If you grew up playing video games as a kid on some of the early gaming systems, you likely had days where you were involved in a heated contest with an older brother, or a friend, or even your dad where it became apparent that you were about to lose. If you were a sore loser, you had a sneaky way to avoid the embarrassment of taking another “L”–you could hit the reset button, and the game would be wiped away forever. Sure, there would be yelling (and literal fighting)–but hey it never happened because the game never ended!
I was thinking of that scenario this week while taking part in a conference call with members of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction after the release of the results of last spring’s Forward Exams measuring student performance in reading and in math. For several years, those numbers have not looked great, as fewer than 50% of students across all grade levels were rated as “proficient” in those categories–meaning more than half of kids in Wisconsin schools could not read or do math at a level expected for their grade.
Those previous scores usually came with promises that schools were going to “focus” on improving literacy–usually by adding more staff and more administrators to “tackle” the problem. But all of the new Reading Specialists and Literacy Curriculum Consultants hired across the state made little difference on the scores. As reporting has revealed in the past few years, the root of the problem was the use of Balanced Literacy curriculum that didn’t actually teach kids how to read–but instead assumed they could just “pick it up” as they paged through picture books and engaged in group discussions of the topics. Those outside of education finally got so fed up that last year the Legislature followed the lead of dozens of other states in banning the use of Balanced Literacy curriculum and requiring instead the proven Science of Reading techniques for literacy.
While this fall is the first year of required Science of Reading programs, last spring’s Forward Exam results would give us an excellent baseline against which to compare just how effective teaching kids what letters and combinations of letters sound like will be in making them better readers. Except, the results will not do that–because the DPI completely overhauled the test, making all future comparisons to past results meaningless. And to further invalidate all previous scores, the new Forward Exam has completely new names and definitions for the categories of student achievement.
The previous categories were “Below Basic”–which means kids were not even reaching minimal levels of reading or math achievement–“Basic”–which meant they had grasped some of the concepts, but not what was expected for their grade level–“Proficient”–meaning a student met the level of learning expected for their grade–and “Advanced”–which were kids that could read or do math at a higher grade level already. Those have been replaced with “Developing”–which is meant to signal that kids are still trying to learn the techniques of learning–“Approaching”–meaning they are below grade level but have shown some improvement–“Meeting Expectations”–which means kids are at the level of proficiency expected for that age–and “Advanced”–which still means exceeding expectations.
The folks on the DPI call insisted the new names “make it easier for parents to understand just where their kids are on their learning journey”. But does it? “Developing” and “Approaching” are far more nebulous terms than “Below Basic” and “Basic”. When former President Donald Trump said “we are developing concepts of an idea” when asked about his specific plan to replace the Affordable Care Act during the last debate–it drew howls of laughter from those who know he isn’t anywhere near having a plan. The DPI officials add that the new terms are “student success centered” as well–as it implies that everyone is making progress all the time. So that begs the question, if a child goes from “Meeting Expectations” in 2nd grade to “Approaching” in 3rd grade, he or she really isn’t “approaching” the target, but is actually moving away from it. But if everything sounds like its positive, how can anyone think it’s not going well?
And then there is the question of whether we are even talking about the same standards applying to the new test as they did to the old test. In the press release before the conference call, DPI warned us reporters that we were not to compare the scores from the spring of 2024 to any previous years, as they are no longer relevant to each other. That led to the best questioning during the call, as reporters from several outlets questioned if the standards had been lowered or raised, if there is absolutely no way the numbers correlate with each other anymore. And it’s where things got very confusing.
According to DPI, the previous Forward Exam standards were based on those established by the National Assessment of Educational Progress as to where kids should be in reading and math ability by grade level. They clearly stated that those standards were “too high”, and that the new Forward Exam standards were based on those established by surrounding states and their standardized tests. But each and everyone on that call insisted that the state did not lower the standards for proficiency….I mean “Meeting Expectations”. Questions about the specific benchmarks that were used to determine each of the categories were also dismissed with the “you cannot compare the two” response over and over again.
Which brings us to the results themselves. In the 2022-23 school year, 39% of Wisconsin students scored as “Proficient” or “Advanced” in reading. Despite the standards “not being lowered” in the 2023-24 school year, that number jumped 12% to 51% at “Meeting Expectations” and “Advanced”. A similar jump in math ratings was seen as well with proficiency going from 41% in 2023 to 53% in 2024. Either we did a hell of a job teaching a lot of struggling kids in the last 12-months–or we are not expecting nearly as much from them as we did before.
It should be noted that the changes to the Wisconsin Forward exams were not made in view of the public. What was also stressed during our conference call was that “77 teachers, administrators, and experts from diverse backgrounds” were brought together last year to develop the new test and the new standards. As the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has noted, the conference was not open to the public or the press, and attendees had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to take part.
The changes made to the Forward Exam fit perfectly with the DPI’s continual lowering of standards for Wisconsin school children. Standardized test scores are part of the District and School Report Cards the state issues every year as well. Despite districts like Milwaukee having sub-20% proficiency in reading and math, they almost always were given “Meeting Expectations” grades. How you might ask? It’s something that President George W. Bush pointed to during his administration: the soft racism of lowered expectations. The DPI was in effect saying “We know your numbers are bad, but look at what you have to work with. Good job!” Besides–as is mentioned by every administrator at every release of every test score–asking a student to show what they have learned is not the right way to determine what they have learned.
The lowered standards for the Wisconsin Forward exams will just make our public education system look better–while continuing to produce below basic results. And no, I don’t mean “Developing”.
