Wednesday, January 29, 2025
On average, Wisconsin students perform at or above the nation in all grades, subjects; persistent Black-white opportunity gaps remain
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DPI Media Line, (608) 266-3559MADISON — State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly called for additional investment in K-12 public schools following data released today by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “the Nation’s Report Card.”
Testing data for the 2024 NAEP shows Wisconsin students on average performed at or above the nation in all grades and subjects, including the state’s eighth graders achieving the third-highest scale score among all states and jurisdictions in mathematics. Wisconsin’s Black-to-white opportunity gap, however, remains among the widest in the nation.
“While the NAEP results highlight some successes, today’s release serves as an urgent wake-up call for our state – one that demands we act with greater urgency to support our children, educators, and schools,” Dr. Underly said. “We have the power to achieve lasting change, but it starts with a fundamental commitment to properly investing in our public schools, rather than continuing the cycle of underfunding them, as our legislature has chosen to do for far too long.”
The NAEP measures the academic performance of students across the United States, providing a snapshot of student achievement in mathematics and reading across fourth and eighth grade. The NAEP is separate from Wisconsin’s statewide standardized assessment – the Forward Exam. Information on how the two assessments differ is available in this NAEP resource. Detailed, comprehensive NAEP data released today can be found on its website.
In mathematics, Wisconsin eighth graders performed just behind the Department of Defense and Massachusetts and ahead of all other states and jurisdictions. In the same subject, Wisconsin fourth graders were consistent with the national average.
In reading, Wisconsin fourth and eighth graders did not experience a statistically significant change compared to 2022, while the nation experienced statistically significant declines in both grades. Both grades of Wisconsin students on average performed at or above the nation in the subject. Wisconsin 2023 Act 20, which reimagines the way students are taught to read across the state, is being implemented this school year, while NAEP was administered in spring 2024. To date, the legislature has not released nearly $50 million in approved funding to support schools in purchasing curriculum and implementing specific instructional methods in accordance with Act 20.
The NAEP showed that Wisconsin still has the widest Black-to-white opportunity gaps of all states in the nation in all grades and subjects. New data and maps created by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction detail the relationship between schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged students and school performance. Additional resources are available on the DPI’s website.
“Our educators are leaving our state or the profession in alarming numbers, and this exodus is disproportionately affecting our most vulnerable schools, where economically disadvantaged students face the greatest challenges,” Dr. Underly said. “There is an undeniable link between poverty and academic achievement, and these NAEP results show that once again. We cannot afford to ignore the reality that until we bridge these gaps, we will continue to shortchange our kids’ futures.”
In November, the DPI submitted its 2025-27 Biennial Budget request, which seeks to invest more than $4 billion in funding to Wisconsin public schools. Dr. Underly’s proposals include historic funding to increase the special education rate to 90 percent by 2027, to provide universal free school meals to all students so they have the nourishment necessary to succeed academically, to support growing student mental health needs, to improve the educator workforce and help schools recruit and retain high-quality teachers, to build off of Act 20 and ensure kids have the ability to read, to expand career and technical education programming, and more.
“The upcoming biennial budget is a defining moment for our students and their families,” Dr. Underly said. “The legislature has let public school funding fall behind - we cannot expect to see meaningful improvement for our kids if we continue to invest too little. It’s time to make the right choices for the future of our state, and that starts with fully funding our public schools and giving every child the opportunity to succeed.”