Search Results for: dpi scores
Taxpayer Funded Wisconsin DPI finalizes Lowers K-12 ‘cut scores,’ even as criticism continues
Cleo Krejci Jill Underly, the top DPI official, finalized those changes Sept. 3. They will be applied to 2024-25 state report card data, which will be released in November. “Just as you wouldn’t rely on a decade-old GPS to find your way today, we can’t use outdated performance benchmarks to guide school improvement,” Underly said […]
Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection?
Dave Cieslewicz And the racial achievement gap in Madison was far worse than the rest of the state. Statewide the gaps were 43% for English and 50% for math. About 60% of white students were proficient in English compared to 17% of Black students. About 64% of white students were proficient or better in math […]
Notes on the latest reduced rigor taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI test scores
Quinton Klabon: State test scores, out tomorrow, are inflated, biased, and unreliable. DPI knew achievement gaps for Black, low-income, and special-needs students would grow. Superintendent Underly criticized “nonsense going on with literacy” while Act 20 negotiations occurred. And So, why lower them? Because they were killing the vibes. Superintendent Underly wanted them changed in JANUARY […]
Wisconsin taxpayer funded “DPI pretends our NAEP scores aren’t gross”
Quinton Klabon: Good news! DPI fixed Milwaukee Public Schools! No, I don’t mean MPS’ finance crisis. The Forward Exam categories were OFFENSIVE.YUCKY: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, AdvancedHAPPY: Developing, Approaching, Meeting, Advanced So, 68% of Black students are Developing. ✨ Will Flanders Changing terms for student performance on the Forward Exam will only serve to cloud […]
Judge finds Wisconsin DPI improperly released test scores to media
Todd Richmond: The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction violated state law when it withheld voucher students’ standardized test scores for a day last fall, a judge ruled Friday. School Choice Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a conservative law firm, sued the department in Jefferson County court in November. The lawsuit revolved […]
Institute for Reforming Government Sues Wisconsin DPI Over Water Park Retreat
Dan O’Donnell The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) has filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and its Standard Setting Committee, alleging violations of the state’s Open Meetings Law during a closed-door conference at a Wisconsin Dells resort in 2024. The suit, filed in Adams County (where the Chula Vista Resort […]
DPI failing Milwaukee students by holding reading funding | Opinion
Cavalier Johnson, Howard Fuller, Gregory Wesley and JoAnne Anton In Milwaukee, nearly three out of four fourth graders cannot read at a basic level. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — the nation’s most respected measure of student achievement — only 9% of Milwaukee’s fourth graders scored as proficient in reading, and the […]
DPI’s “Legislative Liaison” and open records
Wiseye: On April 15, 2026, the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency will hold an informational hearingon Department of Public Instruction policies, procedures, and compliance regarding open meetings laws and open records laws; standard-setting and benchmarking process for the Forward Exam. Speakers: ——- Dairyland Sentinel: So far, DPI has said.They dragged their feet on […]
Botched report cards, lowered standards, licensing and finance scandals erode faith in DPI
Jim Bender & Patrick McIlheran: Accused of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence — and new questions about whether it is capable of handling myriad key functions. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice […]
This is all you need to know: “Wisconsin DPI’s report cards measure poverty, not quality”
Quinton Klabon: ——- Poverty explains 50% of Forward Exam scores and 36% of ACT. So, control for poverty, and you can accurately rate and rank schools! best: Wauzeka-Steuben (small), Fond Du Lac (medium), Sheboygan/Janesville (big) ——- large districts’ Forward: Sheboygan: mid 4Janesville: mid 4Elmbrook: high 3Waukesha: mid 3Middleton: mid 3Wausau: mid 3Eau Claire: mid 3Appleton: […]
Taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI: Governance and Outcone Inquiries
By Jim Bender & Patrick McIlheran Accused of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence — and new questions about whether it is capable of handling myriad key functions. The latest blow […]
Notes on an audit of the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI
Kayla Huynh: The state Legislature’s bipartisan audit committee on Nov. 5 ordered a review into the Department of Public Instruction’s process for removing, suspending or restricting educator licenses. The audit comes as State Superintendent Jill Underly has received criticism for her department’s handling of grooming and sexual misconduct allegations against licensed school staff. The Legislative Audit Bureau will examine the […]
Wisconsin Legislature launches audit of DPI licensing processes following sexual misconduct, grooming cases
Danielle DuClos: State legislators called both hearings this week in response to reporting by the Cap Times that uncovered hundreds of sexual misconduct and grooming investigations conducted by the department from 2018 through 2023. In a joint statement, the audit commitee’s co-chairs — Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, and Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia — said Underly and the department “failed […]
Accountability and the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI
Mark Treinen: I’ve been doing journalism a long time and don’t recall a public official ever demanding a “public correction” of an entire story, and then proposing a bunch of fixes to the exact problems highlighted in the @CapTimes story. Jon Styf: DPI Superintendent Jill Underly appeared in front of the Senate Committee on Education […]
notes on the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI and Jill Underly’s re-election
David Blaska: All committed under the un-watchful eye of Superintendent Underly, a MAGA-hating progressive bought by the Democrat(ic) party (to the tune of $1,141,632 — 80% of her total campaign funding), supported by the teachers union, and endorsed by The Capital Times itself. As the news outlet reported: The WI Department of Public Instruction investigated more than […]
Notes on Raising Virginia’s k-12 test cut scores
Todd Truitt: Superintendent from Virginia’s largest school division says increasing the # of questions to be proficient on our standardized tests (from the lowest in the nation) will demotivate students. Nonsensical, self-serving statements like these undermine public schools. ——— Marc Porter Magee: “Amber Northern, a Virginia Board of Education member, said at the board’s September […]
Notes on taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Governance and $pending practices
Tom Tiffany: Wisconsin’s DPI poured time and resources into a 35-page DEI Plan but couldn’t find time to fully investigate 200+ teacher sexual misconduct cases. Our kids deserve better than woke leadership and coverups. Yet all we hear from Tony Evers and Jill Underly are crickets. 🦗 ——- more. ——— Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI […]
Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Jill Underly Responds to Cap Times Educator Misconduct Article
Keegan Kyle: Underly stood by the department’s practice of allowing educators under investigation for misconduct to voluntarily surrender their licenses to avoid further investigation. She said voluntary license surrenders often spare victims from “retraumatization through lengthy investigations.” She also called these license surrenders a “binding, legal agreement to a permanent, lifetime ban on their ability […]
DPI 2nd Response to My 6 October Act 20 Literacy Data Request
Adding to the curious tale for data submitted to DPI 7.15.2025: e-mail received 21 October, 2025: Jim, Public records laws do not require agencies to create records that do not currently already exist. The data you requested is not currently available in a record that is responsive to your request. Districts are required to submit […]
Taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Financial Governance Review: Choice vs Non Choice
Quinton Klabon summary: LAB said DPI is very harsh to choice schools! DPI threatened to defund private schools whose finances were 1 week late and defunded after 1 month. DPI…perhaps did not threaten districts? And it took DPI 5.5 months to defund MPS? 1 month versus half a year is a big disparity! ——- ——— […]
Wisconsin DPI: Ongoing Disastrous Reading Sausage Making
Quinton Klabon: Will reading reforms work in Wisconsin? By July 1st, teachers were supposed to relearn reading instruction the way the best states do it. Unfortunately ——- More: DPI misinterpreted Act 20 to say there was no deadline to follow the law. The Legislature has not enforced it, nor have they updated the law to […]
“Now test scores are falling in New England, rising in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama”
Joanne Jacobs: Now test scores are falling in New England, rising in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, he writes. While leaders of the “Southern Surge” focused relentlessly on improving reading instruction, New England schools were lowering expectations, Huffaker writes. To end the Massachusetts Malaise, leaders must “override the wishes of popular and powerful teachers unions, […]
notes on data veracity and the Taxpayer Funded Wisconsin DPI
Will Flanders: It appears DPI got the data wrong about private school choice performance in their press release on state tests. They note a decline in performance of 2.3 percentage point in ELA and a 2.7 percentage points in math. More from Will: Earlier I tweeted a question to @WisconsinDPI about their press release on […]
“It’s hard for folks to grasp that decades of DPI incompetence mean we now look up at the state that forever was a symbol of failure”
Will Flanders Summary: The title of this thread on the Wisconsin Reddit is both funny and sad because WI should only WISH to be Mississippi when it comes to NAEP scores. Dan Lennington: Tony Evers has been in charge of Wisconsin education policy since 2009 (& effectively since 2001). Republicans have been completely unable to […]
“The most recent national math test scores found only about one-third of 12th graders are ready for entry-level college math”
Corrinne Hess: State Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, was one of the authors of the reading bill known as Act 20. He says he now wants to create similar legislation for math. During a press conference on Sept. 10, Kitchens said a bill will be introduced soon that will include math screeners to provide testing […]
Madison’s latest reduced rigor state test scores
Erin Gretzinger Last school year, district administrators said, elementary schools experienced stable or decreasing scores in literacy and math, while attendance improved. Middle schools improved across the board. High schools had mixed results in literacy and math scores, with decreases in attendance and graduation rates. District administrators told School Board members they are evaluating last year’s […]
“But the report cards will still be inaccurate and less helpful because DPI made a flawed scale…..
