Understanding WKCE New Cut Scores

In the Waukesha School District, and across the state of Wisconsin, we are working to ensure that our students are ready for further education and careers. Our state assessment, the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) has been changing to reflect this priority.

You will soon be receiving information about your child’s performance on the Wisconsin Student Assessment System, which includes the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) and the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment for some student with disabilities (WAA-SwD). Wisconsin public school students in Grades 3-8 and 10 take these assessments each year.

This year Wisconsin raised the WKCE scores needed for students to reach the basic, proficient, and advanced performance levels in reading and math. As a result, fewer students will be considered to be “proficient” or “advanced.” These elevated levels will only be reflected on the reading and math sections of the exam, not the social studies, science, or language arts portions of the exam.

This does not reflect a change in the abilities of students, teachers, or schools, but rather reflects the higher standards and aspirations Wisconsin has for its students and schools. The new, more rigorous college and career readiness scoring standards match those in other high performing states and will help prepare all Wisconsin students to be college and career ready. These new college and career readiness performance levels are based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP, often called the “Nation's Report Card,” is the largest continuing assessment of what students nationwide know and can do in core subjects.

Soon you will receive your child’s WKCE Individual Profile Report (IPR). As you review it, please keep in mind that the scoring change:

• only applies to WKCE reading and mathematics
• affected all students across the state taking WKCE math and reading tests
• does not apply to the other WKCE content areas, so proficiency is not measured using the new higher college and career readiness benchmarks in social studies, science, or language arts
• does not apply to the WAA-SwD, the alternate assessment taken by a very small fraction of students in Wisconsin

Please click below to view two resource documents.

WKCE - Higher Expectations
IPR at a Glance
WKCE  - Readiness Flyer