This post originally appeared at https://reforminggovernment.org/irgs-cio-exposes-dpi-records-on-new-biased-test-score-standards/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2024
IRG’s CIO Exposes DPI Records on New, Biased Test Score Standards
New State Test Standards and Report Cards Biased Toward High-Income Schools,
Superintendent Underly Calls Literacy Work “Nonsense,” Public Records Reveal
DELAFIELD, WI: Wisconsin’s 2024 test scores, out tomorrow, are inflated, biased, and unreliable.
How they got that way is the subject of “Testing Our Patience: How Wisconsin Lowered Standards, Widened the Achievement Gap, and Busted Its State Exams,” the latest Institute for Reforming Government Center for Investigative Oversight (IRG CIO) report. The report and supporting materials are located at reforminggovernment.org/test-score-changes.
What Happened: Public records obtained by IRG CIO reveal DPI management knew its inflation of Wisconsin’s proficiency rates would come at a cost: wider achievement gaps for Black, special needs, and impoverished students, a bias toward schools serving high-income students, and a future where 93% of districts score 4 or 5 stars on state report cards.
Records also revealed that State Superintendent Underly criticized “nonsense going on with literacy” in June 2023, a week after critical Act 20 reading reforms were introduced.
“I truly don’t understand what I am looking at for my approval. And with all this other nonsense going on with literacy I want to make sure we’re not throwing more fuel onto this fire.” – Superintendent Jill Underly, June 13, 2023
Why It Matters: New, lower standards for test scores make it impossible to compare students to before the pandemic or understand if they are really learning. New, unfair standards more harshly judge disadvantaged students, schools, and districts. DPI recently announced important “report cards” that rate schools will change drastically 3 times in 5 years: 2021, 2024, and 2025.
The Quote:
“Putting students first means improving their schools, not juicing the numbers for the suburbs. Instead, Superintendent Underly has inflated test scores, made disadvantaged students look bad, and dismissed literacy work as ‘nonsense.’” – Jake Curtis, IRG General Counsel and CIO Director
Calls to Action:
- DPI must reverse all changes to scores for the good of students.
- Lawmakers have an opportunity to hold DPI accountable through oversight hearings, especially as DPI changes state report cards in 2025.
- Parents should encourage their school boards to rely on student screener tests to measure progress, not state test scores.
Key Report Findings:
- State Superintendent Underly initiated test score changes in January 2023, but struggled to interpret the implications of new scores.
- DPI leadership knew their test score changes were predicted to increase achievement gaps for disadvantaged students, inequitably benefit high-income students and schools, and lead to two-thirds of all schools being rated 4 or 5 stars on state report cards.
- Students who score a 19 are now proficient according to DPI, despite having a 37% chance of getting a D or F in college freshman algebra and 18% chance in college freshman English, according to the ACT test company.
- DPI may have access to Forward Exam “impact data” before test score standards changed.
- Superintendent Underly emailed about “all this other nonsense going on with literacy” during Act 20 negotiations.
Have questions? Reach out to IRG Senior Research Director Quinton Klabon at [email protected].
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IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight was created in 2023 to hold government accountable.
The Institute for Reforming Government is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that seeks to simplify government at every level by offering policy solutions to thought leaders in American government in the areas of tax reform, government inefficiency, and burdensome regulations.