Quinton Klabon: 2025 SCHOOL REPORT CARD CUT SCORES SENT TO DPI FOR APPROVAL Corrine Hess For some, one of the most confusing aspects of the report cards is that sometimes those stars don’t align with student proficiency rates in math and reading. And that isn’t likely to be changed this go-around. ——— Wisconsin DPI press […]
Illinois proposes lowering scores students need to be deemed proficient on state tests
Samantha Smylie and Becky Vevea More students in Illinois would be considered proficient on the state’s annual math and reading tests under a proposal to change cut scores, which the Illinois State Board of Education is set to vote on Wednesday. Cut scores are the scores that separate students into broad categories of achievement, now […]
Taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI continues to reduce rigor measures
Chris Rickert: A group of 32 education officials is set to work with the New Hampshire-based Center for Assessment on updating the report card metrics. Underly would have the final say on approving them. ——- Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection?
An update on Sausage Making at the Taxpayer Funded Wisconsin DPI
Quinton Klabon: Here is who will help set Wisconsin school report card standards. There is not much they can do. The law is specific and key districts would get mad. So, wait for 2029 when DPI updates reading/maths standards, raise test cut scores to NAEP, and remake report cards accurately. ——— Meanwhile: The taxpayer funded Madison […]
Ongoing Rigor Reduction at the Taxpayer Funded Wisconsin DPi
Will Flanders Last yr, DPI met behind closed doors to lower the standards for the Forward Exam. Now, they will apparently do the same thing for the state report card. We need transparency in these meetings. Why are these standard settings that effect all WI families held behind closed doors? —— Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin […]
llinois considers lowering scores students need to be considered proficient on state exams
Samantha Smylie The Illinois State Board of Education agreed Wednesday to move ahead with a process to change the state’s testing system, though the exact details still are being worked out. That process will include creating new “cut scores,” or the lowest score needed for a student to be sorted into broad categories of achievement […]
Truth and the Taxpayer Funded Wisconsin DPI
Will Flanders DPI still claims they didn’t lower the standards, but this data release proves that to be a lie. It’s time we stopped allowing DPI to lie to us on the continuing failures of our public schools. —— Quinton Klabon: DPI uploaded scores in the least usable way possible, so I did it for […]
“Specifically, these include assurances that the WDPI and its subrecipients comply with federal statutes related to nondiscrimination,”
Chris Rickert: The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both DPI and the Madison School District offer various programs and resources in the DEI field, although whether any of them would violate the Trump administration’s interpretation of federal nondiscrimination law is unclear. Among the resources offered by DPI […]
Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underlying refuses to comply with the federal request to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools.
Corrinne Hess Schools that fail to comply with the Trump administration’s directive about diversity, equity, and inclusion may be at risk of losing Title I funding. This school year, Wisconsin received about $216 million in Title I funds. About $82 million of that money went to Milwaukee Public Schools. Underly said the request from the […]
Public Records Reveal How Wisconsin Supt. Underly’s DPI Set Stage for MPS Finance Crisis
IFRG: New public recordsreleased Thursday by the Institute for Reforming Government’s (IRG) Center for Investigative Oversight reveal how the Department of Public Instruction’s lenient enforcement of Milwaukee Public Schools’ 2024 finance deadlines set up different, more destructive outcomes than DPI’s stricter enforcement in previous years. Superintendent Underly’s DPI released the records March 5, 2025, 8 months after IRG’s June […]
2025 Wisconsin DPI election: $2.7 million backing Underly and $1.7 million supporting Kinser
WisPolitics email summary: The record spending in Wisconsin’s state schools superintendent race between education consultant Brittany Kinser and incumbent Jill Underly has now hit $4.5 million. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection? notes and links on Incumbent DPI Superintendent Jill Underly.
Civics: Open Records and the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI
Dairyland Sentinel: Sixty-four days have passed since the Dairyland Sentinel filed an open records request with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and State Superintendent, Dr Jill Underly. Underly and the Department have yet to hand over the records, despite the legal requirement to do so. The request, submitted Jan. 21, seeks details on controversial changes […]
A vote for Brittany Kinser on the April 1 2025 Wisconsin DPI election
Dave Cieslewicz: “We’re voting for Kinser as much as we’re voting against incumbent Jill Underly. Underly is underwhelming. In our view, she rigged state test scores just before the election to make her record look better. Even Gov. Tony Evers, who once held her job, disagreed with her. Then she further eroded her credibility by submitting a […]
Notes on the one Wisconsin DPI 2025 Candidate Forum
WisPolitics: Ahead of the forum, Kinser and Republicans have repeatedly attacked Underly for changing the educational assessment standards, charging the incumbent lowered the standards which leads to misrepresentation of how students are doing. The GOP-run Legislature passed a bill to reject the Underly change. It’s now before Gov. Tony Evers. Underly has defended the change, […]
Wisconsin Senate Votes to reverse DPI Reduced Rigor Standards Changes
Molly Beck: The move could deliver a blow to Democratic State Superintendent Jill Underly ahead of the April 1 spring election, when Underly is up for reelection against education consultant Brittany Kinser. Lawmakers passed a bill 18-14 that requires the DPI to overhaul its state report cards to match how they measured academic achievement before […]
Political Rhetoric and Wisconsin DPI candidate Underly
Capital Times Editorial:a In contrast, Underly is backed by the state’s most ardent advocates for public-school students and teachers. Many of her backers are Democratic legislators, and she’s supported by the party. But, more importantly, she’s supported by educators who work in the state’s urban and rural schools, technical colleges and universities. American Federation of […]
DPI Political Rhetoric: “Jill Underly is Wisconsin’s strongest champion for public education.”
