EDITORIAL – AP from BELOIT NEWS
Here in Wisconsin, much of the news about public education and academic performance is positive. Wisconsin students consistently rank above national averages in achievement.
Unless, that is, we’re talking about Black students.
According to figures released recently by the U.S. Department of Education, fourth- and eighth-grade Black students in Wisconsin recorded the worst scores in the nation for reading ability. The gap between Black and White students in Wisconsin, the numbers indicate, is the worst in America.
That ought to set off alarm bells from Beloit to Superior, from La Crosse to Milwaukee.
How can it be? How can Wisconsin rank below places like Arkansas or Mississippi or the District of Columbia?
How, indeed. The skeptic in us wonders if some of those other places have been engaging in creative arithmetic and reporting funny numbers.
