Frederica Freyberg:

Also at the State Capitol this week, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, Jill Underly, delivered the annual State of Education address.

Jill Underly:

We can find incredible examples of social/emotional learning and community building integrated in our classrooms all across Wisconsin. [applause] And that’s wonderful and absolutely needed. It absolutely strengthens the emotional health of our students. We also need to support our students even more with access to mental health services, and that need from community and for community and for mental health services has always been there, and it’s become even more apparent and important as we move through the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s unfortunate that critics will latch on to test scores when there’s so many other needs, and so many other things that we should take precedence in a once in lifetime or once in a century pandemic. The past few years were incredibly difficult conditions to learn, but also to live and to thrive, and the test scores showed us exactly what we knew they would. That kids, families, adults, really everyone, was impacted differently, and our most vulnerable students and families were impacted the most. COVID-19 has asked a lot of our kids, and it’s asked a lot of our educators, and I believe in the resilience of our students and of our schools. I also wish they didn’t have to be resilient.

Frederica Freyberg:

The chair of the Senate Education Committee was quick to criticize the address and the superintendent. Senator Alberta Darling released a statement saying in part, “The DPI Secretary refuses to acknowledge failure. Under her watch, too many children in our schools are failing. There was not a single acknowledgment,” she said, “that less than one-third of students are proficient in English or math.”