(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s math scores have fallen and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is pushing for state and local leaders to enact numeracy reform to address the issue in the same way that states enacted post-pandemic literacy reforms.
The group said that seven states have already enacted numeracy legislation to increase access, accountability and resources for math learning to ensure students who are struggling with math concepts are identified and given the help needed promptly in order to learn the concepts.
Wisconsin students ranked second in the country in eighth grade math scores on the 2024 National Assessment for Educational Progress test and fifth on the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment, but those results have been heading in the wrong direction in what is a nationwide trend.
“We’ve seen states all over the country tackle literacy as a huge issue and there’s been a huge drive to tackle literacy, for good reason,” WILL Policy Director Kyle Koenen told The Center Square. “But the same applies to math. Since the COVID pandemic, Wisconsin and states around the nation have experienced a decline in math proficiency and that has long term lasting impacts.”
Republican Assembly leadership said that numeracy reform would be coming at a recent news conference announcing the group’s plans for education reforms, including school consolidation legislation with the state’s declining birth rate.
WILL’s model policy on numeracy includes monitoring students’ early knowledge closely, having multi-tiered support for intervention when students struggle, notifying parents when students fall behind, providing additional instruction and providing training for teachers.
“Students that perform well in math are more likely to have success later in life, in their career,” Koenen said. “With Wisconsin, we have a labor shortage, so we need students who are ready to enter the workforce and function well and math is a huge part of that.”
Wisconsin math scores showed that the average student is 1/3 of a grade level behind pre-pandemic levels, 83% of students are attending schools with scores behind 2019 benchmarks and PISA math scores were more than 12 points since 2018.
The Nation’s Report Card was recently released and just 22% of 12th graders in the U.S. are proficient in math, a low point.
“While Wisconsin typically performs well amongst its peers on the Nation’s Report Card in fourth or eighth grade math, as a whole the nation is kind of falling further behind in comparison to a lot of our global peers and we’re in a global market for talent,” Koenen said.
