LT Editorial on State Test Standards

Updated: 10/8/2007


How proficient are our kids in school? Who knows?
The issue: A study says Wisconsin sets the bar low in measuring academic proficiency.

Our view: The public is frustrated by contradicting studies and results.

We've all heard the expression, "Figures don't lie, but liars figure."

That's not always true of course, but often figures are confusing, even contradictory, leaving the casual observer confused and frustrated to the point of tuning out altogether.

Consider the front page story in the Oct. 4 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "State sets low test standards." The article is about a federal study that found a wide variance in what officials in various states consider students to be proficient in math and reading. This is important because under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, all students are supposed to be proficient in these two subjects by 2014, and penalties await schools that don't meet the benchmarks.

The study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute found that under federal guidelines, only 35 percent of Wisconsin fourth-graders are reading at a proficient level, but standards set by Wisconsin education officials the number jumps to 81 percent. Similar gaps were found in the math results for both fourth- and eighth-graders.

According to the Journal Sentinel, the Fordham study found that to get a proficient rating in reading, a fourth-grader in Wisconsin could score as low as the 16th percentile nationally. This means in a representative group of 100 students nationally, the Wisconsin student would have to score better than only 15 others to get a proficient rating. Wisconsin had the second-easiest standards for reading proficiency among the 26 states in the Fordham study, the newspaper said.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction officials questioned the Fordham study's methadology and denied Wisconsin sets its proficiency standards low to inflate the number.

The Fordham study also concluded that many states, including Wisconsin, have harder math tests than reading tests, giving the skewed result that students are better in reading than math when that may not be the case.

Whatever the numbers show or don't show, we in Wisconsin can continue to take pride in knowing our average scores on the college-entrance ACT exam are still near the tops nationally. That only takes into account the college-bound, however.

In a twist of irony, the same day the Journal Sentinel put the test story on the top of its front page, it had a teaser right next to it with a picture of a broiled fish that said a new study advises pregnant and breast-feeding women to eat at least 12 ounces of fish a week. Of course, many previous studies have concluded such women should limit their fish intake over concerns about mercury contamination.

There's another cliche that seems to fit here: "Who knows what to believe anymore?"

- Don Huebscher, editor