Community Youth Project

Next Act’s Community Youth Project features a custom-designed, participatory student performance inspired by one of the season’s main stage productions. The overall goal is to provide a select group of students with the opportunity and the means to create an artistic response to the Next Act production. Students will see the play and work with artist-educators to develop their project over the course of two to four weeks.

English Language Learner (ELL) Program

English language learners (ELLs) who love the arts but need additional language support are welcome at MHSA! We help students improve their skills in listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Our ELLs are placed into the same cohort and assisted by an ESL paraprofessional. 

Fran Bauer Young Critics Project (FBYCP)

Fran Bauer Young Critics Project (FBYCP) is an arts education program offered by Renaissance Theaterworks. The program is tied to various productions and is designed to encourage young women to use their voices in powerful ways through theater critique and professional writing. Selected students are invited to attend the first rehearsal of a performance before participating in a Master Class to craft their writing and critical thinking skills. Participants then attend a live performance of the show before writing a critique that is workshopped and given the opportunity to be published! FBYCP promotes the value of the performing arts, the importance of writing skills (especially knowing your audience), and the differences between personal opinion and insightful critique.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

To promote positive student behavior and improve learning, MPS uses a system of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS).

PBIS is a three-tiered approach that begins by teaching expectations and encouraging collaboration and consistency in classrooms. Teachers and students co-design agreements and routines that align with the acronym STAR: Safe, Timely, Accountable, and Respectful. These are the qualities we instill in our MHSA stars as they walk through our halls, participate in our classrooms, and collaborate to make meaningful statements in artistic ways about their world, their community, and their academic learning. Regular incentives are in place for those who exemplify these STAR expectations. For students who need more support, higher tiers offer structure, interventions, and follow-up to address specific concerns.

After years of use, MPS and other districts across the country are reporting higher student achievement, improved school environments, and fewer classroom disruptions and student suspensions.

Project Lead the Way (PLTW)

Project Lead the Way incorporates project-based science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning into the classroom. The program develops problem-solving and critical-thinking skills and encourages students to explore careers in technology and engineering fields.

Reading Residency Program

Milwaukee Rep’s Reading Residencies bring the English Language Arts curriculum to life by using theater to create strong, engaged readers. Students work on reading comprehension, literacy, and social and emotional skills through the lens of a Milwaukee Rep production. The Reading Residency classroom experience can include text analysis, read alouds, and performances. MHSA students then experience a Rep Immersion Day, which includes a matinee performance, lunch, and demonstrations on how to bring a piece of literature to the stage. An actor from Milwaukee Rep’s company also visits our Theatre classroom for a workshop.

Reel Talks

Through Milwaukee Film’s Reel Talks program, visiting and local filmmakers inspire our students through Q&As about their experiences in filmmaking. We also take a field trip to the Oriental Theatre to watch an entry in the Milwaukee Film Festival. (We were so inspired in the past that our Theatre and Visual Art students began their own annual Student Film Festival!)