(The Center Square) – Ninety-four percent of Wisconsin’s school districts met, exceeded, or significantly exceeded expectations during the past school year, a new report says.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, overseer of 377 public school districts, said only 24 did not hit that benchmark in 2023-24 in a positive report similar to the previous year. Schools are given grades relative to significantly exceeds expectations, exceeds expectations, meets expectations, meets few expectations, or fails to meet expectations.
The report collects data across four priority areas – achievement, growth, target group outcomes and on-track to graduation. These are weighted based on a school or district percentage of economically disadvantaged students.
Compared to the 2022-23 school year, 29 public school districts increased by one rating category, 24 decreased by one rating category, and 324 had no change in rating.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty criticized the criteria used for calculating the scores, pointing to the department’s changing the school accountability system in 2021 and revising the terminology and scores used in the Forward Exam in 2024, all of which boosted district scores that showed no actual improvement, the conservative law firm said. The new standards no longer line up with the National Assessment of Educational Progress standards.
The Institute for Law and Liberty also pointed to 12 public school districts statewide that, despite falling under 15% reading proficiency, were given accountability scores of “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations.”
“DPI has rewritten academic standards so that the only expectation is mediocrity, and Wisconsinites must not stand for it,” WILL Research Director Will Flanders said Tuesday.
