(The Center Square) – A pair of Wisconsin lawmakers are asking the state to reverse the process of lowering school standards.
State Sen. John Jager, R-Watertown, and Rep. Bob Wittke, R-Caledonia, introduced legislation that would reset the K-12 school report card standards of 2019-20, makes grades 3-8 standards the same as those set by the National Assessment of Education Progress and would make the high school testing standards the same as those from 2021-22.
“We need to reinstate our high academic standards and strive for excellence on behalf of the students and families we serve.” Jagler said in a statement. “These changes were made behind closed doors in advance and revealed only when the test scores were announced. Not surprisingly, the massive uptick in artificial performance gains was confusing at best and misleading at worst.”
Jagler is the Chair of the Senate Committee on Education while Wittke was on the Assembly Education Committee for three terms.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty endorsed the legislation, pointing out where the state lowered school report card cut points in 2020-21, changed the labels on those in 2023-24 and lowered the cut points again that year as well.
“The bill represents a critical step in restoring the ability of parents, policymakers, and taxpayers to assess how well Wisconsin’s schools are doing across the public, charter, and private voucher sectors,” WILL Research Director Will Flanders said. “Make no mistake, since 2020, DPI has essentially changed the definition of success to mislead the public about stagnating academic performance in Wisconsin schools.”
Wittke said that the current system ranks 94% of schools as meeting expectations or above that, making it difficult to know which schools need to improve.
“It’s troubling to me that changing testing protocols is the path the state superintendent has chosen in response to students poor reading and math performance,” Wittke said. “Let’s set the bar as established by the National Assessment of Education Progress and make a better effort to understand student needs for academic improvement.”
