MADISON, Wis. – Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point) is voicing his disappointment over the governor’s hypocritical decision to veto a bill that would have revived previous education standards that measure the academic achievement of Wisconsin’s students.
Last year, Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly and DPI officials lowered the threshold for what is considered proficient on state tests and changed the terms that describe student success. Underly’s new standards also no longer align the cut scores that pupils must attain to reach each category with the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
“With these revisions, Underly is trying to hide her failures as the DPI superintendent by artificially inflating the achievement levels of students and by making it virtually impossible to compare data from past years,” Sen. Testin said. “Simply put, Underly is attempting to pull the wool over all of our eyes.”
According to National Assessment of Educational Progress test standards, only 31 percent of young Wisconsin students are proficient in reading, which puts the state at 34th in the country. Yet, Underly’s watered-down benchmarks claim that 53 percent of Wisconsin pupils are proficient in reading.
“Wisconsin parents deserve to know exactly where their children stand so they can get the help they need and better prepare for the future,” Sen. Testin said. “Even Gov. Evers himself proclaimed that it was a mistake for Underly to change how school children are measured on state academic tests. Legislative Republicans tried to fix that mistake by passing a bill that would have taken us back to the old standards that were used when Gov. Evers was the DPI superintendent.
“By vetoing that legislation earlier today, Gov. Evers has proven that he cares more about playing partisan politics than ensuring our kids receive a high-quality education,” Sen. Testin added.
