State Superintendent Announces $7 Million Plan to Phase Out WKCE Tests

The Wisconsin Department of Instruction is hoping to usher in a new era of learning and assessment at every high school in the state

State Superintendent Tony Evers on Wednesday announced a proposal to replace the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) with a suite of ACT assessments to measure student learning and better prepare the state’s youth for post-secondary education careers.

“This is really a historic day in Wisconsin,” Evers said. “We’re moving to a different place in the state, and we need to make sure every student is adequately and significantly prepared for their future careers.”

Muskego-Norway Superintendent Kelly Thompson called the announcement a "square alignment" with Evers' 2017 agenda and saw great advantages to the change.

"An advantage of replacing the WKCE with the ACT to fulfill state and federal high school testing requirements is that 100 percent of students will be provided the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge on an assessment that has been used for decades by colleges and universities as an indicator of college readiness," she said.

Evers said the assessment suite would include four different tests, which would be paid for and provided by the state. Students would take the tests over the course of their high school careers. The cost to administer the series of four tests would cost roughly $7 million, and the suite is part of Evers’ 2013-15 budget proposal.

Some of the cost would be offset by not administering the WKCE.

“There’s a cost to this. Quality does cost,” Evers said. “I think this is a huge step forward for Wisconsin to consistently address career and college preparation. This will be a priority moving forward.”

Under the proposal, ninth-grade students would take an ACT EXPLORE test in spring of the 2014-15 school year. The ACT PLAN test would be administered in 10^th grade, and the actual ACT and WorkKeys assessments would be administered in 11^th grade.

The WorkKeys test assesses students’ job skills and helps them prepare for the workforce whether they gain employment directly from school, learn a trade, or enter post-secondary education. The ACT EXPLORE and ACT PLAN tests help students identify areas for improvement, and guide their future course selection.

"For Muskego-Norway, the possibility of moving from about two-thirds of high school students taking the ACT to 100 percent is exciting.  In this scenario, school counselors will have further opportunity to discuss post-secondary planning with all students," Thompson said.

"With regard to preparing students, for the past two years, Muskego High School has used the EXPLORE and PLAN assessments as part of their normal testing program.  All 9th grade students take the EXPLORE and 10th graders take the PLAN.  In 2013-14, 8th graders will also have an opportunity to take the PLAN test.  These assessments prepare student to take the ACT.

Evers said the current WKCE assessment doesn’t provide much incentive for students to do well. The ACT assessment however, would count for the future educational goals of students and is a more accurate assessment of student learning.

“It will serve as a great early warning system for students, which will help us make sure they are planning in an effective way,” Evers said.

Thompson agreed, explaining that students see the connection between the ACT and college entrance more so than the WKCE.

"Given its tie with college entrance decisions, high school students across the state may find more value in performing well on the ACT in comparison to the WKCE.  If cost was a factor for students in deciding whether or not to take the ACT, this proposal takes that out of the equation."

Approximately 61 percent of all the state’s high school students already take the ACT examination. Evers’ plan would ensure all students take it as part of their high school experience. In rural parts of the state many students lack access to ACT testing centers, but every school would become a certified testing center under his plan.

Several states have already mandated the ACT assessment for high school students. Milwaukee Public Schools have also required the ACT assessment.

“This budget proposal will meet the demand for accountability that matters,” Evers said. “The ACT suite will provide multiple measures of student achievement that give a picture of individual and school growth for high school accountability.”