Benjamin Yount:

A lot of students in Wisconsin are about to get far better grades on the state’s standardized tests, but advocates say it’s not because they are suddenly better at reading or math.

Wisconsin’s State Superintendent of Schools is defending the decision to change the standards for Wisconsin’s Fordward Exam and the ACT.

The Department of Public Instruction is both lowering the threshold for what is proficient, a 19 on the ACT will now count as proficient and changing the terms to measure student success. The most noticeable change is dropping the terms basic and below basic in exchange for approaching and developing.

“I feel again like this is easier to understand where kids are, and where they stand on the spectrum of learning,” Superintendent Jill Underly said in an interview.

Quinton Klabon, with the Institute for Reforming Government, said the changes are, once again, going to muddy the water to figuring out if students in Milwaukee Public Schools are actually learning.

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Defending Reduced Rigor….

“Proficient” is now…a -19- on the ACT” – taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI