All across Wisconsin, school is winding down for winter break. But before things start up again in January, how much do you really know? Not about math and reading — but about the schools themselves and some of the famous people who have attended school in Wisconsin.
Test your knowledge with our quiz. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something new.
A trio of brothers from Wisconsin played in the NFL. Who are they, and what high school did they graduate from?
JJ, Derek and TJ Watt all graduated from Pewaukee High School.
All three played college football at the University of Wisconsin — with JJ joining the Badgers as a transfer from Central Michigan University — and all three went on to play in the NFL.
The Houston Texans drafted JJ in 2011. He played for the Texans until after the 2020 season, then signed with the Arizona Cardinals, playing there in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons before retiring. He was a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Derek was drafted in 2016 by the then San Diego Chargers, now known as the Los Angeles Chargers. He played for the Chargers from 2016 to 2019 before joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, playing in Pittsburgh from 2020 to 2022 alongside his brother TJ. He retired in March.
TJ was drafted in 2017 by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he is still playing.
You might have seen the Watt brothers recently in a commercial for Dick’s Sporting Goods, along with their dad, John, and mom, Connie.
What Wisconsin high school has the most state team sports titles?
Madison West High School is the winningest high school, with 92 state team sports titles. Contributing most of those titles are the boys golf, boys swimming and diving and girls swimming and diving teams, with each of those teams winning 15 state titles, according to the most recent data available from the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
This famed former Brewers manager now manages the Chicago Cubs, but he went to high school in Wisconsin. Who is he, and where did he go to school?
Craig Counsell attended Whitefish Bay High School. Before becoming a major league manager, Counsell played for the Colorado Rockies, briefly for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers. He won World Series titles as a player with the Marlins in 1997 and with the Diamondbacks in 2001. He became the Brewers manager in 2015 and served in that role until 2023. Following the 2023 season, he took the job with the Brewers’ rival, the Chicago Cubs.
Shorewood High School is the alma mater for a trio of moviemakers, two of whom are brothers. Name them.
Brothers David and Jerry Zucker, along with Jim Abrahams, who wrote and directed famous slapstick comedy films in the 1980s, including “Airplane!” Abrahams recently died.
More: 5 things you surely might not know about ‘Airplane!’, the 1980 comedy classic made by 3 Milwaukeeans
The first kindergarten in the United States started in Wisconsin. Where and when?
Margarethe Meyer Schurz, the wife of German-American statesman Carl Schurz, established the first U.S. kindergarten in Watertown in 1856. She learned from Friedrich Froebel, who was a German schoolmaster who started the world’s first kindergarten in 1837.
What’s the average salary for a public school teacher in Wisconsin?
The average Wisconsin public school teacher salary for the 2022-23 school year was $62,524, according to the National Education Association, the national public school teachers union organization.
The puts the state 26th in the nation for average teacher salary.
The average starting salary for a public school teacher in Wisconsin is $41,151, ranking the state 38th in the nation.
How many students are enrolled in Wisconsin public schools?
The last certified statewide enrollment data from the DPI, from the 2023-24 school year, showed 814,002 students enrolled in public schools in Wisconsin. That number is down 8,802 students from the 2022-23 school year statewide enrollment of 822,804 students.
How many homeschooled students are there in Wisconsin?
According to the DPI’s 2023-24 school year data, the most recent available, there were an estimated 29,599 homeschooled students in the state. That was an increase from the 28,853 homeschooled students in the state during the 2022-23 school year.
Who was the only Wisconsinite to be named National Teacher of the Year?
Helen “Missy” Adams of Cumberland Elementary School won the award in 1961. She is one of six Wisconsin finalists for the award all time, according to the DPI. The most recent finalist was Chris Gleason, a teacher at Patrick Marsh Middle School in the Sun Prairie Area School District, in 2017.
How many public school districts are there in Wisconsin?
There are 421 public school districts in the state, according to the 2023-24 Wisconsin Legislature’s Blue Book section on public education.
What’s the state’s largest school district?
Milwaukee Public Schools is, by far, the state’s largest district, had 66,864 students enrolled in 2023-24, according to data from the DPI.
The Madison Metropolitan School District is a distant second, with 25,247 students.
What’s the smallest district in the state?
The Norris School District, which serves students in grades K4-12, in rural southwestern Waukesha County, had just 37 students enrolled in 2023-24, according to the DPI. It offers enrollment in both Norris Academy and its virtual school, Norris Academy Virtual School.
Superintendent Johnna Noll said, “We’re basically serving kids that either have been identified with disabilities or kids just haven’t been successful in their conventional school environment.”
About a third of the school’s enrollment comes through open enrollment. Students also come to the school through a tuition placement program in which school districts can pay tuition to send a student to the Norris School District, along with students living in a residential treatment facility, River’s Edge Campus Inc.
River’s Edge in Mukwonago provides residential treatment services for boys ages 8-17. Norris Academy provides educational services for those students.
Noll said the district uses a learner-centered, trauma-invested and community-based model focused on students and their talents, hobbies and aspirations.
The Washington Island School District, the state’s second-smallest school district, had just 56 students enrolled in 2023-24, according to the DPI.
What Wisconsin city claims to be the only city in the state with two public school districts?
The city of De Pere, south of Green Bay, claims on its website that it is the only city in the state with two public school districts: the Unified School District of De Pere and the West De Pere School District.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin school trivia: How much do you know?