John Nichols summary The contest pits two people with very different views against one another. Underly — who taught in rural schools before becoming an elementary school principal, school district superintendent, university academic advisor and administrator, and assistant director at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction — was elected to serve as superintendent in 2021. […]
Notes on the April 1, 2025 Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Election
Kayla Huynh The new benchmarks are lower than the NAEP-aligned scores, which Underly has said are “an extremely high standard to meet, beyond grade-level knowledge.” McCarthy said educators requested the change and 100 teachers consulted with the department about the new system as part of a routine effort to update standards. “That’s the right approach,” McCarthy said. […]
Notes on the April 1, 2025 Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Election
Dan Shafer: In the upcoming Spring Election, the highest-profile race is the one for Wisconsin Supreme Court, the latest in Wisconsin’s seemingly endless number of everything-on-the-line elections. The undercard, then, is the race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Elections for this ostensibly nonpartisan office have not always attracted much attention, but this year’s race might buck […]
Notes on taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI governance (and outcomes)
Jim Bender & Patrick Mchileran: More than a bureaucrat, the superintendent is defined in Wisconsin’s constitution. Wisconsin is the only state in the country that elects its superintendent but has no state board of education. This results in a constitutional officer who reports to nobody except the voters every four years. The superintendent heads the […]
commentary on the 2025 Wisconsin DPI Superintendent election
Kayla Huynh on Jill Underly: Underly’s top priorities include securing more state funding for schools and increasing the amount of money schools are reimbursed for special education services. She wants the state to reimburse 90% of schools’ special education costs. on Jeff Wright: Wright’s top priorities are to restore confidence in the Department of Public […]
Truth and the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI
Will Flanders: Tom McCarthy from DPI: “we haven’t lowered standards one iota.” This is a lie. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection? The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery… The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if […]
Lying to Parents, Teachers & taxpayers – Wisconsin DPI
WILL: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a nationally representative sample of schools throughout the country that allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of students in each state, and some cities. Early this morning, the 2024 NAEP results were released. Not surprisingly, they paint a dim picture of student performance since the pandemic, both […]
notes on Wisconsin DPI’s rigor reduction campaign
Dan O’Donell: Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has never been the most unpredictable man in the world—in each speech one can expect a few “by gollys” and references to pickleball—but on the first day of this year’s legislative session, he delivered a shocker when asked about State Superintendent Jilly Underly’s decision to change K-12 testing standards. “I hate […]
Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Candidate Brittany Kinser Conversation
AJ Bayatpour We’re doing profiles on all 3 candidates for state superintendent. We start with Brittany Kinser’s first interview since her campaign launch. Would she accept Republicans raising funds for her? “Anyone who aligns…I will work with anyone and attend a fundraiser from anyone” ——- 2 of 3 Madison School Board 2025 April election seats […]
Notes on the 2025 Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Election
Jessica McBride: Embattled incumbent Jill Underly is under growing fire from multiple corners within her own party, as infighting fractures the Democrat party in the state school Superintendent’s race. Underly has drawn not one, but two, likely opponents in the Feb. 18 spring primary to continue heading the state Department of Public Instruction. The top […]
taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI and our long term, disastrous literacy results
Corrinne Hess: A group of Wisconsin parents say the Department of Public Instruction is dragging its feet on implementing new curriculum that aims to improve children’s reading skills. In 2023, lawmakers passed legislation known as Act 20. It required schools to shift away from “balanced literacy” curriculum to a phonics-based model known as “the science […]
more in the 2022 NAEP scores
Matthew Chingos: Two years ago, the US government released the first comprehensive look at student achievement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores. The results showed the largest-ever declines, and scores fell in nearly every state across all grades in reading and, especially, in math. […]
taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI culture: reduced rigor and always more $
Kaylah Huynh: State Superintendent Jill Underly wants to put the responsibility of funding schools back on the state, she recently told the Cap Times in an interview. Underly, who leads the state Department of Public Instruction, is proposing over $4 billion in spending toward schools for the 2025-2027 state budget. The plans would reimburse 90% […]
DPI dragging heels on science-based literacy instruction Taxpayer funded Wisconsin
Leila Fletcher and Sandy Flores Ruiz We are concerned that Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction seems less than committed to the reforms outlined in Act 20. It’s been over a year since Gov. Tony Evers signed Act 20, dubbed “the reading bill.” Act 20 looks to address our state’s dismal reading scores with science-based literacy […]
Notes on the ongoing Wisconsin DPI right reduction effort
Will Flanders: An example of the problem with DPI changing standards from Reddit. This poster earnestly believes proficiency is up 12% this year. The average person doesn’t have time to delve into the nuance of state tests. DPI is willfully pulling the wool over our eyes to hide their failings. Curiously, after reducing rigor statewide, […]
IRG’s CIO Exposes DPI Records on New, Biased Test Score Standards
IRG: Wisconsin’s 2024 test scores, out tomorrow, are inflated, biased, and unreliable. How they got that way is the subject of “Testing Our Patience: How Wisconsin Lowered Standards, Widened the Achievement Gap, and Busted Its State Exams,” the latest Institute for Reforming Government Center for Investigative Oversight (IRG CIO) report. The report and supporting materials […]
A deeper dive into taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI’s ongoing rigor reduction campaign
WILL This week, Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) unveiled yet another change to how “proficiency” is measured on the state’s Forward exams. This change, not the first in recent years, makes it difficult to tell whether school districts are doing good work and hold them accountable: long-term trend lines can’t be constructed when the […]
Gaming the System: Wisconsin’s Forward Exam Scores Now Useless
WILL Today, Wisconsin’s DPI released the 2023-24 Forward Exam scores for schools across Wisconsin. In the past, WILL has referred to these scores–and the report card built from them–as creating a “Lake Wobegone” effect where everyone is above average. But the changes made to the report card this year make the previous version of report […]
“These (Wisconsin DPI) revisions are a way to make post-pandemic school performance look better just by lowering standards, without improving student outcomes”
John Johnson: It is galling to hear a politician justify deliberately making test scores incomparable to previous years as a way to reduce “confusion.” More: Questions we will asking: Why changes were made? Why move to lower standards ? (Even @GovEvers disagrees with this) Why make it impossible to track data from previous years? And […]
Despite (Underly lead DPI) Forward Exam (rigor reduction), Madison students still score poorly
Kayla Huynh Among the changes are lower scoring standards for each performance level and different labels categorizing students. In an interview with CBS 58, state Superintendent Jill Underly said students “appeared to be doing worse than they really were” under the previous system. Madison Metropolitan School District leaders this month offered the School Board a sneak […]
“Lowering the cut scores will make it appear that a greater percentage of students are performing at higher levels.”
Dean Gorrell: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly recently took to defending her decision to lower the cut scores for the Wisconsin Forward Exam. Lowering the cut scores will make it appear that a greater percentage of students are performing at higher levels. Underly offered this reason for the change: “They (the students) were appearing to be […]
Additional discussion on the Wisconsin DPI’s ongoing rigor reduction campaign
Quinton Klabon: @Emilee_Fannon talked about the test score changes, the test category name changes, the lagging student performance in Wisconsin (whatever the cut scores are) and legislation affecting all of those. More.
“Proficient” is now…a -19- on the ACT” – taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI
Quinton Klabon: NEW WISCONSIN STATE TEST SCORE STANDARDS“Proficient” is now…a -19- on the ACT. Yes, parents across Wisconsin will hear their children are “Meeting Standards,” only to have multiple UW schools reject them in senior year. Let’s support educators and kids striving for better. Related: “Median number of years of business experience are ZERO” More: […]
More on the Wisconsin DPI and reduced rigor
Alan Borsuk: Before the 2012 changes in cut scores, Wisconsin was regarded by some national education experts as having some of the lowest bars in the country for defining students as proficient or advanced. For example, the percentages of Wisconsin students who were categorized as proficient in reading and math, using the state’s definitions, were […]
(Taxpayer funded) Wisconsin DPI: what standards?
