{"id":13419,"date":"2024-10-15T17:58:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T17:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=13419"},"modified":"2024-10-15T17:58:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T17:58:23","slug":"wisconsin-dpi-deceives-the-public-on-test-scores-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=13419","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin DPI Deceives the Public on Test Scores"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/schoolchoicewi.org\/wisconsin-dpi-deceives-the-public-on-test-scores\/<\/a><\/p>\n

This is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly posted to Wisconsin Right Now<\/a> on October 10, 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Milwaukee and Racine data \u2013 the fairer comparison \u2013 shows private choice students outperform public school students in 32 of 36 grade-level comparisons.<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Half-truths are contemptible. As the Oxford Dictionary explains, half-truths \u201cdeliberately convey only part of the truth in order to deceive someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

DPI issues half-truths on an annual basis, when it releases state test scores that compare students from low-income and moderate-income families with all students statewide. They do it even though they know it is deceptive. Here\u2019s the half-truth from DPI\u2019s Oct. 8 press release:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 2023-24, assessment results show public school student proficiency rates in English language arts and mathematics were at 48 percent and 49.4 percent\u2026Students participating in the state\u2019s Private School Choice Programs had proficiency rates of 30.9 percent (ELA) and 28.3 percent (mathematics)\u2026<\/p>\n

This is classic false equivalency. Pure apples and oranges. No reputable scholar would contend that students from poor Milwaukee or Racine families should be compared with a statewide sample composed mainly of students in middle-income and upper-middle income families. Yet this is exactly the comparison that DPI offers each year to support the false argument that school choice is \u201cnot working.\u201d The bogus claim makes its way into news articles, social media, and legislative offices \u2014 where the fate of school choice rests.<\/p>\n

There are honest comparisons. School Choice Wisconsin makes them \u2014 using DPI data. For example, we compare private Milwaukee choice students with students from Milwaukee Public Schools. We also compare private Racine choice students with those in the Racine Unified School District. Lastly, we compare low-income students in the statewide program (outside of Milwaukee and Racine) with low-income public school students.<\/p>\n

While the cohorts we use are not demographically identical, they come as close as available data allow to providing honest comparisons. They tell exactly the opposite story of the false impression \u2013 created deliberately to deceive \u2013 from DPI.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the DPI data we report show private choice students outperforming public school students in 32 of 36 grade-level comparisons.<\/p>\n

\"Dpi\"<\/a>\"Dpi\"<\/a>\"Dpi\"<\/a>
\n\"Dpi\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ACT Results<\/h2>\n

Also noteworthy is the fact that, on average, private choice students from low-income and moderate-income families actually outscore public school students from all families on the college-readiness ACT test. Not surprisingly, DPI\u2019s release does not address ACT scores.<\/p>\n

\"Dpi\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The DPI data we report is nowhere to be found in the agency\u2019s Oct. 8 press release. Finding it requires a deep dive \u2013 where few reporters or taxpayers venture \u2013 into the agency\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

It is both troublesome and unsurprising that the constitutional agency of state government responsible for education oversight would peddle half-truths. It continues a decades-long campaign of falsehoods by opponents of giving parents more education options.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nic Kelly is president of School Choice Wisconsin and a former private school teacher and administrator.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Wisconsin DPI Deceives the Public on Test Scores<\/a> appeared first on School Choice Wisconsin<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/schoolchoicewi.org\/wisconsin-dpi-deceives-the-public-on-test-scores\/ This is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":13421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-school-choice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13427,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13419\/revisions\/13427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}