WE-Lead Wisconsin
Wisconsin Educators Leading Family Engagement
WE-Lead — Wisconsin Educators Leading Family Engagement — is a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing the Parent Teacher Home Visits model to three Wisconsin communities through a partnership with the National Education Association (NEA) and three of Wisconsin's most respected local teacher unions.
Launched in February 2026, WE-Lead is a proof of concept designed to show the nation what becomes possible when organized educators lead on family engagement, supported by a model with 25+ years of evidence behind it.
The Partnership
WE-Lead is built on a simple belief: when educators and families are on the same team, students win.
That belief has been at the heart of PTHV since 1998, when our founders in Sacramento worked alongside their local teachers’ union to develop the home visit model from scratch. The union was at the table from day one and has been instrumental in leading districts around the nation in serving teaching and learning through community. That tradition continues in Wisconsin.
Three local unions — Madison Teachers Inc. (MTI), the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA), and Racine Educators United — are leading this initiative in their communities, supported by the National Education Association and the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC).
The Training
Each participating educator goes through PTHV’s comprehensive training before conducting their first home visit. The training is grounded in PTHV’s five non-negotiable core practices — the principles that have protected the integrity of the model across 700+ schools in 32 states:
- Visits are voluntary. No family is ever required to participate, and visits are arranged in advance with the family’s full knowledge and consent.
- Educators are compensated. Home visits are professional work. Educators are paid for their time — full stop.
- Conversations center on hopes and dreams. The first visit begins with one question: “What are your hopes and dreams for your child?” Not grades. Not behavior. Not compliance. Hopes and dreams.
- Educators visit a cross-section of students. WE-Lead is not an intervention for struggling students. It is a relationship-building practice for every educator and every family. Moreover, it is a strategy for district leaders to begin to resolve some of the most pressing problems facing schools today, including teacher retention, chronic absenteeism, and student achievement.
- Educators reflect together. After each visit, educators debrief with their home visit partner — processing what they learned and thinking together about how to carry those insights back into the classroom.
Educators who go through PTHV training and begin the practice describe a fundamental shift in how they think about the families of their students — from assumptions rooted in deficit thinking to genuine curiosity rooted in respect.
The Three Communities
Madison — Launched February 20, 2026. Over 35 educators from Carl Sandburg and Franklin Elementary Schools, trained at The Hub in partnership with Madison Teachers Inc. and the Madison Metropolitan School District. Home visits begin spring 2026.
Milwaukee — Launched February 21, 2026. 28 educators in the first cohort, trained at MTEA headquarters in partnership with the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and Milwaukee Public Schools. Home visits begin spring 2026.
Racine — Launching March 10, 2026. Racine Educators United brings WE-Lead to Racine Unified School District. Details coming soon.
What Education Leaders Say about PTHV
Voices from the Field
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This is the work we should be doing. This is the work that's going to get us through the time that we're in.
- Anne T. Henderson
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All of the policies that affect everything that we do in our classrooms are crafted by people who are not in the classroom.
- Missy Testerman
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We don't want the first interaction being a parent-teacher conference where they don't feel comfortable. They should have prior engagements.
- Tim Finklea
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I think it takes one visit. I really do. If we save one relationship, if we build one relationship, if we have one student that I made a difference for, it was worth it.
- Superintendent Georgia Rhett
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"What are your hopes and dreams for your kids?" When I heard that the first time, it just had such a profound impact, and you immediately know in your bones, nothing bad can come out of that conversation.
- Kwesi Rollins
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What's at stake if teachers aren't prepared? They may not be able to establish or build trusting relationships, and they could do some serious damage by perpetuating stereotypes.
- Jenna Porter
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You can't get rigor or relevance if you haven't built a relationship with your students first.
- Ashlee Teczon
#PTHVWorks
An Evidence-Based Practice
Students whose families participated in a home visits were 21% less likely to be chronically absent. Source
Students attending schools where home visits are systematically implemented are 22% less likely to be chronically absent. Source
Students attending schools where home visits are systematically implemented are 35% more likely to score proficient on standardized assessments in English and math. Source
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Bring PTHV to Your Community
Partner with us to train educators and transform school culture through relationship-building home visits.
PTHV advances student success and school improvement by leveraging relationships, research, and a national network of partners to advance evidence-based practices in relational home visits within a comprehensive family engagement strategy.
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Support
PTHV is a nonprofit grassroots network that must raise its operating budget every year. Like the local home visit projects we help, our network is sustained by collaboration.