Education Watch: State Report Cards – A Preview

Nov 4, 2022 | Wisconsin Voices Blog

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year:

[In 2021,] the release of state assessments of Wisconsin schools in November was to be the first comprehensive picture of academic slide.

Surprisingly, despite standardized test scores dropping statewide, the state Department of Public Instruction gave passing marks to the same percentage of schools as it did before the pandemic in 2019. That raised some red flags.” See 2021 report cards here.

Additional context from IRG Senior Research Director Quinton Klabon:

  • On November 15, Wisconsin will release 2022 “state report cards” required by Congress. Each district, public school, and voucher school will receive a star rating out of 5. Ratings account for poverty: the more low-income students a school serves, the more its rating uses student proficiency improvement instead of total student proficiency.
  • Unfortunately, as the story above shares, the report cards overrate school performance. 56% of schools were 4 stars or up in 2021. 88% of schools were 3 stars or up.
  • On top of that, Wisconsin limits consequences for consistent failure on these extremely forgiving assessments. Let’s give accountability another try. We’ll offer ideas upon the 2022 release.