Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS):
A large, urban school district serving approximately 77,000 K-12 students.
Desired Outcomes and Project Goals:

• Increase student engagement, improve discourse skills
• Improve student and staff ability to problem-solve and make real-life connections
• Improve reading and math in targeted schools and support ability for students and staff to use systems thinking tools and Habits to understand systems of interest.

Highlights:

• Increase in student and teacher engagement and confidence.
• Steady growth of systems thinking practices, in both schools and central service divisions.
• School involvement has grown to ten schools that are committed to implementing systems thinking into daily instruction and school governance.
• In year two, provided opportunities for central office staff to build their systems thinking capacity. MPS now has in-house facilitators who are able to provide systems thinking instruction within the district.
• MPS systems thinking work has been showcased through two Waters Center Systems Thinking Institutes, attended by participants from around the world.