Will Flanders: DPI changed the scales completely, so that parents, policymakers, and taxpayers have 0 ability to compare scores to previous years. Related: Tony Evers use of teacher mulligans.
“Second, the latest revelation underscores the incompetence of the board”
John Schlifske: The recent news that Milwaukee Public Schools failed to file a required financial report to the state Department of Public Instruction, that its past reports were missing data or inaccurate, and that it might have to payback millions in funds to the state is just another proof point underscoring the need for substantial governance reform. This lays open two […]
“At least 79% of school districts surveyed by @WisconsinDPI in 2021 said they use a curriculum that is either not rated or is negatively rated by EdReports”
Danielle Duclos With low reading proficiency scores across the state, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin is exploring the causes and consequences of low literacy. This article is part of the By the Book series, which examines reading curriculum, instructional methods and solutions in K-12 education to answer the questions: Why do so many Wisconsin kids struggle to […]
“It seems (Wisconsin) DPI has set those expectations too low”
Corrine Hess: The state report cards include data on multiple indicators for multiple school years across four priority areas: achievement, growth, target group outcomes, and on-track to graduation. A district or school’s overall accountability score places it in one of five overall accountability ratings: Significantly Exceeds Expectations (five stars), Exceeds Expectations (four stars), Meets Expectations […]
Notes on Wisconsin DPI school ratings
Scott Girard: MMSD had its strongest ratings in the growth and on-track to graduation priority areas, though both were down slightly from last year’s scores. In growth, the district received a 73.6 out of 100, while it scored 77 out of 100 for on-track to graduation. In the other two priority areas, MMSD scored a […]
Wisconsin DPI veracity: 84% exceed expectations
Rory Linane: Milwaukee Public Schools was among 84 school districts that received a lower star-rating than last year. Giving two stars, DPI said the district “meets few expectations.” Last year, the DPI gave the district three stars and said it met expectations. Most school districts, about 270, were given the same star rating they got […]
History: A look back at Wisconsin Governor Tony Ever’s 1997 DPI campaign
Heather Smith: During his rough and tumble 1997 campaign Evers directly criticized fellow Democrat Benson saying he had failed to call attention to the problems in our state’s education system, and that continual promotion of the good without sounding the alarm on the bad “wrecks our credibility.” Evers said students and districts were in trouble […]
Notes on Wisconsin DPI Veracity and Achievement Reporting
Rory Linnane: Did DPI try to make schools look better? To see how the new formula would change schools’ report card scores, DPI officials ran the new formula on the old 2019 data, which had already been run through the old formula for the 2019 report cards. After running the numbers, DPI saw that the […]
Madison, Milwaukee school performance overrated by DPI
Libby Sobic and Will Flanders: Madison is ranked dead last when it comes to performance among disadvantaged students. Pre-pandemic, Madison’s overall student proficiency in English/Language Arts hovered around 35% while Milwaukee’s overall student proficiency was even worse at around 19%. Even after accounting for a huge number of students who opted out, proficiency rates plummeted […]
Wisconsin DPI School rating commentary
Elizabeth Beyer: The new priority area, target group outcomes, replaced closing achievement gaps. The new priority area, DPI said, sheds additional light on students in schools with low test scores. The measure was designed to help focus support on the learners who need it most, while also improving outcomes for all students, according to DPI. “I […]
Jill Underly and DPI Work to Deceive Parents
Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt: Moving the goal line on scores doesn’t change the sorry outcomes Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt and the Chairman of Assembly Committee on Education released the following statement on the results of the 2019-20 District and School Report Cards released by the Department of Public Instruction on Nov. 16:“Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly and […]
“I don’t think that actually stating they’re supporting these policies actually means that anything will change” (DPI Teacher Mulligans continue)
Logan Wroge: “I don’t think that actually stating they’re supporting these policies actually means that anything will change,” said Mark Seidenberg, a UW-Madison psychology professor. “I don’t take their statement as anything more than an attempt to defuse some of the controversy and some of the criticism that’s being directed their way.” While there’s broad […]
Wisconsin ACT Test Scores Have Declined Since 2014
Rich Kremer: The share of Wisconsin high school students deemed to be college-ready has declined since the 2014-2015 school year according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. While the state leads most others that test 100 percent of high school students, the data also shows significant gaps in college-readiness based on race […]
Wisconsin Academic Result commentary: writer fails to mention thousands of DPI eLementary Reading teacher mulligans
Logan Wroge: For example, white students in fifth grade dropped 4.6 percentage points in English/language arts proficiency compared to a 1.6 percentage-point decrease for black students in fifth grade. In the eighth grade, the percentage of African American students scoring proficient or advanced in English/language arts rose 2 percentage points to 12.1%, while the percentage […]
New Study: Charter, Choice Outperform Public Schools in Growth, Test Scores
Will Flanders: Here are 5 findings for our upcoming report on school performance: 1. Milwaukee: Choice Schools Lead in Student Proficiency (even more significantly than DPI data suggests) Wisconsin’s private and charter schools, much maligned by Governor Evers and other leaders on the left, continue to succeed for Wisconsin students. Once schools are put on […]
Wisconsin DPI: “We set a high bar for achievement,” & abort Foundations of Reading Teacher Content Knowledge Requirement}
Molly Beck and Erin Richards: “We set a high bar for achievement,” DPI spokesman Tom McCarthy said. “To reach more than half (proficiency), we would need to raise the achievement of our lowest district and subgroup performers through policies like those recommended in our budget, targeted at the large, urban districts.” The new scores reveal […]
“States determine cut scores”; “17 of 18 Schools Would Have Made Adequate Yearly Progress, 0 of 18 in Massachusetts”
via a kind reader. “People are really bad at math” (the last 4 minutes discuss Wisconsin’s weak cut scores).
Related: A Critique of the Wisconsin DPI (creator of the oft-criticized WKCE) and Proposed School Choice Changes.
Wisconsin DPI & Data Politics
In the most recent release of schools data by DPI, the agency gave the information to the media ahead of time — a practice known as an embargo that gives journalists time to properly digest the data with an agreement not to publish until a certain deadline.
But DPI highlighted all the voucher students’ scores against all the Milwaukee Public Schools’ students scores, instead of separating out the scores of low-income MPS students and comparing only those to the voucher students. That data was not included in the initial release. As a result, it was not included in the stories that the media initially wrote about the results, but was addressed in follow-up stories.
The DPI said the income limit was moot because of a GOP-led law change that allowed more mixed-income children to use vouchers, meaning it was fair to compare all the students in voucher schools to all the children in public schools. Voucher advocates said DPI had an agenda and made their students’ scores appear lower than they would have been against those of only the low-income MPS students.
Other data that can be requested from DPI about voucher schools include: school policies, accreditation status, hours of instruction, the number of applications they have accepted and not accepted, their waiting list numbers, application numbers and payment amounts.
Accountability: Report card scores for most Madison schools take small hit
Matthew DeFour, via a kind reader’s email
The report card scores of nearly all Madison schools will be reduced slightly after the district discovered it had reported incorrect student attendance data to the state and revised it.
In most cases the new, lower scores — which the Department of Public Instruction plans to update on its website next week — have no impact on the rating each Madison school receives on the report card. But six schools will be downgraded to a lower category.
