Stevens Point students' test scores still lag behind pre-COVID levels

Erik Pfantz, Stevens Point Journal
·4 min read

STEVENS POINT – Students in the Stevens Point Area Public School District scored lower on standardized tests last school year than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data released by the Wisconsin Department of Instruction early last week.

The test results from the 2022-23 school year show a pattern of improvement in the three years since 2020, when the tests were not conducted due to communicable disease prevention measures taken by the state. The next year the tests were administered, the 2020-21 school year, saw between an 8% to 10% reduction in student proficiency in both English language arts (ELA) and mathematics, though the Department of Instructions cautions analysis of these results due to a significant number of non-participants.

The Forward Exams are part of the Wisconsin Student Assessment System, which is a series of standardized tests designed to meet the requirements put in place by the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act. The federal law works toward providing “equal opportunity for all students,” according to the Department of Education website, and replaced the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.

Students in Wisconsin are tested on mathematics and English language arts, which includes reading, writing and listening, each year from grades three to eight, social studies in grades four, eight and 10, and science in grades four and eight.

Here's a breakdown of how Stevens Point-area students performed on the ELA and Math Forward Exams, as well as the ACT.

Stevens Point students’ test scores have not returned to pre-pandemic levels

The 2018-19 school year was the last year the tests were administered prior to measures taken to reduce the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that year, of Stevens Point students in grades 3 to 8, 46.3% scored proficient or better in math and 44.4% in ELA. Last year, the students in grades 3 to 8 scored 41.8% proficient or better in math and 39.6% in ELA.

Those numbers have improved since the 2020-21 year, when the results were 35.2% and 36.4%, respectively; however, about 5% fewer than expected students took the exam that year, skewing the results.

Breaking the data down between elementary and middle schools reveals a more detailed story. Middle school students have continued to not show a return to reading proficiency levels seen prior to 2020, with 35.4% scoring proficient or higher in ELA compared to 46.0% in 2018-19. Students have nearly returned to pre-pandemic the math scores with 36.0% scoring proficient or higher last year compared to 38.1% in 2018-19.

In contrast, Steven Point’s elementary students have seen improvements in proficiency in both subjects, approaching pre-pandemic levels. In 2022-23, students scored 42.8% proficient or higher in ELA compared to 2018-19 classes, who scored 44% in the same categories. A similar result also appeared in the math section, with 46.3% scoring proficient or higher compared to 51.2% in the year before the pandemic.

How does Stevens Point Area Public School District compare to nearby districts, the rest of the state?

Statewide results in the Forward exams show about 39% of students proficient or better in reading and 41% proficient or better in math.

Stevens Point’s neighbors include Tomorrow River, Tri-County Area, Iola-Scandinavia, Rosholt and Almond-Bancroft school districts.

Here are last year’s percentages of students scoring proficient or better on the Forward Exams:

  • Tomorrow River: 41.4% in ELA (decrease of 4% since ’18-19), 43.5% in math (decrease of 2.9% since ’18-19)

  • Tri-County Area: 25.8% in ELA (decrease of 4.6%), 21.9% in math (decrease of 15.7%)

  • Iola-Scandinavia: 37.2% in ELA (decrease of 0.2%), 27.9% in math (decrease of 9.8%)

  • Rosholt: 35.1% in ELA (increase of 2.8%), 34.0% in math (increase of 6.5%)

  • Almond-Bancroft: 33.1% in ELA (decrease of 8.2%), 26.8% in math (decrease of 5.9%)

Stevens Point schools see continued decline in ACT results

The Department of Public Instruction also released ACT scores for the 2022-23 school year. Of the state’s entire student population, 37.7% scored proficient or better in ELA and 26.9% scored proficient or better in math. Stevens Point Area Public School District students continued a declining trend evident in data from the past five years.

The ACT is a nationwide college entrance exam that is required for Wisconsin students to take in 11th grade.

Roughly 22.2% of Stevens Point juniors tested proficient or better on the math portion of the ACT, down from 31.5% in the 2018-19 school year. And 29.5% of the same population scored proficient or better on the ELA portion of the exam, compared to 41.6% of the 2018-19 group.

Erik Pfantz covers local government and education in central Wisconsin for USA-TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin and values his background as a rural Wisconsinite. Reach him at epfantz@gannett.com or connect with him on Twitter @ErikPfantz.

This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Stevens Point students' test scores still lag behind pre-COVID levels