Source: Wis. Dept. of Public Instruction
In recent months, the Madison Metropolitan School District has been trumpeting an increase in its high school graduation rates, especially for minority students. According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 72.6 percent of black students in the MMSD class of 2017 earned high school diplomas, an astounding 14.1 percent increase over the previous year. Similarly, 77 percent of Hispanic students in the class earned diplomas, an increase of 3.3 percent.
Following the lead of education reporters in other parts of the country, staff at the award-winning Simpson Street Free Press have questioned whether the increase in Madison’s graduation rates is truly something to celebrate, in part because race-based gaps in college readiness continue to exist. In addition, it’s not clear what accounts for the increase, whether it is due, for example, to changes in the way high school graduates are tallied; interventions that have produced genuine improvements in student achievement; or a lower bar for success via grade inflation, non-rigorous alternative educational options, or watered-down credit recovery programs that allow students to retake classes they have failed.
For us, the bottom-line question is one of academic proficiency. Our schools do many important and wonderful things for the community, but in our opinion, their highest priority should be to provide students with core academic skills. We wanted to know if the increase in minority student graduation rates was accompanied by an increase in the percentage of minority students who can read and do math at grade level.
To that end, we compared the 11th grade ACT proficiency data from the Department of Public Instruction for the MMSD classes of 2016 through 2019. (Note: all Wisconsin high school juniors have been taking the ACT since 2014-15.) We found that the class of 2017 did not differ from those before or after it. For all four classes, no more than 11 percent of black students were proficient or advanced in reading or math. The numbers were somewhat higher for Hispanic students.
In keeping with recent trends in education research, we wondered how the class of 2017 had fared over time. To find out, we looked at the percentage of students who were proficient or advanced in reading and math from third grade on. Although the district uses different tests at different grade levels, they all measure the same thing, making for enough meaningful equivalence across them to warrant a longitudinal assessment. Additionally, although the class of 2017 did not contain the exact same students each year, small changes in cohort membership are considered a natural and acceptable limitation of longitudinal research.
Our analyses revealed that over the course of nine years of instruction, the percentage of minority students in the class of 2017 who were proficient in reading or math was very low and changed very little. At no point did more than 20 percent of black students or 30 percent of Hispanic students achieve grade-level proficiency in either content area. No limitation in the tests used or the data obtained — including any cultural bias that may exist in the tests — can explain away these painful results. Any way you slice it, we are failing to give the bulk of our minority students basic academic skills.
And yet 77 percent of Hispanic students and 72.6 percent of black students in the class of 2017 earned a high school diploma. Clearly most of them did so without having grade level skills. But a high school diploma without high school level reading and math skills is of limited value. What does the future hold for these students?
We have long been frustrated by the way the district selectively compiles, analyzes, and shares student data with the community. We see the situation as a decades-old cultural problem in the Doyle Building and do not hold any single individual responsible for it. For too many district administrators and school board members over the 20+ years we have been paying attention, making the district look good has been more important than thoroughgoing honesty about how our students are doing. In fact, we shared our analyses and concerns with the district administration and school board last month, but have received no response from the administration and only one from a board member.
To be clear, we have no problem celebrating successes where they occur. We simply believe it is critical to keep those successes in perspective and not lose sight of our highest priority — to provide our students with the reading and math skills they need to earn a good living, live a good life, and participate effectively in our democracy.
We invite Isthmus readers to join us in insisting that the MMSD administration and school board keep student data like what we have presented in the community’s full view. In addition, please consider volunteering in our schools as a reading or math tutor.
Laurie Frost, Ph.D. and Jeffrey Henriques, Ph.D. are longtime education advocates.
