Getting Started
Welcome! We are excited to have you join us as a Direct Admit Wisconsin participating high school. This resource is meant to provide you critical information about Direct Admit Wisconsin program and connect you with resources and tools to have a successful program launch at your high school.
Onboarding Checklist
These are the tasks that all new schools should complete to ensure that they’re set up for success with Direct Admit Wisconsin.
- Attend a Direct Admit Information Session to learn more about the program and how to participate
- Complete the New High School Participation Survey by the deadline (late October, specific dates will vary by year)
- Sign up for our Direct Admit News updates
- Ensure that your district superintendent (if public) or head of school (if private) has submitted the Direct Admit Wisconsin Data Sharing Agreement by the deadline (late November, specific dates will vary by year)
- Build your Direct Admit WI program team
- Determine the strategy you will use to sign-up participating students (opt-in or opt-out)
- Communicate the participation process to students and families.
- Sign up for a virtual Onboarding Session for technical information on how to implement Direct Admit at your school (held early Spring Semester each year)
High School Responsibilities
We have over 500 high schools participating in Direct Admit Wisconsin. In order to ensure that we have the most accurate information about your students and that their data is processed in a timely fashion, we ask all high schools to do the following:
- Review the resources and documents available on our High School Resources including our Key Dates
- Engage in and review on-going communications from the Universities of Wisconsin, including, but not limited to:
- Training materials
- Direct Admit Wisconsin News emails
- Webinars
- Individual calls or emails to address questions
- Share Direct Admit Wisconsin participation information with students, their families and other high school staff
- Ensure that students and families receive the opt in/out form in a timely fashion before the May 1 deadline
- Accomplish key tasks within the appropriate timeline
- Understand the Direct Admit Wisconsin admission requirements
- Ensure your high school is able to report a cumulative unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale for all students who elect to participate
- Set up the appropriate requirements in your student information system to verify student eligibility and extract data to send to the Universities of Wisconsin
Best Practices
Managing Direct Admit Wisconsin
Managing Direct Admit Wisconsin is a team process with important roles being played by administrators, counselors and technology team members. It is highly recommended that you identify the key individuals who will play a role in facilitating all the pieces of the Direct Admit Wisconsin program at your high school and/or district. Because our primary data submission window opens over the summer, it is necessary to ensure that at least one Direct Admit team member is willing and able to submit student data during the summer months and able to connect with other team members if necessary.
A typical team might include a principal, a school counselor, and a SIS/technology coordinator.
Student Participation Strategy
Identification of participating students is managed at the district and/or high school level. Schools can use an opt-in or opt-out process. If students opt-in, they and their parent(s)/guardian(s) are asked to submit a form confirming their interest in participating. If students opt-out, they and their parent(s)/guardian(s) are asked to submit a form only if they do not wish to participate. In general, we recommend an opt-out strategy, as our data indicates that this strategy significantly increases participation rates.
We recommend that high schools incorporate the opt in/out process into their annual student enrollment and counseling cycles – junior year orientation in early fall is a great time to do this.
Communicating About Direct Admit Wisconsin
It is best to share information about Direct Admit Wisconsin with students and families early and via as many pathways as possible. We are striving to grow our toolkit of materials for you to share information with families, including a flyer, slide deck, and videos.
We have found that engaging with both juniors and seniors in early fall is the ideal time to
Ensure that all staff at your high school are aware of who the Direct Admit Wisconsin team members are, and communicate relevant information to all staff on a regular basis.
Asking for Support on Direct Admit Wisconsin
Don’t hesitate to contact us with questions or concerns. We are always available via email, phone, or video call to help navigate challenges or help you troubleshoot technical problems. The earlier that you can connect with us about issues, the more likely it is that we can address them with the best possible solution.