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Parent says 'report card system is broken'; district staff explain testing changes and local measures
Summary
A parent told the Winneconne board that state report-card recalibration made recent gains misleading; district staff said changes to cut scores and differing test formats (Forward Exam vs. ACT) limit year-to-year comparisons and described local measures used to monitor student progress.
At the board's open forum, parent Adam Arons told the Winneconne Community School District board that recent state report-card results were misleading after this summer’s lowering of cut scores. "The Wisconsin school report card system is broken," Arons said, adding that it appeared statewide achievement rose even where proficiency remained low.
Arons said local scores moved in ways he found statistically implausible and asked whether tests or scoring had changed, noting a memo from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) that said districts should not compare prior years’ results with this year’s data. "Does that sound transparent to any reasonable person?" he asked.
District staff (identified in the meeting as Peg Mishler and other administrators) told the board the district is proud of its results but agreed that changes in cut scores and the different assessment instruments make direct comparisons difficult. Staff explained the Forward Exam used in grades 3–8 differs from the ACT-format assessments high-school juniors face, and that DPI assigns different weightings to district-level measures. The district described additional local measures — i-Ready screening and interventionist data — used to assess growth and to guide remediation.
Administration said it will continue discussions with DPI about report-card methodology and invited parents to bring specific questions to district staff or to DPI directly.
Next steps: district staff said they will follow up with parents who request deeper analysis and will pursue dialogue with DPI about weights and comparability.