Randall and Van Hise elementaries, which were rated in the highest performance category, are now in the second-highest tier. Olson and Chavez elementaries are now in the middle tier. And Mendota and Glendale elementaries are in the second-lowest tier.
The corrections — prompted by a State Journal inquiry — have no immediate practical ramifications, though the implications are significant as state leaders contemplate tying school funding to the report card results.
Adam Gamoran, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, said it’s “extremely important” that the data used to rate schools is accurate. The report cards are part of the state’s new school accountability system, and DPI has proposed directing resources to schools struggling in certain categories.
“The report cards are only as good as the data that goes into them,” he said.Props to DeFour and the Wisconsin State Journal for digging and pushing.
Related: Madison Mayor Paul Soglin: “We are not interested in the development of new charter schools”.
Where does the Madison School District Get its Numbers from?
Global Academic Standards: How we Outrace the Robots and www.wisconsin2.org.
An Update on Madison’s Use of the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Assessment, including individual school reports. Much more on Madison and the MAP Assessment, here.
I strongly support diffused governance of our public schools. One size fits all has outlived its usefulness.
Rejecting test scores as a core value
It wasn’t about money. It was about respect.
That’s what Chicago teachers union president Karen Lewis kept reminding the public during the seven-day teachers strike that had parents scrambling and kept 350,000 children out of class.
But there was way more than respect at stake in the dispute. It was a clash between an impatient mayor and a demoralized teaching corps over competing visions of public schools — one side focused on job protection, the other on accountability.Related: Ripon Superintendent Richard Zimman in a 2009 speech to the Madison Rotary Club:
“Beware of legacy practices (most of what we do every day is the maintenance of the status quo), @12:40 minutes into the talk – the very public institutions intended for student learning has become focused instead on adult employment. I say that as an employee. Adult practices and attitudes have become embedded in organizational culture governed by strict regulations and union contracts that dictate most of what occurs inside schools today. Any impetus to change direction or structure is met with swift and stiff resistance. It’s as if we are stuck in a time warp keeping a 19th century school model on life support in an attempt to meet 21st century demands.” Zimman went on to discuss the Wisconsin DPI’s vigorous enforcement of teacher licensing practices and provided some unfortunate math & science teacher examples (including the “impossibility” of meeting the demand for such teachers (about 14 minutes)). He further cited exploding teacher salary, benefit and retiree costs eating instructional dollars (“Similar to GM”; “worry” about the children given this situation).
Madison’s ACT scores lowest since 1995, still above average
Madison’s average ACT score dipped last year to the lowest level since 1995, according to state and district records.
Madison’s average score of 23.7 out of 36 was still well above the state average of 22.1 and national average of 21.1 among 2012 graduates.
State records go back to 1996 and differ slightly from Madison records, but show last year’s average score was the lowest during that period. Madison records go back to 1995 when the average score was 23.5.
Madison’s scores once again highlight the achievement gap — white students scored 7.4 points higher than black students and 4.8 points higher than Hispanic students, according to the Department of Public Instruction.
Madison School District Identified for Improvement (DIFI); Documentation for the Wisconsin DPI
Madison School District Superintendent Dan Nerad 15MB PDF
1. Develop or Revise a District Improvement Plan
Address the fundamental teaching and learning needs of schools in the Local Education Agency (LEA), especially the academic problems o f low-achieving students.
MMSD has been identified by the State of Wisconsin as a District Identified for Improvement, or DIFI. We entered into this status based on District WKCE assessment scores. The data indicates that sub-groups of students-African American students, English Language Learner Students with Disabilities or Economically Disadvantaged -did not score high enough on the WKCE in one or more areas of reading, math or test participation to meet state criteria.
Under No Child Left Behind, 100% of students are expected to achieve proficient or advanced on the WKCE in four areas by 2014. Student performance goals have been raised every year on a regular schedule since 2001, making targets more and more difficult to reach each year. In addition to the curriculum changes being implemented, the following assessments are also new or being implemented during the 2011-12 school year (see Attachment 1):
- The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP): Grades 3-7. MAP is incorporated into the MMSD Balanced Assessment Plan as a computer adaptive benchmark assessment tool for grades 3-7. Administration of the assessment was implemented in spring, 2011.
- Cognitive Ability Test (CogAT): Grades 2 and 5. As proposed in the Talented and Gifted Plan approved by the Board of Education in August, 2009, the district requested approval of funds to purchase and score the Cognitive Ability Test (CogAT) which was administered in February, 2011, to all second and fifth graders.
- The EPAS System: Explore Grades 8-9, Plan Grade 10, ACT Grade 11. The EPAS system provides a longitudinal, systematic approach to educational and career planning, assessment, instructional support, and evaluation. The system focuses on the integrated, higher-order thinking skills students develop in grades K-12 that are important for success both during and after high school. The EPAS system is linked to the College and Career Readiness standards so that the information gained about student performance can be used to inform instruction around those standards.
Attached are six documents describing programs being implemented for the 2011-12 school year to address the needs of all students.
1. Strategic Plan Document: Year Three (Attachment 2)
2. Strategic Plan Summary of Three Main Focus Areas (Attachment 3)
3. Addressing the Needs of All Learners and Closing the Achievement Gap Through K-12 Alignment (Attachment 4)
4. Scope and Sequence (Attachment 5)
5. The Ideal Graduate from MMSD (Attachment 6)
6. 4K Update to BOE- Program and Sites- (Attachment 7)Clusty Search: District Identified for Improvement (DIFI)
Matthew DeFour:Madison School District administrators aren’t keeping track of the best classroom instruction. Not all principals create a culture of high expectations for all students. And teachers aren’t using the same research-based methods.
Such inconsistencies across the district and within schools — stemming from Madison’s tradition of school and teacher autonomy — are hurting student achievement, according to a district analysis required under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
“There are problems within the entire system,” Superintendent Dan Nerad said. “We do have good practice, but we need to be more consistent and have more fidelity to our practices.”
Inconsistencies in teaching and building culture can affect low-income students, who are more likely to move from school to school, and make teacher training less effective, Nerad said.
The analysis is contained in an improvement plan the district is scheduled to discuss with the School Board on Monday and to deliver next week to the state Department of Public Instruction.
Comparing Rhetoric Regarding Texas (10th) & Wisconsin NAEP Scores: Texas Hispanic and African-American students rank second on eighth-grade NAEP math test
Texas Hispanic and African-American students rank
second on eighth-grade NAEP math test
Texas Education Agency:Texas Hispanic and African-American students earned the second highest score among their peer groups on the 2011 eighth-grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics test. The state’s white eighth grade students ranked fourth, missing out on the second place position themselves by less than one point.
Only Hispanic students in Montana earned a higher scale score on the math test than did eighth-grade Hispanic Texans. Only African-American students in Hawaii earned a higher average score than did their counterparts in Texas.
White students in the District of Columbia earned an average scale score of 319, the highest score for that ethnic group. Texas students ranked fourth, with less than a fraction of a point separating this group from students in Massachusetts and New Jersey. Massachusetts students had the second highest scale score at 304.2876, while Texas received an average score of 303.5460.
Overall, the state ranked 10th among the states with an average scale score of 290, substantially above the national average score of 283.NAEP math on upward trend, state reading results stable
Wisconsin DPI:Wisconsin’s biennial mathematics and reading results held steady on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The state’s overall trend in mathematics is improving.
