New District Administrator

Getting Started

• Check out the DPI page geared toward every District Administrator and independent charter school (ICS) administrator that includes helpful links, additional info, communications, and resources.
• Subscribe to DPI email lists and discussion groups to receive important updates, reminders, and other information.
• Review recent biweekly communications to school districts and email chrono to district administrators.

Licensing, Educator Advancement and Development - LEAD

The LEAD team focuses on the continuum of educator development in addition to other priority areas, such as attracting people to the profession and preparing them, license acquisition, evaluation, and professional development.

Please see information about licensing, educator preparation, and educator effectiveness. From here, you can access licensing to view background check requirements, apply for a license or check on a license status, find educator preparation programs through the preparation section, and locate educator effectiveness resources through the develop and retain section.

Title I/ESSER Funding

• The Title I and School Support Team, part of the DPI's Division for Student and School Success, provides statewide leadership and technical assistance for several federal and state programs supporting schools that serve low-income students, schools federally identified for support and improvement, and particular groups of students whose living situations create educational challenges.

• Title I administers many grants, including the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grant Program. The ESSER I Grant Program, part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provides funds to help LEAs respond to changes in student needs due to COVID-19 (CARES Act, Section 18003). Visit the ESSER page to learn more about the ESSER grant process and opportunities.

Special Education - SPED

• The Special Education (SPED) team aids administrators in providing education to students protected under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). To see who is IDEA eligible, view the IDEA Eligibility page. For more information about the SPED team and resources for IDEA-eligible students, visit the SPED page. The Information for Educators page also contains SPED assistance.

• For SPED data collection guidelines, visit the Compliance Data page. The   page is a hub for defining disability categories and reporting information.

Office of Educational Accountability - OEA

• The Office of Educational Accountability (OEA) Accountability page reviews school performance to meet state and federal accountability measures. To differentiate between state and federal accountability systems, review the Accountability Crosswalk. The state accountability system is administered through School Report Cards, which rates school and district performance outcomes. The federal accountability system is required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and ranks performance to identify the lowest performing schools and student groups for support.

• The Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) tests student knowledge and application through The Wisconsin Forward Exam, Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM), PreACT Secure at grades 9 & 10, and the ACT with Writing. For state testing information, regulations, and timelines, visit the Assessment in Wisconsin webpage.

Academic Standards

• Wisconsin Academic Standards specify what students should know and be able to do in the classroom. They serve as goals for teaching and learning. In Wisconsin, all state standards serve as a model. Locally elected school boards adopt academic standards in each subject area to best serve their local community.

• Wisconsin’s Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning inform the design and implementation of all academic standards. All educational initiatives are guided and impacted by attitudes or principles for teaching and learning.

Wisconsin Information System for Educators - WISE

The Wisconsin Information System for Education (WISE) is a collection of tools used for data collection, ID generation, and improving educational outcomes for Wisconsin students. The Introduction to WISE video provides a short overview of WISE systems.

WISE Applications

WISEhome

WISEhome allows authorized users to access DPI secure web applications and tools from one location. WISEhome is also your WISE application menu. It displays a list of DPI’s collection of secure applications for which you have been granted access. If you are a brand-new user, might not see any applications. Use the ‘Request Access’ tab from the top (purple) banner on WISEhome to request access to the applications you need. You can also use the ‘App Request Status’ to see the status of your requests to those applications. We recommend requesting access to the following applications: WISEhome, WISEsecure, WISEadmin, WISEdata, WISEdash, and School Directory. Each is described in a bit more detail below.

You need either a WAMS ID or a Google account associated with a district email to log in to WISEhome. Your agency's administrator can then grant you access to an application through the WISEsecure system. Make sure to read the Google single-click sign on section.

WISEsecure

WISEsecure is a DPI secure application used only by District Security Administrators (DSA), Choice Administrators, and Application Administrators. People with these roles use WISEsecure to manage (i.e., assign and revoke)access to DPI’s other secure applications. When users “Request Access” within WISEhome, that request appears in the WISEsecure “Pending Access” request queue. The WISEsecure Roles webpage explains user roles for all of DPI’s secure applications.

WISEadmin

WISEadmin Portal is geared towards district administrative staff (i.e., superintendents, directors, principals) as the users. This data portal is a convenient hub for completing WISE required administrative tasks, and offers quick reference to the WISE Calendar and Key Performance Indicators. Consider completing the WISEadmin eLearning to learn the basics. With access to detailed student information, student data privacy practices are essential. Please review the Student Data Privacy webpage for overview, training, and more information about student data privacy.

