This is going to be a short one, because I’m working hard at several other things at once right now. While looking into the workings of the Wisconsin DPI’s report cards, I stumbled across the following article from Will Flanders, Ph.D. who works for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, a nonprofit conservative law firm:

With the caveat that anyone with a doctorate in ANY subject can put “Ph.D” next to their name, and this man has a doctorate in political science and NOT an education degree, the points he raises here about the actions of the DPI and how they are “moving the goalposts” is concerning to me. Specifically the following table, which if accurate, is highly disturbing to me:

If “Meets Expectations” can just be changed on a whim by the Department, then it’s arbitrary and meaningless. This is why in my opinion, the use of a standard “school grading scale” for these numbers is more valuable than these words of “Meets Expectations”, “Exceeds Expectations”, etc.

If we keep moving the goalposts, then it hides any performance issues of the local communities, the counties, and the state itself. I don’t WANT to have pretty words thrown at me. I want accuracy, and a standard that INCREASES rather than DECREASES over time.

Our children deserve better than this.