For fourth-grade mathematics, the state’s 2011 scale score was 245, up one point but statistically the same as in 2009, compared to the national scale score of 240, a one-point increase from 2009. Wisconsin results for fourth-grade math are significantly higher than in 2003 when the average scale score was 237. At eighth grade, the Wisconsin scale score for mathematics was 289,
the same as in 2009 and up five points from 2003, which is statistically significant. For the nation, the 2011 mathematics scale score was 283, up one-point from 2009. State average scale scores in mathematics at both grade levels were statistically higher than the national score.Average scores for fourth grade
All White Black Hispanic Asian Amer-Pac.Island Native Amer US 240 249 224 229 256 227 Texas 241 253 232 235 263 *** Wisconsin 245 251 217 228 242 231 Average scores for eighth grade US 283 293 262 269 302 266 Texas 290 304 277 283 316 *** Wisconsin 289 295 256 270 290 *** via a kind Richard Askey email.
Erin Richards has more on Wisconsin’s results.
Steve Dykstra’s comments on Wisconsin’s NAEP reading scores.
Related: Madison and College Station, TX.
An Open Letter to the Wisconsin Read To Lead Task Force on Implementing Common Core Academic Standards; DPI: “Leading Us Backwards”
Dan Gustafson, PhD 133K PDF, via a kind email from the Wisconsin Reading Coalition:
WRC recommends reading the following open letter from Madison neuropsychologist Dan Gustafson to the Governor’s Read to Lead task force. It reflects many of our concerns about the state of reading instruction in Wisconsin and the lack of an effective response from the Department of Public Instruction.
An Open Letter to the Read-To-Lead Task Force
From Dan Gustafson, PhD
State Superintendent Evers, you appointed me to the Common Core Leadership Group. You charged that the Leadership Group would guide Wisconsin’s implementation of new reading instruction standards developed by the National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO).
It is my understanding that I was asked to join the group with the express purpose of bringing different voices to the table. If anything, my experience with the group illustrates how very far we need to go in achieving a transparent and reasoned discussion about the reading crisis in Wisconsin.
DPI Secretly Endorses Plan Created by Poor Performing CESA-7
I have grave concerns about DPI’s recent announcement that Wisconsin will follow CESA-7’s approach to implementing the Common Core reading standards. DPI is proposing this will be the state’s new model reading curriculum.
I can attest that there was absolutely no consensus reached in the Common Core group in support of CESA-7’s approach. In point of fact, at the 27th of June Common Core meeting, CESA-7 representative Claire Wick refused to respond to even general questions about her program.
I pointed out that our group, the Common Core Leadership Group, had a right to know about how CESA-7 intended to implement the Common Core Standards. She denied this was the case, citing a “non-disclosure agreement.”
The moderator of the discussion, DPI’s Emilie Amundson, concurred that Claire didn’t need to discuss the program further on the grounds that it was only a CESA-7 program. Our Common Core meeting occurred on the 27th of June. Only two weeks later, on July 14th, DPI released the following statement:
State Superintendent Evers formally adopted the Common Core State Standards in June 2010, making Wisconsin the first state in the country to adopt these rigorous, internationally benchmarked set of expectations for what students should know and are expected to do in English Language Arts and Mathematics. These standards guide both curriculum and assessment development at the state level. Significant work is now underway to determine how training will be advanced for these new standards, and DPI is currently working with CESA 7 to develop a model curriculum aligned to the new standards.
In glaring contrast to the deliberative process that went into creating the Common Core goals, Wisconsin is rushing to implement the goals without being willing to even show their program to their own panel of experts.
What Do We Know About Wisconsin/CESA-7’s Model Curriculum?
As an outsider to DPI, I was only able to locate one piece of data regarding CESA-7’s elementary school reading performance:
4TH GRADE READING SCORES, 2007-08 WKCE-CRT,
CESA-7 IS AMONG THE WORST PERFORMING DISTRICTS.
CESA-7 RANKED 10TH OF THE 12 WISCONSIN CESA’S.
What Claire did say about her philosophy and the CESA-7 program, before she decided to refuse further comment, was that she did not think significant changes were needed in reading instruction in Wisconsin, as “only three-percent” of children were struggling to read in the state. This is a strikingly low number, one that reflects an arbitrary cutoff for special education. Her view does not reflect the painful experience of the 67% of Wisconsin 4th graders who scored below proficient on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
As people in attendance at the meeting can attest, Claire also said that her approach was “not curriculum neutral” and she was taking a “strong stand” on how to teach reading. Again, when I pressed her on what these statements meant, she would only reference oblique whole language jargon, such as a belief in the principal of release from instruction. When I later asked her about finding a balance that included more phonics instruction, she said “too much emphasis” had been given to balanced literacy. After making her brief statements to the Common Core group, she said she had already disclosed too much, and refused to provide more details about the CESA-7 program.
Disregarding Research and Enormous Gains Made by other States, Wisconsin Continues to Stridently Support Whole Language
During the remainder of the day-long meeting on the 27th, I pressed the group to decide about a mechanism to achieve an expert consensus grounded in research. I suggested ways we could move beyond the clear differences that existed among us regarding how to assess and teach reading.
The end product of the meeting, however, was just a list of aspirational goals. We were told this would likely be the last meeting of the group. There was no substantive discussion about implementation of the goals–even though this had been Superintendent Evers’ primary mandate for the group.
I can better understand now why Emilie kept steering the discussion back to aspirational goals. The backroom deal had already been made with Claire and other leaders of the Wisconsin State Reading Association (WSRA). It would have been inconvenient to tell me the truth.
WSRA continues to unapologetically champion a remarkably strident version of whole-language reading instruction. Please take a look at the advocacy section of their website. Their model of reading instruction has been abandoned through most the United States due to lack of research support. It is still alive and well in CESA-7, however.
Our State Motto is “Forward”
After years of failing to identify and recommend model curriculum by passing it off as an issue of local control, the DPI now purports to lead. Unfortunately, Superintendent Evers, you are now leading us backward.
Making CESA-7 your model curriculum is going to cause real harm. DPI is not only rashly and secretly endorsing what appears to be a radical version of whole language, but now school districts who have adopted research validated procedures, such as the Monroe School District, will feel themselves under pressure to fall in line with your recommended curriculum.
By all appearances, CESA-7’s program is absolutely out of keeping with new Federal laws addressing Response to Intervention and Wisconsin’s own Specific Learning Disability Rule. CESA-7’s program will not earn us Race to the Top funding. Most significantly, CESA-7’s approach is going to harm children.
In medicine we would call this malpractice. There is clear and compelling data supporting one set of interventions (Monroe), and another set of intervention that are counter-indicated (CESA-7). This is not a matter of opinion, or people taking sides. This is an empirical question. If you don’t have them already, I hope you will find trusted advisors who will rise above the WSRA obfuscation and just look at the data. It is my impression that you are moving fast and receiving poor advice.
I am mystified as to why, after years of making little headway on topics related to reading, DPI is now making major decisions at a breakneck pace. Is this an effort to circumvent the Read-To-Lead Task Force by instituting new policies before the group has finished its scheduled meetings? Superintendent Evers, why haven’t you shared anything about the CESA-7 curriculum with them? Have you already made your decision, or are you prepared to show the Read-To-Lead that there is a deliberative process underway to find a true model curriculum?
There are senior leaders at DPI who recognize that the reading-related input DPI has received has been substantially unbalanced. For example, there were about five senior WSRA members present at the Common Core meetings, meaning that I was substantially outnumbered. While ultimately unsuccessful due to logistics, an 11th hour effort was made to add researchers and leadership members from the Wisconsin Reading Coalition to the Common Core group.
