{"id":14659,"date":"2025-01-09T05:03:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T06:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=14659"},"modified":"2025-01-09T07:01:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T07:01:29","slug":"in-case-you-missed-it-growing-opposition-to-wisconsins-lowered-test-score-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=14659","title":{"rendered":"In Case You Missed It: Growing Opposition to Wisconsin\u2019s Lowered Test Score Standards"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/reforminggovernment.org\/in-case-you-missed-it-growing-opposition-to-wisconsins-lowered-test-score-standards\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

For Immediate Release:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

January 9, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

In Case You Missed It: Growing Opposition to Wisconsin\u2019s Lowered Test Score Standards<\/b><\/p>\n

Delafield, Wis.<\/b> \u2013 In case you missed it, opposition to Wisconsin\u2019s recently <\/span>lowered test score standards<\/span><\/a> is growing, with legislators and Gov. Tony Evers harshly criticizing the move. <\/span>Speaker Robin Vos<\/span><\/a> recently expressed interest in prioritizing legislation to address the changes to standards.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Institute for Reforming Government released an extensive <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> detailing how, when, and why DPI lowered the bar for kids. IRG\u2019s Quinton Klabon recently commented on how those lowered expectations affect students and what the process should have looked like.<\/span><\/p>\n

WHY IT MATTERS: <\/b>State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly recently lowered Wisconsin\u2019s test score standards, making it impossible to compare students to before the pandemic or understand if they are really learning. Even Gov. Evers is criticizing the decision to lower standards, saying the process was a \u201cmistake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more <\/b>here<\/b><\/a>, watch <\/b>here<\/b><\/a>, or find excerpts below:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Gov. Evers critical of DPI lowering test standards, \u2018surprised\u2019 by decision<\/b><\/p>\n

CBS 58<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Emilee Fannon<\/span><\/p>\n

January 6, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

Months after the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) implemented a new controversial tool to measure students\u2019 academic performance, Governor Tony Evers is now describing the decision as a \u201cmistake.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

During a press conference with reporters meant to look ahead at 2025, Evers was critical of a DPI decision to change the testing cut scores that categorize how students did on Wisconsin\u2019s Forward Exam and the national ACT standardized test.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Evers maintained there should have been more input from more people ahead of time.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there should have been some information and dialogue happening with all sorts of people before that decision was made,\u201d Evers said. \u201cThe mistake was there wasn\u2019t enough conversation with stakeholders, parents ahead of time.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

DPI officials have defended the new benchmarks, saying they align more directly with the state\u2019s Forward Exam and teaching standards. Underly noted other states, such as Oklahoma and New York, have recently lowered their testing benchmarks.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

However, the Institute for Reforming Government, a conservative think tank, points to changes for the benchmarks on ACT testing.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The changes adopted last year mean students who score a 19 on the exam are considered to be meeting expectations. That standard was formerly labeled as \u201cproficient,\u201d but the DPI also softened the language with changing the cut scores, replacing terms like \u201cbasic\u201d and \u201cbelow basic\u201d with \u201capproaching expectations\u201d and \u201cdeveloping.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201c[The ACT] passing standard basically went from a 21 to a 19,\u201d Klabon said. \u201cThat is the definition of lowering standards.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The ACT, itself considers a 19 at the low end of its \u201caverage score range,\u201d which includes scores between 17 and 24. According to a 2011 primer put together by the Portage School District, a 19 on the ACT would\u2019ve been lower than the minimum score required for admission to every UW System school.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Klabon, meanwhile, joined Evers in saying the DPI should have gotten input from more people than teachers when changing the cut scores. DPI primers on the changes said 90 educators were involved in changing the benchmarks for the Forward Exam, while 26 educators had a hand in changing the ACT cut scores.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI think any process to set standards for Wisconsin test scores should have included national experts on testing, on standards,\u201d Klabon said.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It\u2019s why critics, including Evers, have argued the adjustments as they were implemented make it nearly impossible to measure students\u2019 academic performance.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) called the new testing standards \u201cpreposterous\u201d and said his caucus will introduce legislation to address it in the coming weeks.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to pass legislation to guarantee the standards are the same and you don\u2019t get to jigger them every time you want to run for reelection,\u201d Vos said.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more <\/b>here<\/b><\/a>, watch <\/b>here<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

###<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span><\/i>Institute for Reforming Government<\/span><\/i><\/a> 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. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/reforminggovernment.org\/in-case-you-missed-it-growing-opposition-to-wisconsins-lowered-test-score-standards\/ For Immediate Release:\u00a0 January 9, 2025 In Case You…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":14661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-institute-for-reforming-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14659","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\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14659"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14662,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14659\/revisions\/14662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}