Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC)

What Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) does

Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) is a university-affiliated evaluation unit operating within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, governed by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Established in 2016 and staffed by approximately 8 professionals in Madison, Wisconsin, WEC conducts program evaluations within education and community systems through project-based contracts with federal and state agencies, K-12 school districts, Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs), professional associations, and nonprofit organizations. The organization is not an independent commercial company; it is an academic service unit embedded in a major public research university.

WEC's portfolio is built around a core Evaluation Services offering supported by eight interconnected service modules: logic modeling and evaluation planning, research and evaluation question crafting, data sourcing and collection, surveys and focus groups, statistical analysis, continuous improvement design, dissemination and data visualization, and community and contextually centered evaluation. An additional Graduate Student Training Clinic extends evaluation capacity to smaller projects while training UW-Madison graduate students in applied research methods. There is no software product or platform - WEC is a professional-services consultancy whose "core technology" is a contextually responsive, community-centered evaluation methodology drawing on the methodological diversity of WCER and the School of Education.

The business model is consultative and project-based. Prospective clients initiate engagement through a "Request Information" form, leading to scoping conversations and quote-based contracts. Notable clients include the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (flagship 2025 Achievement Gap Reduction program evaluation), Wisconsin Department of Corrections, Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Madison Metropolitan School District, Milwaukee Public Schools, Dallas Independent School District, Racine Unified School District, AmeriCorps, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, multiple United Way affiliates, Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, and WIDA. Marketing is primarily organic and institutional, relying on UW-Madison channels, a Threads account, Google Scholar publications, and thought leadership through evaluation reports rather than paid demand generation.

Name

Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC)

Legal name

Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC)

Website

https://wec.wceruw.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) is a UW-Madison-affiliated evaluation unit providing program evaluation, research, and capacity-building services to K-12 districts, state agencies, and community organizations, focused on community-centered, contextually responsive methods.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Program Evaluation Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDADADAD

Education Policy Evaluation & Impact Assessment Organizations

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Education Policy, Research & Think Tanks

SECONDARYEDADAGAD

Institutional Effectiveness & Continuous Improvement Reviews

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Education Quality Assurance, Compliance & Audit

SECONDARYEDADAGAC

Academic Quality Reviews (Program & Department)

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Education Quality Assurance, Compliance & Audit

Keywords

• Program evaluation services
• Education program evaluation
• Formative and summative evaluation
• Evaluation capacity building
• K-12 program assessment

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Government and Agency Evaluation Contracts: WEC conducts program evaluations under contract with federal and state agencies, including the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Revenue is generated through project-based evaluation contracts.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) provides comprehensive program evaluation, research, and facilitation services to education and community systems. The core offering spans consultations, strategic evaluation planning, evaluation design feedback, data collection (surveys, focus groups), statistical analysis, continuous improvement design, dissemination, and community/contextually centered evaluation. A graduate student outreach clinic extends evaluation support to smaller projects while training future evaluators.

Product overview

Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC) is a unit within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) at UW–Madison that provides a portfolio of evaluation services rather than a software product. The core offering is comprehensive Evaluation Services supported by eight interconnected service modules: Logic Modeling and Evaluation Planning, Research and Evaluation Question Crafting, Data Sourcing and Collection, Surveys and Focus Groups, Statistical Analysis, Continuous Improvement Design, Dissemination and Data Visualization, and Community and Contextually Centered Evaluation. An additional Graduate Student Training Clinic extends services to small projects while building evaluation capacity in the field. WEC operates as a consulting and research services organization, not a technology product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Evaluation Services Comprehensive evaluation assistance for education and community systems, including consultations to discuss evaluation needs, strategic evaluation planning, feedback on evaluation designs and methods, and full-scale program evaluation services. Targeted at federal and state agencies, school districts, professional associations, education-based community organizations, and Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs).
• Graduate Student Training Clinic An outreach clinic providing evaluation services to small projects through applied training of graduate students in evaluation and research methods. Designed for community organizations and initiatives needing evaluation support at smaller scale while building evaluation capacity in the field.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2025 evaluation of Achievement Gap Reduction program analyzing impact of one-to-one tutoring and class size reduction on student growth in K-3 classrooms
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

