milwaukee, particularly those within communities with high numbers of disadvantaged students.

This map shows that most economically disadvantaged students are within a 1-mile driving distance of the nearest Community Learning Center (CLC) free before- and after-school childcare program.
Evaluating the areas of the district where there are economically disadvantaged students who are beyond a 1-mile driving distance of a CLC can help identify potential gaps in service and opportunities for expansion.

Interactive Map

Explore the data yourself!

The interactive map below allows you to filter and layer the data to better understand the geographic dispersion and relationships of varying attributes of MPS school buildings.

How To Use The Interactive Map:

Zoom in and out using your mouse, track pad, or the zoom buttons (+/-) in the upper left of the map
Turn layers on/off by selecting them in the legend in the upper right of the map
Find a specific school using the search bar in the upper left of the map
Filter the data by selecting groupings in each of the category boxes on the far-right panel
- For example, if you select Elementary School, the map will show only locations of elementary schools
Combine filters to show different combinations
- For example, if you want to show Elementary Schools with Afterschool CLC programs, select Elementary Schools in the School Type box and Yes in the Afterschool CLC box
If you want to select multiple groupings in a single category box, hold the CTRL key while selecting groupings

Due to the dynamic and live nature of this website, content is subject to regular updates or corrections.

Users are encouraged to check back often for the most up-to-date information.

Programs

What types of schools and programs are offered by MPS?

There are several different grade level configurations across MPS.

Number of Grade School Offering in MPS

Around 65% of all MPS schools offer specialty programming.

Advanced Placement

Arts Focus

Bilingual

College Support Programs

Community Schools

Career & Technical Education

Dual Enrollment

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Gifted & Talented

International Baccalaureate (IB)

Language Immersion

Montessori

Project Lead The Way (PLTW)