WISEdash for Districts Forward Exam Dashboard

About the Data | Cautions | Scoring | Tested Topics | Scoring-Historical | Using Performance Dashboards | Data Availability | Data Exchange

About the Data

Beginning in Spring 2016, the Wisconsin Forward Exam has been administered in English language arts and mathematics in grades 3 through 8, in science in grades 4 and 8, and in social studies in grades 4, 8, and 10. The Forward Exam is a computer administered assessment which is used to gauge how well students are mastering the Wisconsin Academic Standards. The Forward Exam includes multiple-choice questions, short answer questions, and writing prompts in the ELA section. Accommodations and supports for students with disabilities and/or English language learners are built into the system so that the progress of students can be accurately measured.

Purpose of the Forward Exam

The Forward Exam results provide information about student performance which allows:

• students to reflect on their achievement,
• teachers to target instruction to student needs and reflect upon their own instructional practices,
• administrators to more fully understand what students know and can do in order to guide curriculum and professional development decisions,
• parents to understand what their child knows and is able to do in ELA, mathematics, science, and social studies, and
• all stakeholders to check how ready ALL students are for college and career, especially those groups that have historically been left behind.

Cautions

Note that no single test can tell us whether students have learned everything that is important for students to learn. Additional local evidence should be reviewed for a more complete picture of student learning.

Test participation for 2020-21 may be lower than in other years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When making comparisons to the state or across years, use caution when participation rates are lower than 95%, especially when the group of tested students is not representative of the overall population of students.

The Forward Exam Trends dashboard for ELA and mathematics will be starting new trend lines beginning with the Spring 2024 administration. Trends in these subject areas will be viewable from Spring 2016 through Spring 2023. New trends will start with the Spring 2024 administration and include future years.

Scoring

• Performance Levels
  • Beginning with the Spring 2024 administration, student performance on the Forward Exam is reported in terms of four performance levels: Advanced, Meeting, Approaching and Developing. In previous years, student performance on the Forward Exam was reported in terms of four performance levels: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, and Below Basic.
  • Performance categories and their corresponding scale score ranges reflect student mastery of the Wisconsin Academic Standards.
  • New performance level cut score recommendations were provided by a committee of Wisconsin educators in June of 2024 for ELA and mathematics. These cut score recommendations were approved by the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction for use in Wisconsin beginning with the Spring 2024 administration of the Forward Exam.
  • In November 2017, Wisconsin adopted new science standards. In Spring 2019, a new science exam aligned to these new Wisconsin science standards was administered in grades 4 and 8. Performance level scale score ranges have been revised beginning with the Spring 2019 administration.
  • In May 2018, Wisconsin adopted new social studies standards. In Spring 2022, a new social studies exam aligned to these new Wisconsin social studies standards was administered in grades 4,  8 and 10. Performance level scale score ranges have been revised beginning with the Spring 2022 administration.
  • Initial performance level cut score recommendations were provided by a committee of Wisconsin educators in June of 2016 for ELA, math, science and social studies. These cut score recommendations were approved by the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction for use in Wisconsin beginning with the Spring 2016 administration of the Forward Exam.
  • Forward Exam metrics include a not tested category that represents students who were enrolled during the test window but who were not tested or did not receive a score with the Forward Exam or DLM. 
  • The table below provides general performance level descriptions of the Forward Exam.

• Subject Scores
  • Forward Exam results for ELA and math are reported on a 4-digit score scale for English language arts and mathematics and a 3-digit score scale for science and social studies. In addition, beginning with the Spring 2024 administration scores are available for reading and writing. The reading and writing performance categories and cut score range are the same as the overall ELA performance categories and cut score ranges for each grade.
  • The tables below provide performance categories and cut score ranges for each performance level for each content area.

Tested Topics

In addition to an overall scale score and performance level description, the Forward Exam also provides information on tested topics within the overall content area. Tested topics are major areas included in the English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies tests. Individual test questions are aligned to these topics. A student’s topic performance is described using the same performance level classifications (see note below) as the overall content area: Advanced, Meeting, Approaching, and Developing. For topics with less than 4 test items, no score is reported. See the blueprints below for the complete list of topics within each content area. 