The Leadership Group could achieve what you asked of it, which is to thoughtfully guide implementation of the Common Core. I am still willing to work with you on this goal.
State Superintendent Evers, I assume that you asked me to be a member of the Leadership Group in good faith, and will be disappointed to learn of what actually transpired with the group. You may have the false impression that CESA-7’s approach was vetted at your Common Core Leadership Group. Lastly, and most importantly, I trust you have every desire to see beyond destructive politics and find a way to protect the welfare of the children of Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
Dan Gustafson, PhD, EdM
Neuropsychologist, Dean ClinicView a 133K PDF or Google Docs version.
Related:
How does Wisconsin Compare: 2 Big Goals.
Wisconsin Academic Standards
Wisconsin Teacher Content Knowledge Requirement Comparison
Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Evers calls voucher expansion ‘morally wrong’ in memo to legislators; Tony Evers Needs a Reality Check on School Choice
State Superintendent Tony Evers [SIS link] in a memo Monday urged the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to restore funding for public schools and work collaboratively to improve the quality of all Milwaukee schools before considering any voucher expansion.
“To spend hundreds of millions to expand a 20-year-old program that has not improved overall student achievement, while defunding public education, is morally wrong,” Evers said in the memo.
Gov. Scott Walker has proposed eliminating the income limits on participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, eliminating the enrollment cap and has proposed opening up private schools throughout Milwaukee County to accept vouchers from Milwaukee students. Walker has spoken of expanding the voucher program to other urban areas in the state, such as Racine, Green Bay and Beloit.
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program was created to improve academic performance among low-income students who had limited access to high-performing schools. Low-income students use taxpayer money to attend private schools, including religious schools. Each voucher is worth $6,442. The program now is limited to 22,500 students; 20,189 are in the program this year.
However, after 20 years and spending over $1 billion, academic performance data and the enrollment history of the school choice program point to several “concerning trends,” Evers said in his analysis of voucher student enrollment, achievement, and projected cost for long-term expansion.
Low-income students in Milwaukee Public Schools have higher academic achievement, particularly in math, than their counterparts in choice schools. Evers cited this year’s Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts exams and the legislatively mandated University of Arkansas study, which showed significant numbers of choice students performing below average on reading and math.At a press conference in Racine, DPI Superintendent Tony Evers gave his harshest criticism of school vouchers yet. Well beyond the typical quibbles over test scores and graduation rates, Evers claimed that school vouchers were de facto “morally wrong.” It’s not every day that a State Superintendent of education accuses an education-reform program of being immoral. In doing so, Tony Evers may have bitten off more than he could chew.
Calling a school voucher program morally wrong inculpates more than just the program, it inculpates parents, teachers, organizations, lawmakers, and a majority of Americans that endorse it. In fact, one could reasonably argue that Evers’ statement makes himself morally culpable since Milwaukee’s voucher program operates out of the Department of Public Instruction of which he is the head. What does it say about the character of a man that knowingly administers an immoral program out of his own department?
In short, Evers’ argument goes something like this: voucher programs drain public schools of their financial resources; drained resources hurt children academically; hurting children academically is morally wrong; ergo, voucher programs are morally wrong.
Tony Evers Evokes Change as He Enters Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Office
“Education is all about continued improvement, and the status quo is not satisfactory,” Evers told the audience at a WisPolitics.com luncheon Tuesday at the Madison Club.
In addition to guiding local schools as they navigate state cuts and an influx of federal stimulus funding, Evers is promoting a single federal test and an overhaul of accountability and assessment standards for public education. Under the new system, which Evers said would be formed quickly over the next few months, the state will be able to consistently measure other educational categories aside from test scores.
The test score measurement mandates under the federal No Child Left Behind law drew criticism from Evers for their incomplete picture of education, but he said the federal standard has done educators “a tremendous favor” by showing disparities between performance of white and non-white students.
He also called for a national standard of testing and curriculum, which he said 46 states had backed. He said that Wisconsin isn’t able to truly compare its educational growth to other districts and states because 50 different tests are being administered annually. He also called the current system “economically irrational.”
“Public education, even though it’s a state responsibility, is a national endeavor, and we have to view it as such,” Evers said. “By doing this, we’re going to make our system more transparent.”
Perhaps nothing will test the new state accountability system as much as Milwaukee. Evers went to great lengths to discuss the “magic” that teachers work with many less fortunate students in the state’s largest school district, but recognized a graduation rate that, despite increasing to about 70 percent, lags well behind the state average.
WKCE Scores Document Decline in the Percentage of Madison’s Advanced Students
For many years now, parents and community members, including members of Madison United for Academic Excellence, have expressed concerns about the decline in rigor and the lack of adequate challenge in our district’s curriculum. The release this week of WKCE scores for the November 2008 testing led me to wonder about the performance of our district’s strongest students. While most analyses of WKCE scores focus on the percentages of students scoring at the Advanced and Proficient levels, these numbers do not tell us about changes in the percent of students at each particular level of performance. We can have large increases in the percent of students scoring at the Proficient and Advanced levels because we have improved the performance of students who were previously at the Basic level on the WKCE, but yet fail to have any effect on the performance of our district’s strongest students. This is the argument that we are improving the performance of our low ability students, but failing to increase the performance of our already successful students. An examination of the numbers of students who are performing at just the Advanced level on the WKCE provides us with some insight into the academic progress of our more successful students.
I decided to examine WKCE math scores for students across the district. While it is not possible to track the performance of individual students, it is possible to follow the performance of a cohort as they advance through the system. Thus students who are now in 10th grade, took the 8th grade WKCE in 2006 and the 4th grade test in 2002. Because there have been significant changes in the demographics of the district’s students, I split the data by socio-economic status to remove the possibility of declines in WKCE performance simply being the result of increased numbers of low income students. Although the WKCE has been criticized for not being a rigorous enough assessment tool, the data on our students’ math performance are not encouraging. The figures below indicate that the percent of students scoring at the Advanced level on the WKCE decreases as students progress through the system, and this decline is seen in both our low income students and in our Not Economically Disadvantaged students. The figures suggest that while there is some growth in the percent of Advanced performing students in elementary school, there is a significant decline in performance once students begin taking math in our middle schools and this decline continues through high school. I confess that I take no pleasure in sharing this data; in fact, it makes me sick.
Because it might be more useful to examine actual numbers, I have provided tables showing the data used in the figures above. Reading across a row shows the percent of students in a class cohort scoring at the Advanced level as they have taken the WKCE test as they progressed from grades 3 – 10.
Percent of Economically Disadvantaged Students Scoring at the Advanced Level on the WKCE Math Test Between 2002 and 2008
Graduation Year 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade 10th Grade 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Despite initial low test scores, Madison’s Nuestro Mundo gains fans
It’s Thursday afternoon at Madison’s Nuestro Mundo Elementary School and teacher Christina Amberson, “Maestra Cristina” to her kindergarten students, speaks in rapid-fire Spanish. If you didn’t know better, you would assume Spanish was Amberson’s native language. But her impeccable Spanish is a product of many years of studying and teaching abroad in a number of Spanish-speaking countries.
Children respond only in Spanish. The only time they speak English is when English-speaking children are sitting together at tables. If Amberson overhears, she reminds them to use their Spanish.
Amberson’s kindergartners — a nearly even mix of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers — seem more confident with their language than a typical student in a high school or college Spanish class.
Everything posted on the dual-language immersion school’s bulletin boards or blackboards is in Spanish except for a little section of photos and articles about “El Presidente Barack Obama.”
