Wauwatosa STEM was the Wauwatosa School District's first charter school.

In 2007,  the Wauwatosa School District and a dedicated group of parents and teachers set out to pilot a new model of education for the twenty-first century. The Wauwatosa STEM charter school was launched with 42 students. We have experienced a student waitlist every year amidst a seven-year growth plan.

The mission of Wauwatosa STEM is to provide an innovative and dynamic learning environment where students are encouraged to navigate their own course. Individual needs are met in a cooperative, supportive learning community through an engaging and challenging curriculum rooted in the sciences, technology, engineering, and math. The vision of Wauwatosa STEM is to provide an environment where students are inspired to inquire, investigate and discover the world around them.

Wauwatosa STEM shares a building with Wilson Elementary School and is located in southern part of Wauwatosa, nestled in a neighborhood in close proximity to the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, which includes Froedtert Hospital and Children's Hospital.

Our walkable neighborhood school serves the neighborhoods of Glenview Heights and Ravenswood.

We have a committed PTSA (parent-teacher association) and an active student body with numerous co-curricular opportunities to engage in (details can be found under the Activities tab on the homepage).

Academically, WSTEM routinely is among the top-performing elementary schools in the state on the Department of Public Instruction's State Accountability Report Card. 

In 2011, the school was recognized as an IBM Intel School of Distinction for its values, approach, and outcomes related to mathematics. WSTEM was one of 18 finalists selected from 156 applications from 38 states.

Field Trips

Field trips at Wauwatosa STEM are integral to the mission of the school and its vision of providing environments where students are inspired to inquire, investigate and discover the world around them. They are viewed as extensions of the classroom. All experiences are curriculum driven and are planned to enhance certain areas of study. Creating authentic learning experiences associated with the core STEM expectations has become an important educational practice at WSTEM.

Our field trips facilitate the learning of abstract concepts and improve long-term retention of concepts. Our beyond-the-classroom experiences are intended to develop a social consciousness and an increased appreciation for the phenomenon being studied. The field trips are designed to immerse the students in the experience while motivating students through increased interest and curiosity.

Field trips are seen as a practical application and component of life at Wauwatosa STEM and are a sustaining element to the WSTEM experience.

Key Aspects of our School

• A science, technology, engineering and math focus
• State standard expectation
• Flexible student grouping
• A hands-on approach to learning
• Individualized, student-driven culture
• Project-based learning
• Student-to-student learning (intergenerational groupings)
• Multi-aged cohorts (grade equivalent kindergarten to 5th grade)
• Looping (the same teacher for a two-year cycle in multi-aged classrooms)
• Innovative methodologies and curriculum (Singapore Math, Balanced Literacy Program, Engineering is Elementary, science labs)
• Maintaining a 1:1 technology device initiative

Fast Facts 

Serves: Grades K-5

Number of Students: 135

Number of Staff: 30

Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

Daily Schedule: 

M, T, TH, F: SK-5:  8:20 AM - 3:20 PM

*Wednesdays release one hour earlier in the afternoon (2:20 p.m.)