Here & Now

State Superintendent on Decline in State Test Scores

Frederica Freyberg:

School funding has gone up over the last several budget cycles, but Wisconsin students’ scores have slipped. Why do you think standardized test scores slipped last year?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

Well, actually, I don’t think there was a significant investment in the budget over the last several years. This year truly made a difference in terms of a down payment because we saw more funding in special education, additional funding for mental health, which is critical for our students, because now we know that, statistically, one in five students in the nation suffer with some kind of mental health issue, and we’ve seen it in our schools for a number of years. So, those in particular were really important to this budget because our schools have so many challenges. Students come in with trauma, need for nutrition, afterschool programs, and schools are trying to meet all of those needs. Yes, there was a slight decline in the achievement scores. But I think, with this infusion of additional dollars, that will help with supports like social workers and those, will go a long way to improving scores.

Frederica Freyberg:

So, you don’t have concerns then that the achievement of our students is, comparatively to other states, reflected in our test scores?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

I have concerns around certain populations of our students, and I think I’ve said this before, that in terms of aggregate, we’re doing well. We rank with other states in terms of graduation and ACT scores and all of that. But if we disaggregate and we look at our students of color, our students with disabilities, those living in poverty, and English learners, we find that there are gaps, and those are the gaps that we really have to pay attention to and be very intentional about our strategies for addressing those.

Frederica Freyberg:

Why do you think those gaps are so kind of persistent?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

I think it goes back to the challenges that we’re seeing in schools. Schools are being asked to do more and more every year to address different concerns, and there’s been a real push to look at academics. And now we’re saying we need to look at the whole child, because every child comes in with unique needs, and we need to be able to address those. So, that feeling of community, belonging to a school environment, creating classroom communities, that goes a long way towards getting students engaged in education.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you believe that the K-12 funding cuts going back to 2011 hurt the achievement of students today?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

I think it had an effect. It had an effect on educators. It had an effect on the climate, which, yes, I think, in a lotta ways, we were left to figure out how do we cover all of these things that we’re required to cover. And that was one of the points I made as well with special education funding. We are obligated to provide what a student needs in their individual education plan. And if we don’t have those dollars that the state had not committed, you go into the general fund and you borrow those dollars to do that, which means you have less left for your total student population. But with this new infusion of dollars, that will help. That will go a long way in meeting needs.

Frederica Freyberg:

In your State of Education address, you spoke to too many teachers leaving the profession and too few entering. Why is that, in your mind?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

I think a lot of that goes back to how we’ve characterized teachers and our educators, which are one of the major factors in a student’s success; a great teacher, a high-quality teacher. And teachers have gotten a bad rap. I think we heard Secretary DeVos talking about all the money that goes into education, and she factored out a certain percentage per child and if you multiply that, you come up with more than $200,000 being invested in a classroom, but not looking at all the supports that surround that one classroom: facilities, transportation, food, pupil services folks. All of that is factored into those dollars. And so, the public has a different perception, the wrong perception, of how much teachers are making and how much they do, so this goes a long way in straightening that out.

Frederica Freyberg:

The U.S. Secretary of Education that you just spoke of, Betsy DeVos, when she was in Wisconsin, she was promoting the expansion of school choice and $5 billion in federal tax credits for donors who contribute to scholarship plans. What is your reaction to expanding school choice?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

My thoughts on school choice, if you’re doing a great job for students, that’s my concern, is that we’re graduating students who are able to be successful in career and life beyond high school. My concern is that we’re running two parallel tracks. And if we’re committed to doing that, then we need to adequately fund both of them and not take money from public schools to support private choice.

Frederica Freyberg:

What are your priorities of any action plan going forward to improve the achievement of students in Wisconsin?

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

We’re working on a number of fronts. You probably heard in my speech too, I talked about what’s happening in our urban school districts that educate 20% of our population, as well as what we’re doing for our rural schools, which also have great needs. We have here a five-point focus. One is looking at the safety of our students, making sure they’re supported and they’re safe in that environment. The other is around quality instruction, and we talked about standards a little bit. High-quality professionals who are leading the schools. We also talked about relationships, and that is so critical, that when our babies come to school, that they’re in a welcoming environment and it’s not just welcoming for them, but it’s welcoming for their families. And that’s the fifth pillar, is around family engagement and how we work in partnership with our parents and guardians and other caretakers of our children. So, I think, if we can rally around those, we’ve got lots of strategies and supports in each one of those areas that should take us a long way.

Frederica Freyberg:

Superintendent Stanford Taylor, thanks very much.

Carolyn Stanford Taylor:

Thank you.