It is ironic that WKCE results are used in this way, given the Wisconsin DPI’s statement: “Schools should not rely on only WKCE data to gauge progress of individual students or to determine effectiveness of programs or curriculum”. Much more on the WKCE here. The Madison School District is using WKCE data for “Value Added Assessment“.
A Summary of the Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Candidate Event
WisPolitics: Evers, Fernandez question each other in We The People debate
3/20/2009
By Greg Bump
WisPolitics
Tony Evers questioned opponent Rose Fernandez’s qualifications for the state’s top education spot Friday night, while Fernandez countered by trying to portray him as a crony of Wisconsin’s largest teacher’s union.
The two, vying for the post of superintendent of Public Instruction, laid out competing visions in a We The People debate.
Evers, the deputy superintendent at DPI, touted his 34 years of experience in education while contrasting his resume with the credentials of Fernandez, who is a nurse by trade and has never worked in a public school.
Fernandez, a virtual school advocate, countered by continually trying to lay problems with the state’s educational system at the feet of Evers, who has held the No. 2 post at the agency for eight years.
Given the opportunity to question each other, Evers pointed out Fernandez represented virtual schools and has zero experience in the administration of public schools. He asked how parents with children in public schools can trust her to invest in their education rather than funneling money toward special interests.
“My own special interest is the boys and girls growing up in the state of Wisconsin,” Fernandez shot back.
Fernandez then stressed Evers’ endorsement by the Wisconsin Education Association Council and the “hundreds of thousands of dollars” the union has spent to support his campaign. She asked him to list three reforms he has supported that WEAC opposed.
Evers answered that the union was unhappy with a settlement DPI reached on allowing virtual schools — in which districts allow students to take courses on-line — to continue. He also said he has been a strong advocate of charter schools — which operate without some of the regulations of other public schools — something the union has opposed.
“I started charter schools. I know what charter schools are about,” Evers said. “I don’t need a lecture about charter schools.”
Evers also stressed his support from school boards, child advocates, parents and others.
“That’s why you have to have a broad coalition,” Evers said. “This isn’t about this overwhelming group of people driving policy at the state level. That just isn’t fact.”
Fernandez ripped DPI for not doing enough to help the struggling Milwaukee Public School system address issues like dropout rates and the achievement gap for minority students.
Evers countered that he has worked on the issue with educators in Milwaukee, but there are also socioeconomic factors that are hampering achievement.
“Laying this issue on my lap is irrational,” Evers said.
Fernandez also brought up a piece of Evers’ campaign lit that referred to voucher schools in Milwaukee as “a privatization scheme.”
“Some of the schools have been scheming, and those schools we have drummed out of the program,” Evers replied.
Evers warned that Fernandez would run DPI through the prism of the “special interest” of choice schools.
Both candidates agreed that a merit pay system for educators could have benefit, but they disagreed on the details. Fernandez indicated that she would base her merit pay system more on classroom outcomes, while Evers stressed that rewards for training were equally important.
They differed more prominently on the qualified economic offer, which Gov. Jim Doyle has proposed eliminating in his 2009-11 budget plan. Fernandez wants to retain it, saying that without the control on teacher compensation, property taxes could rise sharply.
“Children may become the enemy of the taxpayer,” she said.
Evers said he has bargained on both sides of the table, and he opposes the QEO because it hurts the state’s ability to stay competitive in teacher pay.
Evers embraced the coming federal stimulus cash, which will pump $800 million into state schools as “a historic event” that acknowledges “educators are the lever that can turn our economy around.” He said he would appoint a trustee to oversee the allocation of the funds in Milwaukee schools to ensure the money is getting to the classrooms.
In contrast, Fernandez said she looked upon the federal stimulus with caution in that it is one-time funding that won’t be there in the future
And while Evers touted the state’s ACT and SAT scores as being among the highest in the nation, Fernandez said those tests are only administered to college-bound students and aren’t indicative of the academic struggles in districts like Milwaukee.
We the People/Wisconsin is a multi-media that includes the Wisconsin State Journal, Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio, WISC-TV, WisPolitics.com and Wood Communications Group.
2008 SAT Scores Released
AP:
For the second consecutive year, SAT scores for the most recent high school graduating class remained at the lowest level in nearly a decade, according to results released Tuesday.
But the College Board, which owns the exam, attributes the lower averages of late to a more positive development: a broader array of students are taking the test, from more first-generation college students to a record number of students — nearly one in seven — whose family income qualifies them to take the test for free.
“More than ever, the SAT reflects the face of education in this country,” said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, which owns the test and released the results.
The class of 2008 scored an average of 515 out of a possible 800 points on the math section of the college entrance exam, a performance identical to graduating seniors in the previous year. (See SAT stats.)
Scores in the critical reading component among last spring’s high-school seniors also held steady at 502, but the decline over time has been more dramatic: The past two years represent the lowest reading average since 1994, when graduating seniors scored 499.The SAT’s writing section has proven to be the most predictive section of the test for determining first-year college performance, as evidenced by recent studies by the College Board and independent studies by the University of California and the University of Georgia. The College Board analysis, which evaluated data from about 150,000 students at 110 four-year colleges and universities, also found the writing section to be the most predictive for all students and therefore across all racial/ethnic minority groups.
Of all three sections of the SAT, the writing section is the most predictive of students’ freshman year college performance for all students, demonstrating that writing is a critical skill and an excellent indicator of academic success in college.
The writing section is also the most predictive section for all racial/ethnic minority groups, which demonstrates that the SAT is a fair and valid test for all students.Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction:
Wisconsin’s 2008 graduates posted an average score of 604 points in mathematics on the SAT college admissions test, an increase of six points from last year and 89 points above the national mean score of 515. Along with solid SAT results, preliminary data on the College Board’s Advanced Placement program showed continued growth of the program in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin had 3,522 public and private school graduates who took the SAT during high school. They represent about 5 percent of the state’s graduates. Their critical reading score averaged 587, the same as last year; mathematics was 604, up six points from last year; and writing was 577, up two points. Nationally, 1.5 million graduates, about 45 percent of all graduates, took the SAT. The national overall mean scores were the same as in 2007: critical reading, 502; mathematics, 515; and writing, 494. On the ACT college admissions tests, more popular in Midwestern states, 67 percent of Wisconsin’s 2008 graduates took the exams. Their scores also were well above national averages.
More on WKCE scores – Missing Students
Chan Stroman posted a valuable and in-depth examination of the District’s WKCE scores, and is it in the spirit of that posting that I would like to share my own little examination of our most recent test results. Rather than focusing on the scores of our students, this is an investigation of the numbers of […]
2006 MMSD WKCE Scores: A Closer Look
Test scores from the November 2006 Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) and companion Wisconsin Alternate Assessment (WAA) were released by the state Department of Public Instruction this week. The MMSD press release on Madison students’ scores (“Despite changes and cuts, Madison students test well”) reports the following “notable achievements”: that reading scores have remained […]
Wisconsin State Student Test Scores Released
Andy Hall: Wisconsin students’ performances improved in math and held steady in reading, language arts, science and social studies, according to annual test data released today. Dane County students generally matched or exceeded state averages and paralleled the state’s rising math scores, although test results in Madison slipped slightly on some measures of reading, language […]
Shameful reading scores for MMSD sophomores
According to the data on DPI’s Web site, the combined percentages for minimum and basic categories (these are below grade level) for MMSD’s 10th graders on the WKCE reading test in November 2004 were: All students – 26% African American – 53% Asian – 29% Hispanic – 51% White – 15% The real shame lies, […]
