Are Wisconsin students really doing better? Or does it just look that way?

The picture of academic success for students is looking better all across Wisconsin. The percentage of students who are rated in higher categories on the state’s standardized tests has gone up. And there are no more students carrying the dreaded “below basic” label for reading and math skills.

Has the actual achievement of students improved much, if at all? That’s a different question that can’t be answered yet.

But Wisconsin’s measuring stick for student performance has been changed. And the categories for student performance have been renamed in, shall we say, kinder, gentler ways.

Results from the state’s round of standardized tests — administered in the spring and known as the Forward tests for third- through eighth-graders and the ACT and PreACT Secure tests for high school students — have been distributed to school districts and schools and, in some places, to families. The overall results will not be made public until sometime this fall. But Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction leaders have released enough information to make clear that significant changes have been made in the accountability system.

The changes — especially in where the bars are set for categorizing students’ performance — will make it difficult, at best, to compare this year’s results to prior years for the large majority of students in Wisconsin, including large numbers of private school students who take part in one of the state’s four school voucher programs.

A second big change in the testing program is in the labels for categories of student performance. For many years, the categories were titled “advanced,” “proficient,” “basic” and “below basic.” Now they are “advanced,” “meeting,” “approaching,” and “developing.” The DPI said in a statement that the new terminology is “asset-based” and “promotes academic potential, engagement, and growth at every level and improves feelings of encouragement and motivation among students.”

One additional change: There is now a specific result for reading for each student. Previously, reading was part of the broader category called language arts. John Johnson, policy adviser in the office of the state superintendent of public instruction, said the change reflects the increased emphasis on reading skills in Wisconsin and nationwide, as well as increased knowledge of how to determine success as a reader.

“We’ve learned a lot in last five years” about literacy, he said.

In a statement, the DPI said adding reading results “is a measurable step in support of extensive efforts to improve Wisconsin students’ educational outcomes and reading comprehension.”

'Words do have implications for kids'

Let’s pause over the term “developing,” one of the category labels that have been changed.

In the tests given in spring 2023 in English language arts, a quarter of all third- through eighth-graders in Wisconsin were categorized as “below basic.” For Milwaukee Public Schools, 53% were “below basic,” and there were schools where more than 80% were in that group.

Many educators have hated such labeling and considered calling many kids' educational standing “below basic” discouraging and even harmful for everyone involved, especially the kids themselves. How would you like to be called “below basic”?

“Those words do have implications for kids,” Johnson said. “When you hear that you’re below basic and you hear that as a kid — I think that was an important thing that we thought about.”

Using “developing” as the category label “looks at encouraging and motivating student learning.” Johnson said, “’Developing’ really captures what is going on for the kids over time.”

The DPI said the new labels are being used in reports on the tests given in spring 2024. According to the DPI, the definition of "developing" is, “The student is at the beginning stages of developing the knowledge and skills described in the Wisconsin Academic Standards at their grade level to be on-track for future learning.”

For the category above that, now known as “approaching,” the definition is, “The student is approaching the knowledge and skill expectations described in the Wisconsin Academic Standards for their grade-level to be on track for future learning.”

In a statement, State Superintendent Jill Underly said that under the old category names, “I’ve often heard confusion from parents, families and legislators on what performance terms on tests meant in regard to where students are at academically.” The DPI announcement said, “The updated terms are intended to foster conversations promoting student potential and growth at every level.”

What about kids — unfortunately, there are quite a few of them — who really are not “developing,” if that means they are making progress? “The question becomes, what are we doing with them?” said Tom McCarthy, deputy state superintendent. More and better things need to be done to reach those kids, McCarthy said. He said the DPI is aiming to accomplish that, including through its participation in an audit of Milwaukee Public Schools academic programs that has been ordered by Gov. Tony Evers.

Do the changes gloss over the problem?

The new labels, along with lowering the bars defining the test categories, have drawn criticism.

“Instead of focusing on declining academic achievement in Wisconsin, the Department of Public Instruction is working to hide the problem,” wrote Will Flanders, research director at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty , a conservative law firm and think tank. “Unfortunately, changing standards for political correctness and to avoid accountability will hurt students today, tomorrow and long into the future.”

There are signs, particularly from the Republican political side, that criticism may grow that the DPI is making the changes to make schools look better — and to make the DPI, itself, look better. The rumblings include speculation that the changes may benefit the presumed political ambitions of Underly, the current state superintendent, to seek higher office at some point. And insiders suggest that the Republication agenda for education issues when the state budget season comes next spring could include seeking to reduce the nearly total power of the state superintendent over the state testing system as a whole.

On the other hand, interest in scores on state tests appears to have declined in recent years. Perhaps this is because the scores have changed so little over the years (other than the downward bump associated with the impact of COVID policies), perhaps because the test scores are subject to partisan interpretation, or perhaps because there are so many other issues on the education agenda in the Legislature and in electioneering.

It is clear that results overall will look better for the state, for school districts and for individual schools. It is not clear how much the percentages of students in the higher categories of results — proficient, meeting, and approaching — will rise, compared to percentages in the former categories. But they will rise. What that means and how educators, parents, politicians and the public interpret the changed results may take several years to unfold.

Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette.edu .

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Are Wisconsin students really doing better? Or does it just look that way?