Here & Now

Report Explores Educational Achievement Gap In Wisconsin

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

ON THURSDAY, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA SIGNED A BIPARTISAN BILL THAT REPLACES THE FEDERAL EDUCATION LAW KNOWN AS “NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.” AMONG THE PROVISIONS, THE “EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT” GIVES BACK SOME AUTHORITY TO LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS. IT ALSO REMOVES THE REQUIREMENT THAT SCHOOLS USE STUDENT TEST SCORES TO EVALUATE TEACHERS. MEANWHILE, NEW EVIDENCE THAT EVERY STUDENT IS NOT ACHIEVING HERE IN WISCONSIN. SPECIFICALLY BLACK AND HISPANIC STUDENTS COMPARED TO THEIR WHITE PEERS. THIS WEEKEND, A NEW WISCONSIN CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM REPORT FOCUSES ON THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP IN THE BADGER STATE, THE LARGEST SUCH GAP IN THE NATION. IN GREEN BAY, OVER 80% OF WHITE STUDENTS GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL, COMPARED TO JUST UNDER 70% OF HISPANIC STUDENTS. JUST OVER 40% OF GREEN BAY BLACK STUDENTS GRADUATED. IN MADISON, THE GRADUATION GAP IS NEARLY IDENTICAL. READING AND MATH SCORES SHOW THE GAP AS EARLY AS 4TH GRADE. 2015 SCORES SHOW MORE THAN 30-POINT DIFFERENCE IN READING BETWEEN 4TH GRADE WHITE AND BLACK STUDENTS. SIMILAR TEST RESULTS IN MATH. ABIGAIL BECKER IS A REPORTER FOR THE WISCONSIN CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM. SHE JOINS US NOW WITH MORE ON HER ACHIEVEMENT GAP STORY. THANKS FOR BEING HERE.

ABIGAIL BECKER:

THANKS FOR HAVING ME.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

SO AS WE’VE DISCUSSED, THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP IS WORST IN THE NATION IN WISCONSIN ON MANY MEASURES. WHICH ONES SPECIFICALLY OF THESE MEASURES STAND OUT?

ABIGAIL BECKER:

RIGHT. SO AFTER REVIEWING SEVERAL SETS OF DATA, WISCONSIN IS THE WORST IN THREE PRETTY BIG, IMPORTANT AREAS. THE FIRST OF WHICH IS THAT WISCONSIN’S BLACK/WHITE GAP IS THE LARGEST ON A NATIONAL BENCHMARK TEST KNOWN AS THE NATION’S REPORT CARD. THIS IS ACTUALLY THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW THAT WISCONSIN HAS BEEN THE WORST OF THE STATES ASSESSED. THE SECOND CATEGORY IS IN SUSPENSION RATES. WISCONSIN BLACK STUDENTS ARE SUSPENDED AT A HIGHER RATE. THE DISPARITY BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE STUDENTS SUSPENDED IS ALSO THE GREATEST IN THE STATE. THE THIRD IS IN GRADUATION RATES. SO WISCONSIN ALSO HAS THE WORST GAP BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE STUDENTS GRADUATING.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

AND I SHOULD POINT OUT THAT YOUR RESEARCH REVIEWED 20 YEARS OF THIS DATA IN WISCONSIN-

ABIGAIL BECKER:

SPECIFICALLY 20 YEARS FOR THE TESTING SCORES.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

SO WHAT DID YOU FIND IN YOUR REPORTING ABOUT WHY THIS IS AND CONTINUES TO BE SUCH A HARD GAP TO CLOSE HERE?