40 partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• ADVANCEGeo PartnershipminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership focused on advancing geographic education and research.
• Alverno CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWisconsin-based women's college partnership for educational evaluation initiatives.
• Alzheimer's Disease Research Center – Research Education Component Scholar Program (ADRC-REC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUW-Madison partnership for research education and evaluation.
• AmeriCorpscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational service organization partnership for program evaluation of service initiatives.
• AWSAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAssociation for Wisconsin School Administrators partnership for educational leadership evaluation.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of AmericacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational youth development organization partnership for program evaluation.
• Carroll UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWisconsin-based private university partnership for educational evaluation.
• Chicago Quantum ExchangeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerQuantum science research network partnership for specialized evaluation.
• Consortium of Applied Research, UW-Green BayminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity consortium partnership for applied research collaboration.
• Dallas Independent School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLarge urban school district partnership for comprehensive K-12 evaluation.
• Dane County Human ServicesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCounty human services department partnership for community program evaluation.
• Discussion Project and Deliberation DinnersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCivic engagement initiative partnership for evaluation of discussion programs.
• Eagle SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndependent school partnership for educational evaluation.
• Fund for Wisconsin ScholarsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNonprofit foundation partnership for scholarship program evaluation.
• Lab for Physical Sciences (LPS), LPS Quantum Collaborative (LQC) at University of MarylandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFederal research laboratory partnership for quantum science evaluation.
• Madison Metropolitan School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal school district partnership for K-12 educational evaluation.
• Mount Mary UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWisconsin-based women's university partnership for educational evaluation.
• Milwaukee Public SchoolscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLarge urban school district partnership for comprehensive K-12 evaluation.
• Milwaukee SucceedsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollective impact initiative partnership for community education evaluation.
• One City SchoolsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMadison-based early childhood education organization partnership.
• Racine Unified School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWisconsin school district partnership for K-12 educational evaluation.
• Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence (SCOARE) at MD Anderson Cancer CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational cancer research center partnership for scientific communication evaluation.
• Solution TreeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation improvement organization partnership for professional development evaluation.
• Street Law, Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegal education nonprofit partnership for civic education program evaluation.
• UCLA Department of PhysicsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch university partnership for physics education evaluation.
• United Way of Dane CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal United Way partnership for community initiative evaluation.
• United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional United Way partnership for community program evaluation.
• United Way of Racine CountycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal United Way partnership for community initiative evaluation.
• UW–Madison Inclusion in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUW-Madison institute partnership for diversity and inclusion research evaluation.
• UW–Madison Physics DepartmentminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity department partnership for physics education evaluation.
• UW–Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNSF-funded research center partnership for materials science evaluation.
• Vanderbilt UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch university partnership for educational evaluation collaboration.
• We Will All RiseminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth development organization partnership for program evaluation.
• Wisconsin Department of CorrectionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState agency partnership for corrections education program evaluation.
• Wisconsin Department of Health ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState agency partnership for health-related program evaluation.
• Wisconsin Department of Public InstructioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerState education agency partnership for statewide program evaluation including Achievement Gap Reduction program.
• Wisconsin Early Childhood AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly childhood education association partnership for program evaluation.
• Wisconsin Statewide Community Schools CoalitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStatewide coalition partnership for community schools initiative evaluation.
• Wisconsin Institutes of DiscoveryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUW-Madison research institute partnership for discovery and innovation evaluation.
• WIDAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLanguage development assessment consortium partnership for educational assessment program evaluation.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• WestEd: WestEd is a nonprofit education research and evaluation organization that conducts program evaluations for districts, states, and foundations. It is directly comparable to WEC as a mission-driven evaluation intermediary serving K–12 and education systems.
• IMPAQ International: IMPAQ is a mid-sized research and evaluation firm focused on education, workforce, and social programs. It is comparable to WEC in scale and service mix, often competing for similar federal and state evaluation RFPs.
• Education Development Center (EDC): EDC is a nonprofit that designs, delivers, and evaluates education and health programs domestically and globally. Like WEC, it combines program evaluation with capacity-building and applied research for districts and states.
• Child Trends: Child Trends is a nonprofit research organization that evaluates programs serving children, youth, and families — directly overlapping with WEC's education and community systems evaluation work, particularly for nonprofit partners like Boys & Girls Clubs.
• Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest: REL Midwest is one of ten federally funded RELs that conduct applied research and evaluation for regional education stakeholders. It is a direct peer given WEC's work with Wisconsin schools and state agencies.

Broad incumbents

• Abt Associates: Abt Associates is a large research and evaluation consultancy serving federal, state, and foundation clients across education, health, and social policy. It overlaps with WEC on K–12 and human services evaluation contracts.
• RAND Corporation: RAND conducts education policy research and program evaluations for federal agencies and foundations. While much larger and broader, RAND is a relevant comparable for WEC's policy evaluation work in education and community systems.
• Mathematica Policy Research: Mathematica is a large, established policy research and evaluation firm with deep federal contract experience across education, health, and human services. It competes with WEC for many of the same federal and state evaluation procurements but at much greater scale.
• SRI International: SRI's Center for Learning and Development conducts education program evaluations and policy research. While operating across many domains, its education evaluation practice directly overlaps with WEC's core service offering.
• American Institutes for Research (AIR): AIR is one of the largest U.S. behavioral and social science research organizations, with extensive K–12 and education evaluation practices. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same state and federal evaluation contracts WEC targets.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wecuwmadison

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative (WEC)