Majority Of Wisconsin Grade School Students Fail In Math + English National Tests

The majority of grade school students in Wisconsin get failing scores in math and English when compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country.  That's the take-away from the recent release of the National Report Card - the test that Grade 4 and Grade 8 students take, compiled by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

And the scores aren't just off by a little.

When looking at the most-recent results, the numbers for Wisconsin grade schoolers were bleak. An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel discloses:

"About 39% of Wisconsin students scored as proficient or higher in math on the spring 2022 Forward exams...and about 37% were proficient or better in language arts (English)."

Said differently that means that 61% of those Wisconsin grade school students scored less than proficient in math, and 63% of those students scored less than proficient in language arts.

With the release of the scores comes the usual "blame game".  "Wisconsin's state superintendent of schools blames the poor test scores on the coronavirus".  Others say that the test scores need to take into account the way that students who don't participate in the testing (i.e. those that don't take the test for some reason) "drag...down the rate". Many of those students who didn't take the test were virtual learners - at home; there wasn't a way to administer the test virtually.

Politically, both sides of the aisle have also added their take(s) on the poor test scores for Wisconsin grade schoolers.  Current Wisconsin Tony Evers was a teacher and educator prior to entering politics. During his campaign, he ran as a solution to the states education woes.  The Wisconsin Education Association Council deemed Evers "A champion for Wisconsin students, educators, and public schools".  Now three years into his gubernatorial term, supporters hoped that things would be different.

Meanwhile, Tim Michels - who is running against Tony Evers this election cycle - had less than positive things to say about the current governor.  Michels office issued a statement saying that the Democratic governor had "driven Wisconsin schools into a ditch".