Education recommendations > Improve State Report Card data integrity
Improve State Report Card data integrity
If funding is the input and student performance is the output, then accountability is the balancing mechanism.
The State of Wisconsin spends $6.8B on education each year, and nearly $1.5B of that is spent here in the City of Milwaukee educating approximately 114,000 children. The ultimate “check and balance” is transparency.
A transparent and uniform measure of school performance and student progress for all publicly funded students is key to holding all parties, parents, students, policy makers, educators, and taxpayers accountable. A lack of comparable and consistent data when it comes to student performance has contributed to frustration and criticism over the years. Changing the state test multiple times exasperated the “apples to oranges” debate when looking at school performance data. |
The COVID-19 pandemic further disrupted consecutive years of reliable test data. With closings, remote learning and missing students, changes were made to the State Report Card.
Having a quality test and report card gives students, parents and the community better capability to make informed decisions. As consumers and partners -- parents and administrators, including elected officials who fund and govern schools – we have not done enough to ensure transparent information on the performance of students and schools. Information is the foundation for accountability. |