Education

Education insiders will tell you that scores and statistics can’t paint a complete picture of whether or not children (and adults) are learning. Still, measurements are needed to assign grades, and our public schools and institutions of higher learning seem to be doing well by most yardsticks.

This year the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction changed how it graded students’ performance on the annual Wisconsin Knowledge and Concept Exam, so it’s impossible to make year-to-year comparisons. However, the share of Eau Claire students scoring as “advanced” or “proficient” on last fall’s tests (39.6 percent) exceeded the statewide average (36.1 percent). Kids in Altoona, Chippewa Falls, and Menomonie also beat the state average. Meanwhile, the share of Eau Claire high school students who graduated in four years rose in 2012 but was still under the state average, while the share who graduate after five or more years beat the state average.

“When I look at the school district overall, I think we have a strong foundation.”
-- Mary Ann Hardebeck, Eau Claire school district superintendent

School board member Trish Cummins says the district is faring well by such measurements considering the growing list of mandates. However, she worries that art, music, and movement have been squeezed out of curricula and hands-on and interdisciplinary learning have been de-emphasized. “Because of the overemphasis on testing and the DPI report cards, we’re eliminating a lot of that professional judgment and the individual personality of the teacher, the ability to be creative and responsive in the classroom,” she says.

School Superintendent Mary Ann Hardebeck acknowledges that rising state expectations and changing assessment systems make it hard to grade the district’s performance. “When I look at the school district overall, I think we have a strong foundation,” she says. “And because the bar has changed, there’s room for improvement, but we’re committed to making that improvement.”

On the higher education front, for the past two years UW-Eau Claire has placed fifth among regional public universities in the Midwest in the coveted U.S. News & World Report rankings, while UW-Stout has a 98 percent placement rate for grads. The number of graduates produced by both colleges has grown in recent the years, but so have student debt loads. “I’ve been pretty happy with it,” outgoing senior Chris Reinoos says of his UW-Eau Claire education. “I came here with a certain idea of what a liberal arts education would be ... and I haven’t been disappointed.”

Grade

B

Grading Guide:
  A = Excellent
  B = Pretty Good
  C = Average
  D = Needs Improvement
  F = Trainwreck

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The deluge of mandates and tests, combined with tight budgets, has put enormous pressure on our public schools, but they perform well compared with their peers. Our universities also have been ahead of the curve, especially when it comes to reaching outside their campuses. In the coming years, however, they’ll all have to do more with less.


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GUIDANCE AND SOURCES

Mary Ann Hardebeck, superintendent, Eau Claire school district; Trish Cummins and Rich Spindler, Eau Claire school board; Chris Reinoos, editor-in-chief, The Spectator (UW-Eau Claire); Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; ACT Inc.; UW-Eau Claire; UW-Stout; Chippewa Valley Technical College; University of Wisconsin System.