NAEP RESULTS REVEAL STARK REALITY FOR MILWAUKEE STUDENTS
Today, results from NAEP - the Nation’s Report Card - were released. NAEP scores provide the clearest and most reliable measures to truly understand how our students are performing - especially important now, in the wake of Jill Underly and the Department of Public Instruction’s actions to weaken our state’s standards.
It's not a new line for regular readers of this space, but James Baldwin’s wisdom once again fits: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” The statewide results are sobering - and the results in Milwaukee are a five-alarm fire - that we must face head on. Here are our four key takeaways from today’s NAEP scores:
1. Stagnant Statewide Performance - And Troubling Long-Term Trends
Wisconsin has made no significant progress since 2022 across all four tested areas - reading and math in both 4th and 8th grades.
Reading scores in both grades show a consistent downward trend over the past two decades, while math scores remain flat.
2. Wisconsin’s Black-White Gap, Worst In the Nation (Yet Again)
Wisconsin continues to have the largest Black-White performance gaps among all 50 states, in every tested grade and subject - and in several areas, these disparities grew over the last two years.
The crisis extends to our Hispanic students as well, where Wisconsin’s math performance gaps now rank among the ten largest across all states in both 4th and 8th grades.
3. Academic Outcomes at Milwaukee Public Schools, Worst In the Nation (Yet Again)
MPS consistently ranks in the bottom 3 among its large urban district peers, alongside Detroit and Cleveland. The NAEP Proficiency rates tell a devastating story:
4th Grade Reading: 9% proficient (compared to 26% for large cities)
8th Grade Reading: 15% proficient (compared to 26% for large cities)
4th Grade Math: 12% proficient (compared to 33% for large cities)
8th Grade Math: 8% proficient (compared to 23% for large cities)
MPS’s 4th Grade Reading results - reflective of students who were in K and 1st grade during the 2020-21 pandemic school closures, and a critical point for lifelong educational outcomes - are particularly dire, and call for an urgent, citywide response.
4. Jill Underly & DPI’s Honesty Gap, Exposed
Across all NAEP tested grades and subjects, we can now quantify the honesty gap created by DPI’s lowering of the bar for students - with differences of 15-20 percentage points between NAEP’s benchmarks and DPI’s new, lowered standards:
4th Reading: 31% NAEP Proficient vs 52% Meeting on Forward Exam
4th Math: 42% NAEP Proficient vs 54% Meeting on Forward Exam
8th Reading: 31% NAEP Proficient vs 48% Meeting on Forward Exam
8th Math: 37% NAEP Proficient vs 51% Meeting on Forward Exam
Our Take
Today’s NAEP results must serve as a wake-up call. The status quo is failing our children, and we can no longer accept excuses or lowered expectations. This isn’t “just one test on one day”, and the decade-long trends of stagnant performance for all students, and widening gaps for Black and Hispanic students especially in Milwaukee, aren’t aberrations.
Milwaukee's students - especially our Black and Hispanic students - need all of us to face these brutal facts and act with urgency. The NAEP results show clearly that we're failing to prepare our children for a thriving and productive life. This isn't about politics or bureaucracy - its never been and still isn’t about right vs left – it's about ensuring every child receives the high-quality education they deserve.
Until our state - beginning with its political and educational leaders - takes this crisis in academic achievement seriously, we will continue to see more of the same unacceptable results for students in Milwaukee and across the state.
The way forward demands an honest evaluation, high standards, and urgent action. While lowering standards and telling parents to “get their hands dirty” may provide comfort to adults, it does not benefit our children's success. Every child in Milwaukee deserves an education that fully prepares them for a productive future. The time for transformation is now.