State's schools moving toward firmer standards
The Journal Sentinel education reporters offer news and notes from their beat
Wisconsin education officials are aiming to move into the national mainstream by setting firmer standards for what children should learn in school and finding better ways to measure achievement.
A new report from the American Diploma Project praises Wisconsin's proposed new set of standards for high school English and math. The report is the latest of several indications that changes are being made when it comes to student expectations - and that others are noticing.
Wisconsin built a reputation in recent years for having loosely written state standards. The state was viewed as setting the bar about as low as anywhere in the country in determining if students were proficient, and taking too rosy an approach to deciding whether schools were getting adequate results.
Several national groups, some of them with conservative orientations but others harder to peg politically, criticized the state for its softness.
The report from the Diploma Project, issued last week, says that in revising its statement of what students are expected to learn in English and math, "Wisconsin has taken an important step to better prepare young people for success in post-secondary education and in their careers."
The project is an arm of Achieve Inc., a private nonprofit organization headed generally by major politicians and business leaders. Wisconsin and 34 other states are participating in the effort, with the goal of raising the bar for student performance.
Achieve leaders, who had criticized earlier standards, cited instances of how Wisconsin's proposed standards were becoming firmer and more specific in ways that put less emphasis on processes for learning and more on achievement.
"What may seem to be a minor revision really expresses a major re-visioning of the purpose of the standards and reinforces the rigor of the statements," the report says. It cites changes such as replacing repeated references to having students "select and use" strategies for certain skills with wording that more directly says students will demonstrate the skills.
Overall, the report says, the proposed standards will be "intellectually demanding" and align well with what the diploma project wants.
Tony Evers, the new state superintendent of public instruction, said the endorsement from the Diploma Project "has really set us into a good place where our standards are considered rigorous" and Wisconsin can participate more fully in national reform efforts.
The new standards are to be adopted soon.
Elizabeth Burmaster, who ended eight years as state superintendent last week, said the standards mean "there will be greater clarity and focus on what Wisconsin students . . . need to know and be able to do to be prepared for the workplace and college success."
The revised standards were produced by teams of educators and others, including business people, from around the state.
Joining standards group
In a second step, Wisconsin officials announced in early June that they had joined an effort called the Common Core Standards Initiative, whose sponsors include the National Governors Association. Compatible with the diploma project, it is also working to get agreement across the United States on what students are expected to learn.
Critics - sometimes singling out Wisconsin - have said there is far too wide a range of expectations from state to state, and a student labeled proficient in one may not be close to that level in others.
Forty-six states have signed on to the core standards work.
In a recent interview, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called the effort "a giant step in the right direction."
"Many states, probably including Wisconsin, have really dummied-down standards," Duncan said.
"This is a phenomenal breakthrough."
Ordering improvements
A third step pointing to change is the state Department of Public Instruction's recent set of orders to Milwaukee Public Schools calling for "corrective action" because MPS did not meet goals set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The thrust of the orders includes standardizing and narrowing the range of reading and math programs offered in MPS; intervening sooner with students who are getting off track in either academics or behavior; and putting more pressure for improvement on low-performing schools.
The steps significantly increase DPI pressure on MPS to improve and reflect reports from national experts who have criticized MPS.
