Wisconsin 2025-2026 Regular Session

Wisconsin Senate Bill SB18 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	2025 - 2026 LEGISLATURE
2	2	LRB-0976/4
3	3	FFK:cjs&skw
4	4	2025 SENATE BILL 18
5	5	February 5, 2025 - Introduced by Senators JAGLER, QUINN, FEYEN, WANGGAARD,
6	6	TOMCZYK, NASS, BRADLEY, WIMBERGER, KAPENGA, MARKLEIN, JAMES,
7	7	JACQUE, TESTIN and CABRAL-GUEVARA, cosponsored by Representatives
8	8	WITTKE, NOVAK, O'CONNOR, KREIBICH, TUSLER, GUNDRUM, DUCHOW,
9	9	PENTERMAN, MURPHY, SORTWELL, BORN, MAXEY, BEHNKE, MELOTIK, MURSAU,
10	10	PIWOWARCZYK, NEDWESKI, GUSTAFSON, DONOVAN, GREEN, DITTRICH,
11	11	DALLMAN, BRILL, B. JACOBSON, RODRIGUEZ, SPIROS, ALLEN, KNODL, KAUFERT
12	12	and MOSES. Referred to Committee on Education.
13	13	AN ACT to renumber and amend 115.385 (1) (b); to amend 115.385 (1) (c); to
14	14	create 115.385 (1) (b) 2m. and 118.30 (1j) of the statutes; relating to: changes
15	15	to the educational assessment program and the school and school district
16	16	accountability report.
17	17	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
18	18	Under current law, the Department of Public Instruction is required to
19	19	annually publish a school and school district accountability report, commonly
20	20	known as school and school district report cards, for the previous school year. To
21	21	measure school performance and school district improvement for purposes of the
22	22	report cards, particularly measures related to pupil achievement in reading and
23	23	math, DPI uses data derived from pupil performance on assessments administered
24	24	in the previous school year, including assessments commonly referred to as the
25	25	Wisconsin Student Assessment System, which includes the Wisconsin Forward
26	26	Exam, PreACT, the ACT with Writing, and Dynamic Learning Maps.
27	27	Under the bill, beginning with report cards published for the school year in
28	28	which the bill becomes law, for the index system to identify school and school
29	29	district performance and improvement, also known as the accountability rating
30	30	categories, DPI must use the same cut scores, score ranges, and corresponding
31	31	qualitative descriptions that DPI used for report cards published in the 2019-20
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35	35	4 2025 - 2026 Legislature
36	36	SENATE BILL 18
37	37	- 2 - LRB-0976/4
38	38	FFK:cjs&skw
39	39	school year. In addition, beginning with the WSAS administered in the school year
40	40	in which the bill becomes law, DPI must do the following:
41	41	1. For the Wisconsin Forward exam in English Language Arts and
42	42	Mathematics, align cut scores, score ranges, and pupil performance categories to
43	43	the cut scores, score ranges, and pupil performance categories set by the National
44	44	Assessment of Educational Progress.
45	45	2. For the PreACT and ACT with Writing in English, Reading, and
46	46	Mathematics, use the same cut scores, score ranges, and pupil performance
47	47	categories that DPI used for the same assessments administered in the 2021-22
48	48	school year. The bill specifically requires DPI to use the terms Xbelow basic,Y
49	49	Xbasic,Y Xproficient,Y and XadvancedY for pupil performance categories on these
50	50	assessments.
51	51	For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as
52	52	an appendix to this bill.
53	53	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
54	54	enact as follows:
55	55	SECTION 1. 115.385 (1) (b) of the statutes is renumbered 115.385 (1) (b) 1m.,
56	56	and 115.385 (1) (b) 1m. (intro.), as renumbered, is amended to read:
57	57	115.385 (1) (b) 1m. (intro.) An Subject to subd. 2m., an index system to
58	58	identify a school[s level of performance and a school district[s level of improvement
59	59	and to annually assign to each school and school district one of the following
60	60	performance categories:
61	61	SECTION 2. 115.385 (1) (b) 2m. of the statutes is created to read:
62	62	115.385 (1) (b) 2m. For the school and school district accountability reports
63	63	published for the school year beginning on the July 1 immediately preceding the
64	64	effective date of this subdivision .... [LRB inserts date], and for each school year
65	65	thereafter, the department shall use the same cut scores and the same score ranges
66	66	for the performance categories under subd. 1m. that the department used for the
67	67	report published under this section in the 2019-20 school year.
68	68	SECTION 3. 115.385 (1) (c) of the statutes is amended to read:
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82	82	14 2025 - 2026 Legislature
83	83	SENATE BILL 18
84	84	- 3 - LRB-0976/4
85	85	FFK:cjs&skw
86	86	SECTION 3
87	87	115.385 (1) (c) A qualitative definition for For each of the 5 performance
88	88	categories in par. (b) 1m., the same qualitative definition that the department used
89	89	for the report published under this section in the 2019-20 school year.
90	90	SECTION 4. 118.30 (1j) of the statutes is created to read:
91	91	118.30 (1j) For examinations administered under this section or 20 USC 6311
92	92	(b) (2) in the school year beginning on the July 1 immediately preceding the effective
93	93	date of this subsection .... [LRB inserts date], and in each school year thereafter, the
94	94	department shall do all of the following:
95	95	(a) For examinations in English language arts and mathematics administered
96	96	to pupils in grades 3 to 8, use cut scores, score ranges, and pupil performance
97	97	categories that are aligned to the cut scores, score ranges, and pupil performance
98	98	categories set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress for the same
99	99	subject and the same grade.
100	100	(b) For examinations in English, reading, and mathematics administered to
101	101	pupils in grades 9 to 11, use the same cut scores, the same score ranges, and the
102	102	same pupil performance categories that the department used to evaluate the same
103	103	examinations administered in the 2021-22 school year, including the following
104	104	terminology for the pupil performance categories:
105	105	1. Below Basic.
106	106	2. Basic.
107	107	3. Proficient.
108	108	4. Advanced.
109	109	(END)
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