MPS presents 2025–26 assessment plan; union says added non‑mandated testing increases classroom burden
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Summary
District staff described a streamlined assessment plan for 2025–26 emphasizing I‑Ready, reduced redundancy and embedded progress monitoring; Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association raised concerns that the district omitted non‑mandated local assessments from the slide and that testing time has increased dramatically in some schools.
Milwaukee Public Schools staff presented an overview of the district’s balanced assessment system for the 2025–26 school year and described several changes intended to reduce redundancy and better align diagnostics to instruction. During public comment, the president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) said district slides undercounted local, non‑mandated testing and urged immediate meet‑and‑confer with the union.
Dr. Natalie Collins, director of research, assessment and data, and Dr. Gabby (Bell) Jimenez, academic superintendent for literacy, told the Committee on Student Achievement and School Innovation that the district’s assessment system combines formative checks, diagnostics and summative measures to guide instruction and meet federal, state and board requirements. Collins said district calculations show a district‑wide average of 563 minutes (about 9.4 hours) of required testing per student for 2025–26, representing about 0.83% of scheduled instructional hours. She said that an eighth‑grade student has the highest estimated impact, at 21.8 hours for the year (about 1.93% of instructional time).
Collins and Jimenez outlined operational changes for 2025–26 intended to reduce overlap and increase instructional relevance. Key changes the administration cited include eliminating the Brigance universal screener for early childhood (K–3 to K–5 as stated), eliminating universal screening in grades 9–12, and shifting from STAR to I‑Ready for K–8 diagnostics and instructional resources. The administration also said progress monitoring will move from monthly universal checks to embedded checks within personalized lessons (MyPath) and that additional first‑grade AIMSweb probes will be used for fall screening per Wisconsin Act 20.
The administration said some tradeoffs exist: I‑Ready’s diagnostic averages about 50 minutes but, the district argued, replacing monthly progress monitoring and duplicate testing will free instructional time overall. Fiscal figures stated in the presentation: STAR cost the district about $600,000 in 2024–25; the I‑Ready assessment cost noted was $2,291,000, which the administration characterized as a net savings of “over $308,000” when accounting for operational changes.
In public comment, Ingrid Walker Henry, president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, disputed the presentation’s testing‑time graphic and said it omitted district‑required, non‑state assessments in science, social studies, and literacy. “The PowerPoint graph of assessment times is inaccurate,” Walker Henry said. She told the committee that some elementary classrooms experienced a one‑week span with about 10.5 hours of testing. The MTEA requested immediate meet‑and‑confer on non‑mandated assessments, delivery of completed literacy professional development survey responses to the union and board, and a revised presentation that includes both mandated and non‑mandated assessments across grades and content areas.
Director Fonds asked for an explanation of non‑mandated testing; Natalie Collins responded that the slide in question reflected only federal, state and board‑required assessments (listing ACT, AIMSweb, CogAT, Dynamic Learning Maps, I‑Ready, NAEP, preACT secure, WIDA ACCESS and Wisconsin Forward Exam among others). Director Fonds reiterated concerns about the overall volume of assessment time, and the committee chair pledged to schedule follow‑up conversation at a later date. Director Fonds and Chair Simpson said administration will meet with MTEA leadership to problem‑solve.
The presentation and public comment were informational; no formal action was taken. The administration provided attachments listing required assessments and said recorded trainings, office hours and a Google site will support schools on the I‑Ready transition. The committee requested a future review of assessment implementation and possible adjustments.
