6 takeaways from newest state report cards

The Milwaukee Academy of Science has come a long way. With connections to the Medical College of Wisconsin, the charter school seemed a candidate to be a good addition to Milwaukee.

But for years after it opened in 2000, there were problems establishing a good environment.

There was big turnover of students and staff. There were a few ups and a lot of downs and sideways.

In recent years, in the opinion of people I respect, the school, with more than 1,100 students in 4-year-old kindergarten through 12th grade, has been on the rise.

I’ve been to its building at 2000 West Kilbourn Avenue a couple times in the last year and liked what I saw.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction issued report cards a few days ago for more than 2,300 public, charter and private schools across the state.

The Academy of Science did quite well — it got an overall score of 78.3, which means it “exceeds expectations” and earned four stars on a scale of one to five.

It did particularly well in the category called “school growth,” which focuses on how much progress students are making in English language arts and math.

This is all good. Except it needs to be considered in the light of this: Among the almost-500 students who were in the grades that took the state’s accountability tests, 10% were proficient or advanced in language arts.

In math, the figure was 12%.

In both areas, more than half of the students were in the bottom category, called “below basic.”

In a broad sense of the term, should we set our goals so low that we say that “exceeds expectations?”

The school’s results point to important lessons from the report cards and from state test results that were released a few weeks earlier.

Let me suggest six of them:

Milwaukee did better on the report cards than in the past

More schools got better grades. The improvement for Milwaukee Public Schools was modest but definite.

The improvement for charter schools and private schools that enroll students using publicly funded vouchers was more definite and noteworthy.

Overall, fewer kids were in schools that received one- and two-star ratings.

Sector differences are becoming clearer

I’ve been reluctant for years to say one sector of schools was particularly “better” than another sector, simply because overall results, especially on state test scores, showed little or no difference by sector

. But, based on the report cards, the overall separation between MPS and the charter and private schools is more visible now.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce has supported the voucher and charter school movements.

That said, it does a good, factual job of tabulating data on schools.

Its analysis shows that 63 percent of the students in charter schools this year were in four- or five-star schools and 25 percent in three-star schools.

For voucher students, 29 percent were in four or five-star schools and 42 percent in three-star schools.

For MPS, 25 percent were in schools in the top two categories and 21 percent in middle category schools, which means more than half (545) were in one- or two-star schools.

People have strong and differing positions on why the voucher and charter schools get generally higher ratings.

Are they doing really good work?

Do they have “better” kids, including fewer kids with big discipline issues?

I think there are quite a few reasons. But many of these schools are simply very well run. If you don’t think so, go visit a few that get top ratings.

Sector differences may have an increasing political impact

Gov.-elect Tony Evers has said he would like to phase out some parts of the state’s complex school choice scene.

He has not made specific proposals. Politically, this is very unlikely to happen, given Republican control of the Legislature.

But you can expect voucher and charter advocates to argue strongly that it is a bad idea to mess with schools that are getting good results.

The sector trends have an increasing impact on vitality and finances

There is a long-term decline in enrollment in MPS while enrollment in voucher and charter enrollment is increasing. Only a bit over half (55.7 percent) of Milwaukee kids who are receiving publicly funded education are in conventional MPS schools now.

If that percentage goes down a few more points, the squeeze on MPS will intensify.

There is strong reason to weigh student progress in determining a school’s grade

Nationwide, there is a high correlation between economic status and academic success. Poor kids do not do as well in school as rich kids.

To ignore measures of progress is to turn the school report cards into a reflection largely of income and class, not the effectiveness of a school in moving students forward.

Progress measures are intended to show that a school with weak overall results may be doing a good job and deserves recognition for moving students forward at a pace of, say, over a year’s growth in a year’s time.

The report cards are not the end-all of measuring a school

For one thing, schools can earn good ratings when few students are really doing well.

Ultimately, when it comes to college or jobs, being a good reader or problem solver and having the soft skills needed for success are going to be the real standards and growth measures won’t carry much weight.

The bottom line on the report cards: It’s good to cheer improvement. But, in very large numbers, low-income and minority children are still achieving at startlingly low levels.

We should praise schools that are well run and where students are really progressing. But we have to be concerned — no, make that alarmed or even angry — about the state of kids in Milwaukee. It is no time for happy dances.

Alan J. Borsuk is senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette Law School. Reach him at alan.borsuk@marquette. edu.