Initiative 1 says partnership helped Fond du Lac schools move from bottom 10% to top 50% in Wisconsin

An Initiative 1 representative said the organization began working with the Fond du Lac School District in 2021 after the district ranked in the bottom 10% of Wisconsin school districts in academic performance and faced low morale among students, parents and teachers. The representative said the partnership focused on leadership development, conflict skills, trust-building and data-driven decision-making.

"We began by helping the team reconnect with their love of teaching and their commitment to supporting student success," the Initiative 1 representative said. The presentation said three years later the district had been recognized by Stanford, Harvard and the University of Virginia and had moved to the top 50% of Wisconsin school districts.

The Initiative 1 representative said the district’s most recent scores ‘‘demonstrate achievements surpassing pre pandemic levels and experienced the highest reading growth rate in the state of Wisconsin.’’ The presentation also said engagement surveys compiled from students, parents and staff showed improvement in "20 out of 20 categories of measurements." Those results were described as evidence of the district’s ‘‘momentum’’ to continue improving.

Several Fond du Lac classroom teachers who spoke in the recording described how the work translated to their classrooms. One teacher said, "It's just given us very clear guidelines for how to behave as professionals, how to hold each other accountable and have high expectations for each other, and really be able to get the best out of each other as staff and have that trickle down to students as well." Another teacher said having "those trust accelerators as our backbone of how we operate across the district is so reassuring." A third teacher said the program helped her see herself as a leader in her classroom even though she is not seeking an administrative role.

The presentation framed the improvements as the result of cultural change and leadership practices rather than a single curricular or funding change. The Initiative 1 representative described the work as "doubl[ing] down on effective problem solving and improving the quality of their decisions backed by data." The recording did not include details about funding sources, specific instructional programs, or external verification documents for the cited recognitions and growth rates.

This was a presentation of Initiative 1’s account of the partnership; no formal board actions, votes or policy changes were recorded in the transcript. The presentation concluded with Initiative 1 stating it was proud to have played a role in the district’s progress and inviting others to hear the district’s testimonies.