The state would spend $50 million to create a new literacy office, hire reading coaches and help cover the cost of new phonics-based reading curricula under a GOP-authored bill meant to address lagging reading proficiency scores among Wisconsin students.
The bill was introduced for co-sponsors Thursday and largely mirrors legislation Republicans passed last session that was ultimately vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The new bill still increases the number of reading readiness assessments pupils in 4K through second grade must complete, but it now includes state funding to address concerns raised by the state Department of Public Instruction that the previous bill amounted to an unfunded mandate.
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Bill authors told reporters Thursday the measure is intended to address low reading readiness scores among Wisconsin students. National research found roughly two out of every three Wisconsin students in fourth and eighth grade last year failed to test at proficient or above in reading.
“We have been slipping,” Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, said. “We need to do something different.”
Lawmakers said the bill is the result of months of negotiation with DPI and school officials.
But hours after the bill’s unveiling, state Superintendent Jill Underly said she does “not support this bill as it currently stands” because it requires schools to hold back students who score in the lowest proficiency category on their third-grade reading assessment.
“We are supportive of a literacy bill, but this version of the bill includes a retention policy requirement, and that is a non-starter for us because, as drafted, it is harmful to our learners, families, and communities,” Underly said in a statement.
Evers’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new bill. The governor vetoed similar legislation in 2021, noting in a veto message at the time that he objected to “fundamentally overhauling Wisconsin literacy instruction and intervention without evidence that more statewide, mandatory testing is the best approach for our students, and without providing the funding needed for implementation.”
The bill would create a Council on Early Literacy Curricula within DPI that would be charged with recommending early literacy curricula and instructional materials to be used in schools. The council would consist of nine members, with three selected by the state superintendent of public instruction and three chosen by each of the leaders of the GOP-controlled Assembly and Senate.
That curricula would focus on the “science of reading,” a method for teaching children to read that is more focused on phonics, which is based on the relationships of sounds and words. Many Wisconsin schools teach reading through a “balanced literacy” method, which can include more focus on whole language and reading.
Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, said the $50 million would be appropriated through the state budget process. Lawmakers said $10 million would be spent to hire 64 full-time equivalent literacy coaches who have expertise “in science-based early literacy instruction and instructional practices and have instructional experience in grades kindergarten to 12,” according to an analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau.
The coaches would be assigned to school districts based on pupil scores and those that request early literacy support.
The remaining $40 million would go to school districts in the form of grants to cover teacher training expenses and half the cost of new curriculum.
Current law requires public and independent charter schools to conduct annual reading readiness assessments for pupils enrolled in 4K through second grade. School boards must provide appropriate interventions or remedial reading services for students who are at risk of reading difficulty, though the law does not define at-risk.
Under the bill, boards would need to assess early literacy skills for students in those grades three times a year and create a personal reading plan for each pupil identified as at-risk — or those who score below the 25th percentile in assessments.
The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress found that 67.4% of Wisconsin fourth graders and 67.6% of eighth-grade students failed to test at proficient or above in reading.
“That is just totally unacceptable,” Stroebel said.
Last year’s levels were the lowest recorded in the state since 1998, Wisconsin Watch reported in an April.
At the same time, Wisconsin eighth graders were 3 percentage points higher than the national average, while fourth graders were close to the national average.
The state’s Wisconsin Forward exam found similar results, with about 67% of eighth graders and 58% of fourth graders failing to score proficient or advanced in English Language Arts.
How US K-12 spending compares to other countries
Education spending
The amount spent annually per student in the U.S. is comparable to Germany’s yearly investment in secondary studies. However, the national budget for K-12 public education represents only 3.2% of the GDP in the U.S., a spending output that places it closer to Canada and Portugal. Seven member countries of the OECD spend 4% or more of their GDP on elementary and secondary funding. Israel spent the highest percentage at 4.8%.
The United Kingdom—where university tuition is one of the priciest in the world—spends about 30% less on elementary and secondary public education than the U.S. On the other hand, Norway, where a college education is free to students, invests about 20% more than the U.S. in K-12 subsidies.
In Norway’s case, 36% of the population seeks a post-secondary education. Meanwhile, in the U.S., 1.7 million people ages 16 to 24 enrolled in higher education institutions in 2021 for the first time, which is 61.8% of high school graduates. Nonetheless, Norway has a higher yearly percentage of college graduates.
The amount of money spent on a pupil’s basic education doesn’t mirror the quality of the instruction received. Their performance on international tests can more accurately reflect the efficiency of a national school system. The OECD runs the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which evaluates how 15-year-old students perform in math, reading, and science every three years. In 2018, the latest data available, “Estonia, Canada, Finland, and Ireland were the highest-performing OECD countries in reading.” The organization concludes that since the year 2000, the importance of reading has not diminished, though the variety of written material has expanded to electronic formats.
About 16.5% of urban Chinese students tested and 14% of those in Singapore, “scored at Level 6 in mathematics, the highest level of proficiency” in PISA. Only 2.4% of OECD students were able to reach that score.
Trends in academic performance in a 20-year period are widely diverse among OECD nations, and even among students in each specific country. The main concern is a “widening of performance disparities,” with low-performing students consistently scoring low grades in periodical assessments, affecting the national average.
The OECD recommends governments gear their education funding and policies towards opportunely spotting students who need extra help “to ensure that learning gaps observed today don’t widen into larger social and economic inequalities in the future.”
Data reporting by Emma Rubin. Story editing by Robert Wickwire. Copy editing by Tim Bruns. Photo selection by Elizabeth Ciano. This story originally appeared on HeyTutor and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.