The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction today published school and district accountability report cards for the 2023-24 school year.
The DPI publishes school and district report cards annually, as required by Wis. Stat. 115.385. Report cards include data for multiple school years across four priority areas: Achievement, Growth, Target Group Outcomes, and On-Track to Graduation. The Achievement and Growth priority areas are weighted based on a district or school percentage of economically disadvantaged pupils, as required by state law.
But this year, as DPI Superintendent Jill Underly gears up for re-election in the spring, the data comes with a giant asterisk.
Under Underly’s leadership at the Department, DPI has introduced multiple modifications to Wisconsin’s school accountability framework, which (to be charitable) complicate year-over-year comparisons.
“DPI has rewritten academic standards so that the only expectation is mediocrity, and Wisconsinites must not stand for it. Continual changes to both the Forward Exam and state report cards have created a ‘Frankenstein’s’ monster of an accountability system that outright hides declining academic achievement. The legislature must act in 2025.”
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Research Director Will Flanders
Initially, in 2021, DPI altered the threshold scores for the state report card, resulting in some school districts receiving higher ratings without any actual academic progress. Then, in June 2024, DPI announced their plan to adjust the language associated with the Forward Exam, diverting from the established standards of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
Lastly, in August 2024, DPI declared further modifications to the cut points and scoring of the Forward Exam.
WILL notes that under these new muddled standards there are 12 public schools statewide that fall under 15% reading proficiency that garnered an accountability score of “Meets Expectations” or “Exceeds Expectations.”
Additional WILL research and commentary on these matters:
