Big racial and economic disparities in students’ English Language Arts and math scores continued in the 2024-25 school year, according to new statewide test results from DPI.
State Superintendent Jill Underly in a statement on the data said test scores “are only one piece of the puzzle.”
“Our students, educators, and schools are facing growing challenges — from mental health struggles to economic uncertainty — and that context matters,” Underly said. “These results remind us why it’s so important to support the whole child and ensure every Wisconsin student has access to strong, caring educators.”
She said recruiting and retaining great teachers is one of the most powerful ways to help kids succeed.
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The data released by the Department of Public Instruction yesterday included: scores on the Forward Exam for grades 3-8 and 10; the PreACT Secure exam, which gauges ACT preparedness for grades 9 and 10; the ACT for grade 11; and Dynamic Learning Maps assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
Scores on the English Language Arts and math portions of the Forward Exam, which are administered to grades 3-8, showed minimal increases in performance from the prior year, while racial gaps persisted.
WILL Research Director Will Flanders said the results “appear to show more of the same.”
“Student proficiency across the board is largely flat at its newly inflated levels, and the same achievement gaps along economic and racial lines persist,” Flanders said. “In an era where Wisconsin is falling behind states like Mississippi in reading, simply maintaining the status quo isn’t acceptable.”
On the Forward Exam, 51.6% of public schools were meeting expectations on the English Language Arts portion, while 46.1% were not meeting expectations and 2.3% weren’t tested. The percentage of students meeting expectations was 51.1% in the 2023-24 school year.
White students were the group with the highest percentage of students meeting expectations. Just 18.1% of Black students were meeting expectations compared to 61.1% of white students. The percentage of students meeting expectations was 46.8% for those of two or more races, 48% of Asian students, 41.8% of Pacific Islander students, 33% of Hispanic students, 31.5% of those of unknown race, and 29.4% of American Indian students.
The results also show an economic gap, with just 33% of economically disadvantaged students meeting expectations in English Language Arts, compared to 65.5% for those not economically disadvantaged and 31.9% for those of unknown status.
On the math portion of the Forward Exam, 52.8% of public school students were meeting expectations, 45.2% weren’t meeting expectations and 2% weren’t tested. That’s compared to the 53.1% that were meeting expectations in 2023-24.
White students also had the highest percentage of students meeting expectations in math for the Forward Exam at 63.6%, while Black students had the lowest at 14.5%. The percentage of students meeting expectations was 53.7% for Asian students, 44.7% for students of two or more races, 41% for Pacific Islander students, 31.2% of Hispanic students, 29.3% of students of unknown race and 28.1% of American Indian students.
Meanwhile, 32.8% of economically disadvantaged students were meeting expectations in math, versus 67.8% of those not economically disadvantaged and 29.7% of those of unknown status.
For private schools participating in the state’s voucher program, student scores for English Language Arts on the Forward Exam went down 2.3 percentage points compared to the prior year, including schools that opted out. Math scores went down by 2.7 percentage points.
Republican chairs of the state’s education committees did not immediately return requests for comment on the results.
See the latest data through DPI’s WISEdash portal here.
