Here are corrected figures for the percentages of students who scored proficient or better in English Language Arts on the 2016-17 Wisconsin Forward exam:

All students: 44.5%
Economically-disadvantaged students: 26.3%
Black students: 14.6%
Students with disabilities: 13.1%
We don’t want to make the results look any worse than they actually are. If you are exploring scores in Wisedash, be aware that the advanced percentages for many sub-groups are so small that the numbers don’t show on the graph. You need to hover your mouse above the thin blue “advanced” bar to find those numbers. Advanced percentages were 3.6 for economically-disadvantaged students, 1.7 for black students, and 1.6 for students with disabilities.

Given the ambitious goals of Wisconsin’s ESSA Plan to close gaps between sub-groups, it is also noteworthy that the gaps between economically disadvantaged and advantaged, black and white, students without and without disabilities, and English language learners and English proficient students all INCREASED from 2015-16.

Locally, Madison has long tolerated disastrous reading results.