MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – On Tuesday, Nov. 11, The Wisconsin Department of Public Education (DPI) released their annual report cards for the state's schools and school districts. New standards set by DPI show a majority of districts are meeting expectations, which is getting some pushback.

Produced annually as required by state law, the report cards evaluate schools differently based on factors like student growth, academic achievement, graduation rates and the percentage of students at an economic disadvantage.

“Test scores are one data point of many used in report cards,” DPI Communications Director Chris Bucher told reporters on a call. “These report cards are just one tool among many that helps us understand student learning.”

Bucher said over the summer, a group of 26 education leaders came together to discuss updates to the performance benchmarks used for determining overall accountability ratings. The group’s recommendations were adopted by State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly following a 25-1 vote.

Because of these updates, Bucher says overall accountability scores for 2024-25 cannot be directly compared to prior years, though the underlying data remain comparable.

According to the data, no school districts in the state received a 1-star score. Of the 1,920 scored public school report cards, 85% met, exceeded, or significantly exceeded expectations.

Leaders from conservative organizations in the state, including the Institute for Reforming Government, said they believe the new formula does not accurately categorize student achievement.

“DPI’s state report cards say rich districts are worth the property taxes, even when they aren’t, and poor districts meet expectations, even when they don’t. Meanwhile, DPI underrates many of Wisconsin’s best districts,” said Quinton Klabon, senior research director at the Institute for Reforming Government. “Parents should not have to play a guessing game about where their children can learn best.”

Bucher defended the DPI's scoring to reporters on Tuesday. 

"We trust that process, and the standard setting process, and so did Dr. Underly with adopting the recommendations." 

Sara Shaw, the deputy research director at the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum, said because there’s so many factors going into the data. She said for Milwaukee Public Schools, MPS did see its math and reading scores go up. However, there are concerns with chronic absenteeism.

“Even though we’re making progress compared to last year, we still haven't made up the ground we lost in the pandemic,” Shaw said.

Deputy Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools Eduardo Galvan said the district is using this data to show growth and acknowledged that different districts have different scores than MPS due to different challenges they face.

“The raw data suggests we saw slight improvement. We all understand that we need to do better. Our test scores have suggested that,” Galvan said, “But a school is more than a test that’s given once a year.”

With the issue of chronic absenteeism, Galvan said they are doing what they can to engage students in school and improve mobility issues.

You can view the report cards for schools and districts across the state here.