This post originally appeared at https://reforminggovernment.org/irg-its-time-for-supt-underly-to-answer-for-test-score-chaos/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2024

IRG: It’s Time for Supt. Underly to Answer for Test Score Chaos

10 tough questions for journalists, legislators to ask

DELAFIELD, WI: Today, the Institute for Reforming Government provided guidance for journalists and legislators as they put DPI under the microscope for lowering test score standards for students.

What Happened: New test scores for Wisconsin K-12 schools, released last week by DPI, are inflated, biased, and unreliable, as the Institute for Reforming Government Center for Investigative Oversight (IRG CIO) predicted in its report, “Testing Our Patience: How Wisconsin Lowered Standards, Widened the Achievement Gap, and Busted Its State Exams.” The report and supporting materials are located here.

Why It Matters: After creating chaos for school boards, parents, and state leaders, Superintendent Jill Underly has not yet had to answer tough questions from the press or from legislators. Below are 10 sets of questions asking what Wisconsin needs to know about the drastic changes to their education system.

1. 1. Does DPI possess “impact data” for the Forward Exam, as the test contract states? Does that data show the 2024 proficiency rates before DPI changed test score standards?

1. 2. Did Superintendent Underly’s cabinet agree that cut score changes, which increased achievement gaps, were equitable?

1. 3. In simple terms parents can understand, how would Superintendent Underly define “Proficient” under 2023 standards? How would she define “Meeting” under 2024 standards?

1. 4. Does Superintendent Underly feel like a 19 on the ACT is an appropriate minimum for proficiency for 11th graders, despite ACT not considering it college-ready?

1. 5. Did DPI recommend floors or ceilings for Forward or ACT test score standards before teachers set them? Did DPI provide contextual information to guide educators setting test score standards? Did Superintendent Underly accept the cut scores as each group of participants recommended, or did she adjust them?

1. 6. What in January 2023 prompted Superintendent Underly to want to change test score standards?

1. 7. What is DPI’s planned process for their adjustment of 2025 school and district report cards? What was DPI’s process for their adjustment of 2024 report cards?

1. 8. Does Superintendent Underly believe the Department of Education’s NAEP test, used to track state and national progress for decades, is an illegitimate measure of student learning?

1. 9. Was “this other nonsense going on with literacy” referring to the Act 20 legislation being worked on then? If so, what did Superintendent Underly mean by that?

1. 10. Did Superintendent Underly tell legislators during the Act 20 negotiations that DPI would change test score standards?

What’s Next: IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight remains committed to investigative oversight of state agencies. We encourage lawmakers to help hold DPI accountable through oversight hearings, especially as DPI changes state report cards in 2025.

Have questions? Reach out to IRG Senior Research Director Quinton Klabon at [email protected]. Put Wisconsin’s kids first.

###

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.