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Legislative Update


DPI releases statewide testing results

by | Oct 21, 2021 | Legislative Update Blog, State Issue

The DPI today released statewide testing results showing the significant impact the pandemic and school closures had on test participation and proficiency rates. The results are from the Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) exams administered to students in spring 2021 and followed standard in-person test taking procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the DPI release: “Overall, statewide participation rates among the approximately 580,000 enrolled public and Choice school students on the Forward, DLM, Aspire, and ACT decreased from previous years to 84 percent in English language arts and 85 percent in mathematics. The decline is likely due to pandemic-related factors such as a change in learning environment, parent/guardian opt-out from the assessments, and changes in enrollment from previous years. Consistent with national trends, proficiency rates in ELA (32 percent) and mathematics (31 percent) decreased statewide among enrolled public and Choice school students. Proficiency rates are calculated as a percent of enrolled students, not tested students. Students who were not tested count against overall proficiency scores. DPI requested a waiver for the requirement of statewide academic testing for all students from the United States Department of Education; a waiver was not received. While the DPI worked with districts to provide additional flexibility to safely administer assessments, students did not participate in the assessments in some instances due to local health conditions and concerns, or to parent choices to keep students home. In some districts, lower than usual participation rates may mean that students who took the test are not representative of the overall student population. It is strongly recommended to use caution when interpreting results. Making comparisons across years or districts when test participation rates are lower than 95 percent should be avoided, as varying factors resulted in an overall decline in participation rates across the state.”

“The WSAS consists of the Forward Exam given in grades three through eight and 10, the ACT Aspire given in grades nine and 10, the ACT with writing in grade 11, and Dynamic Learning Maps given across all tested grades to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. Results from the WSAS are a foundational component of the state-legislated school and district report cards that will be issued in November.”

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