Note: Cut score ranges (using raw scores) are not provided for the tested topics within an overall content area. The number of items needed to be answered correctly in order to reach a classification level may vary between administrations. The number of items included in each topic and the difficulty of these items influence the number of items required to be answered correctly.

• The ELA blueprint can be found at: English Language Arts - Grades 3-8 Blueprint
• The mathematics blueprint can be found at: Mathematics - Grades 3-8 Blueprint
• The science blueprint can be found at: Science - Grades 4 & 8 Blueprint 
• The social studies blueprint can be found at: Social Studies - Grades 4, 8 & 10 Blueprint

Scoring - Historical

Subject Scores - Spring 2016 through Spring 2023

• Forward Exam results from Spring 2016 through Spring 2023 for ELA and math were reported on a 3-digit score scale.
• The tables below provide performance categories and cut score ranges for the performance level for each content area during that time period.

Using the Performance Dashboards to Improve Learning

The Forward Exam performance dashboards contain results for both Forward Exam and Dynamic Learning Maps. Users can filter by “Test Type” to select which exam to view on the performance dashboards. The scale score dashboards only provide data for the Forward Exam. 

Timely and meaningful assessment information about student performance allows:

• teachers to target instruction to individual student needs,
• students to better target their own efforts,
• administrators to more fully understand what students know and are able to do, and to guide curriculum and professional development decisions, and
• parents to understand what their child knows and is able to do in ELA, mathematics, science and social studies.

When used in combination with multiple measures of achievement, such as classroom observations and teacher-developed tests, the Forward Exam provides information about the progress of groups of students as well as the effectiveness of educational programs. No single test can tell us whether students have learned everything that is important to learn.

The performance dashboards allow users to compare the percentage of students who are performing at each performance level within a school or district. Comparing the Meeting and Advanced levels in each school or district and filtering the data by full academic year provides one indicator of school and/or district success in a specific grade and prior grades up to the time of testing. Similarly, using the filters, users can compare the percentage of students in a specific demographic group who are performing at the Meeting or Advanced levels in each school within the district. If, for any group, the percentage of students tested is low, users should not use the performance level percentages to reach conclusions about the performance of that group.

The scale score dashboards provide information about the distribution of average scale scores within and across student groups. By using the filters, educators can compare the average scale scores for student groups between schools. Wide score distributions or low scores provide evidence of wide achievement gaps and/or low achievement.

Users can also use these dashboards to quickly identify students performing in a specific range within a school or grade level. Along with additional sources of information from classroom assessments, this information may be used to identify students in need of additional instructional supports or interventions. This information along with additional sources of information from classroom assessments may be used to tailor instructional supports for individuals or groups of students. 

Forward Exam Data Availability

Forward Exam scores are provided in WISEdash for those schools that have students in grades 3 through 8 and 10. Forward Exam results are provided in WISEdash for Districts beginning with the results from the 2015-16 school year spring administration for students in grade 3 through 8 and 10. Forward Exam results are published annually as they become available.

Note: Due to the pandemic, no Forward results were received nor posted for 2019-2020, As a result you will see no results if choosing this year in most dashboards and this will show as a gap in the trend line in the Forward and DLM Trends Dashboard.

Forward Exam Data Exchange

Districts are required to administer the Forward Exam in the spring of each school year to students in grades 3 through 8 and 10. After the conclusion of an administration window for all districts across the state, Forward Exam results from that administration are provided to DPI from the test vendor. DPI loads these results for presentation in WISEdash for Districts. Part of the data loading process involves matching the assessment with the appropriate student in the data warehouse. That process uses the WSN, student name, and date of birth and allows some degree of variation or inaccuracy. Even so, some records cannot be matched and will be loaded and reported as unknown. A very small percentage of records may be misidentified with an incorrect student.

• Planned Load Schedule
  • Spring test administration: Annually in the summer