WISEdash

There are two different WISEdash Portals. For a quick look at WISEdash, check out the WISEdash homepage and the “How Administrators Use WISEdash” section of WISEdash for Districts landing page.

• WISEdash Public is the DPI accountability tool. Available to the general public, student data is redacted to protect students' identities. No personally identifiable information (PII) is visible. Data on the public portal is available by school, district, or State.
• WISEdash for Districts is used by school districts as a data quality tool. Available by school staff with a need to know via a secure login. Data is available down to the individual student level for the district associated with the user.

WISExplore

WISExplore is a project focused on improving the data inquiry process. It provides processes and resources supporting data-informed decision-making for school and district leaders. The WISExplore data inquiry process is central to this work. Professional learning resources are provided to support data leadership, data literacy and the inquiry process for educators statewide.

WISEgrants

WISEgrants assists agencies receiving federal funds through the Department of Public Instruction. Agencies must adhere to the regulations under the Federal Uniform Grant Guidance (UGG) (2 CFR Part 200), the requirements of the Wisconsin Uniform Financial Accounting Requirements (WUFAR), the federal agency's regulations (such as the Education Department's General Administrative Regulations), and applicable state statutes. Agencies receiving ESEA, IDEA, and Carl Perkins formula funds submit applications for funding through the WISEgrants Web Portal.

WISEid

WISEid is a secure web application that maintains basic demographic information about people in schools. WISEid provides identity management by assigning a secure, individual identification number. WISEid aims to prevent data quality issues such as duplicate identifiers and mismatched records in state and federal reports.

WISEstaff

WISEstaff is a secure web application within WISEdata used to maintain required information about school staff members. The WISEstaff data collection facilitates the collection of agency staff demographic and assignment data. The WISEstaff data is used for multiple purposes and satisfies multiple reporting requirements. Only public schools report staff data to DPI.

School Directory

School Directory 

There are two different School Directory applications.

• School Directory Management Portal: Available by school staff with a need to know via a secure login. allows districts, independent charter schools, and private schools to update the DPI database directly with contact information, grade levels, addresses, and school calendars.
• School Directory Public Portal: Anyone can access this version of School Directory; it does not require a login. It is a searchable collection of schools (public, private, etc.) and local education agencies (LEA) in the state of Wisconsin. The digital content covered in the Wisconsin School Directory Public Portal is pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 115.30. It displays the school and district information entered into the Management Portal.

School Finance Services - SFS

• The School Financial Services team provides information and support to district administrators and fiscal staff, CESA/CCDEB administrators, legislators, public interest groups, taxpayers, researchers and media. For more information on the SFS team and the topics listed above, visit the SFS webpage.

Parental Education Options - PEO

• The Parental Education Options (PEO) team provides technical assistance to school districts, schools, families, and the public in the areas of public school open enrollment, private schools, the Private School Choice Programs, Special Needs Scholarship Program, charter schools, and home-based private education (homeschooling). For more information on the PEO team and the topics listed above, visit the PEO webpage.

• All superintendents are given access to OPAL (open enrollment student database), HOMER, (homeschooling database), TOS (transfer of service) and AUM (application user management system). District staff members who need access to OPAL, HOMER, and TOS must be authorized by the superintendent in AUM. The Department cannot add or delete users for these systems. Credentials for AUM will be provided to new superintendents by DPI’s open enrollment staff. These credentials will be used for AUM, OPAL, HOMER, and TOS. Credentials used for these systems are not the same as WAMS credentials.

If you are a new district administrator and need access to any of these systems, please contact DPI’s open enrollment team.

School Nutrition Team - SNT

• The School Nutrition team provides nutrition information and program guidance to sponsors of the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Wisconsin School Day Milk Program, Afterschool Snack Program and the USDA Foods Program. For more information on the SNT team and the topics listed above, visit the SNT webpage.

Important Deadlines

• There are two reporting deadlines for student information within WISEdata/WISEdash, one in December and another in May. The WISEdata Annual Tasks Checklist reviews these deadlines and their reporting requirements. To keep track of these important dates and other events, use the WISEdata Events and Due Dates Calendar.
• Additionally, there are two pupil count dates, one in September and one in January. Membership and reporting information can be found on the School Financial Services website.
  • Reporting accurate data before these deadlines is extremely important for federal reporting, public reporting, accountability report cards, and some funding determinations. Use the following webpages to prepare for each snapshot:
    • The Snapshot Preparation Guidance page for timing, data requirements and the most current snapshot training materials.
• Grant deadlines vary and are typically due August through October. More information can be found on the WISEgrants website.

Further Help and Resources

• Webpage for District Administrators
• WISE Help
• DPI General Contact Form