ABIGAIL BECKER:

SO THIS IS A COMPLICATED TOPIC. THESE ARE VERY ENTRENCHED ISSUES. THE CAUSES RANGE FROM RACIAL CAUSES TO ECONOMIC CAUSES TO HISTORICAL CAUSES AND GREATER SOCIAL INEQUALITY ISSUES ARE AT PLAY HERE. IN 2013 THE RACE TO EQUITY REPORT FOUND THAT IN WISCONSIN COMPARED TO NON-HISPANIC WHITES, BLACK RESIDENTS ARE FOUR TIMES AS LIKELY TO BE UNEMPLOYED AND FOUR TIMES AS LIKELY TO LIVE IN POVERTY. ADDITIONALLY, I WAS TALKING WITH A RESEARCHER AND HE WAS TALKING TO ME ABOUT JUST OUT IN THE STATE THERE IS A LACK OF WIDE SCALE RESEARCH ON PROGRAMS THAT ARE WORKING. AND WHEN WE DON’T KNOW THE PROGRAMS THAT ARE WORKING OR IF WE DON’T KNOW WHY A PROGRAM IS WORKING, IT MAKES IT REALLY DIFFERENT TO ENACT STATEWIDE CHANGE.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

SO YOU DIDN’T JUST LOOK AT DATA. YOU ALSO INTERVIEWED STUDENTS. AND WHAT DID YOU HEAR FROM THEM?

ABIGAIL BECKER:

SO FROM NEARLY EVERY STUDENT I TALKED TO, ONE OF THE MOST STRIKING THINGS THAT EACH STUDENT TALKED TO ME ABOUT WAS THAT AS STUDENTS OF COLOR IN MADISON HIGH SCHOOLS THEY FEEL THAT THEY FACE LOWER EXPECTATIONS FROM TEACHERS, FROM THEIR PEERS, FROM JUST BEING IN THE COMMUNITY AND FROM MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY. ONE STUDENT TOLD ME HE COULD COUNT ON ONE HAND HIS FELLOW STUDENTS OF COLOR IN AN AP CLASS OF HIS. ANOTHER STUDENT WAS TALKING ABOUT HOW IN A MATH CLASS HE WAS SOLVING A DIFFICULT MATH PROBLEM IN HIS HEAD AND HE TALKED TO ME ABOUT THE SURPRISED LOOKS AND GLANCES HE GOT FROM OTHER STUDENTS IN THE CLASS. HE FEELS THAT THOSE ARE BECAUSE HE IS BLACK AND THAT THOSE STUDENTS DIDN’T FEEL THAT HE WAS CAPABLE OF DOING THAT TYPE OF WORK.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

SO WHAT KINDS OF SOLUTIONS ARE POLICYMAKERS WORKING ON?

ABIGAIL BECKER:

SO JUST OVER A YEAR AGO, STATE SUPERINTENDENT TONY EVERS RELEASED A REPORT THAT WAS THE RESULT OF A TASK FORCE. IT WAS CALLED THE “PROMOTING EXCELLENCE FOR ALL” REPORT. IT WAS A DOCUMENT AND IT WAS SORT OF A COLLECTION OF TEMPLATES, AS I WOULD KIND OF CALL THEM, FOR SOLUTIONS TO NARROWING ACHIEVEMENT GAPS. SO THESE ARE MEANT FOR SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS FROM ACROSS THE STATE TO LOOK AT AS A RESOURCE TO SEE IF THERE IS AN IDEA THERE THAT MIGHT WORK IN THEIR AREA. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF SOMETHING THAT WILL HOPEFULLY BE WORKING IS THAT STATE AND UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SORT OF KIND OF MOVE ON FROM THAT REPORT AND DO A LITTLE MORE ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH TO FIND OUT WHAT PROGRAMS ARE WORKING AND WHY THEY’RE WORKING. THAT’S WITH THE HELP OF A $5.2 MILLION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION GRANT. SO IT’S ACTUALLY FUNDING THE LARGEST RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP YET BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND THE UNIVERSITY. AND THEN A THIRD THING IS THAT STATE ASSEMBLY SPEAKER ROBIN VOS HAS CREATED A TASK FORCE AS WELL ON EDUCATION TO FIND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES THAT ARE WORKING.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

ABBY BECKER, THANKS VERY MUCH.

ABIGAIL BECKER:

THANK YOU.

FREDERICA FREYBERG:

LOOK FOR ABBY BECKER’S ACHIEVEMENT GAP REPORTING IN NEWSPAPERS ACROSS THE STATE THIS SUNDAY.