By LaKeshia N. Myers
Representative LaKeshia Myers
The recent adjustment of test score benchmarks in Wisconsin’s education system represents yet another chapter in the ongoing struggle for educational equity in public schools. As an educator, I cannot help but draw parallels between these current changes and the controversial 2015 Opportunity Schools and Partnership Program (OSPP) – both examples of how shifting metrics and state intervention/disinvestment have impacted all public-school districts, especially those with predominantly Black and Hispanic student populations.
When the legislature passed the OSPP in 2015, it granted sweeping powers to the Milwaukee County Executive to take over schools deemed “failing” based on state report card scores. The program, championed by suburban legislators, threatened to remove schools from Milwaukee and Racine and place them under private operators or other entities. This was a strategy that has been implemented in other states, often with mixed results.
After rigorous negotiation and the appointment of an OSPP commissioner, a plan was crafted to intervene in just one failing MPS school by the 2016-17 school year. This never occurred because then-State Superintendent Tony Evers spearheaded changes in the metrics used to evaluate growth on school report cards. Changes made to the report-card calculations emphasize student improvement over proficiency, which according to Evers, “better account for poverty levels and the number of students in a school who may struggle, such as those with disabilities and those who are learning English” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 2016).
This move demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of the complex challenges facing urban education.
The same disconnect plagues today’s discourse around test score benchmarks. When we adjust these benchmarks without addressing the systemic inequities that impact student performance, we’re merely moving the goalposts while ignoring the actual game being played on the field. Our students aren’t failing – the system is failing them, repeatedly.
Politicians are failing them because they play political games—legislative Republicans claim overhauling the system and expanding parental choice would solve the problem, while simultaneously turning a blind eye to the increasing number of students who require special education services and passing state budgets that leave school districts with massive deficits that must be backfilled by homeowners through referenda.
Legislative Democrats often decry the fiscal inequities faced by school districts and lean heavily into the socioeconomic circumstances faced by students and their families; but fail to acknowledge or support accountability measures that need to be imposed on school boards, district administration, parents, and educators. Acknowledging poverty as a social condition does not negate the fact that academic achievement must occur in the classroom. Poverty should not be used as an excuse for low expectations and mediocrity.
The 2015 OSPP ultimately failed to take over any schools, however, its shadow looms large over current discussions about school performance and accountability. The program’s premise – that outside intervention based on test scores would somehow magically improve educational outcomes – revealed a shallow understanding of what our schools truly need.
Today’s benchmark adjustments risk perpetuating the same flawed logic. That just “fudging the numbers” or “lowering the standards” will make issues magically disappear.
What Wisconsin schools need isn’t another reshuffling of numbers or threats of state takeover. We need full funding that matches the rhetoric about educational importance. We need smaller class sizes, investment in teacher recruitment, wrap-around services, and resources that create ideal situations for success. We need policymakers to understand that money does answer all things and accountability matters. We also need policymakers willing to strengthen the Department of Public Instruction and transition it from a guidance agency into one that has the responsibility to put school boards and school districts in check when standards are not met.
The OSPP’s failure should serve as a lesson: top-down interventions based purely on test scores don’t address the root causes of educational inequality. As we debate these new benchmark changes, let’s focus on real solutions – increasing per-pupil funding, investing in early childhood education, and providing comprehensive support services for families.
Our students deserve more than shifting goalposts. They deserve a genuine commitment to educational equity.