Tougher Reading, Math Standards Mean Lower Test Scores for Greenfield, Whitnall

Use Patch's interactive database to see the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations scores in Greenfield, Whitnall and other area districts for the last three years.

Students in the Greenfield and Whitnall school districts saw lower scores in statewide math and reading tests this year, but those changes are almost entirely due to tough new standards that kicked in this year.

In Whitnall, 39 percent of the students who took the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) in November 2012 scored at proficient or advanced in reading. That's compared to 89.3 percent who hit that mark in 2011. The 2012-13 results were released last week.

In math, 61.3 percent of the Whitnall students were proficient or better this year, compared to 87.8 percent last year.

For Greenfield students, the drops were just as dramatic. The percentage of students proficient or advanced in reading in 2012 was just 33.5 percent, compared to 84.5 one year earlier. In math, the percentage of advanced or proficient students dropped from 79.8 to 46.0.

While this year's numbers are lower than last year, Whitnall's are still significantly higher than the statewide figure of 36.2 percent proficient or better in reading and 48.1 percent in math.

“Things are proceeding exactly as we predicted in our presentations last year and this year,” Whitnall Superintendent Lowell Holtz said. “We saw the need for change. NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) has been around for a long time and Wisconsin students were just not ‘measuring up’ on a national or global level. Did achievement really drop?  No it did not.

“Edgerton Elementary is a great example. Last year using the older Wisconsin standards Edgerton was one of the few schools to have 100 percent of our students proficient and advanced. Using the same test and using a national scale, you see dramatic decreases in the number of students proficient and advanced.”

Greenfield, however, dipped below both the reading and math state averages.

“We have to do better; we have to continue to improve,” Greenfield Director of Educational Services Todd Bugnacki said. “The new NAEP scores have moved many of our student that were at the lower advanced levels to the proficient level and those in the proficient level back to the basic level.

“We understood it was going to occur, and we know we need more rigorous curriculum and instruction as we unpack the common core standards. But when I look at the scores, we have to continue our improvement levels.”

Both Bugnacki and Holtz said their respective districts had been preparing for the lower scores for months, and communicated the anticipated drops through letters to parents, calls from principals and messages on the districts’ websites.

“We’ve been telling them, ‘Your child’s ability hasn’t changed; it’s the tool that measures it that has,’” Bugnacki said.

Beyond math, reading

While the number of students now considered proficient or advanced in math and reading dipped substantially for Whitnall students, test averages remained virtually the same for those same students in science, one of three categories not recalibrated with new state standards.

In 2011, the percentage of students considered proficient or advanced in science was 83.8; in 2012, it was 83.0. Whitnall saw a gain in percentage of proficient or advanced students in social studies, from 84.4 in 2011 to 87.9 in 2012, but a dip in language from 81.9 to 76.7.

Still, Whitnall was well above the state averages in all three categories in 2012: 69.5 in language, 76.7 in science and 84.2 in social studies.

Greenfield’s 2012 scores, meanwhile, dropped from 2011 measurements in language (74.5 to 70.7) and social studies (85.5 to 83.8). The district’s science score, remained virtually the same (79.0 in 2012; 78.9 in 2011).

Greenfield students improved against the state average in science and language in 2012, finishing above those marks a year after finishing below the state average in all five test categories.

How will Greenfield improve?

There are several pieces in motion to improve scores in Greenfield, Bugnacki said. Each principal has put together a building-level improvement plan that focuses on instruction and achievement needs.

The district also has put in place a “build your own curriculum” program that takes state standards, learning targets and other needs and requirements and puts it in an online template that allows teachers and administrators to track progress of individual students or entire groups.

“Are we hitting on all the standards and are they developing?” Bugnacki said. “If there are gaps, then we know we have to address that.”

In addition, teaching interventionalists have been implemented this school year at the elementary and middle school levels, providing students with more one-on-one learning opportunities, and this summer, the district is hosting its second teacher academy, what Bugnacki says is a sign Greenfield is committed to professional development for teachers.

“We want to get above the state average,” Bugnacki said. “We look at the state averages and at the averages in the surrounding school districts as well as those with similar demographics. What are they doing; what are they doing different?

“Not one piece of this is going to be the magic wand that improves student achievements.”

Drops in reading and math scores took place throughout the state this year as Wisconsin raised the benchmark scores needed for students to reach the proficient or advanced performance levels. The new college and career readiness proficiency levels are based on the NAEP.

More than 430,000 public school students took the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations in November 2012.