WKCE Results for Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) all states have a set of standards for reading, math, and science along with statewide assessment to measure student success on the statewide academic standards. The assessment measuring student knowledge and skill on the state standards for grades 3 through 8 and grade 10 is the Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS). This assessment system has two components; the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam (WKCE) for students who participate in the general curriculum and the Wisconsin Alternate Assessment for Students with Disabilities (WAA-SwD) for students with significant cognitive disabilities who participate in a curriculum aligned with, but different from, the general curriculum.

The DPI now disaggregates data from the WSAS results by disability group. We now know the proficiency levels for reading, math, and science of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in this state. Unfortunately, for decades there have been messages stating that students who are deaf or hard of hearing read at a 3rd or 4th grade level at graduation. This is a misrepresentation of achievement, and we now have the data to prove it. Information on the WKCE data for students who are deaf or hard of hearing for reading and math in grades 3 though 8 and 10 is linked below. While most of these students do continue to need assistance in language development and reading competency, Wisconsin students are demonstrating proficiency along with their grade-level peers at each grade level.

It is important to note that ‘grade level’ reading scores may be different than the WKCE results. Reading grade levels are determined by multiple factors such as sentence and word length, complexity of the content, grammatical features, context organization and structure, etc. Reading grade level inventories should give a range of grade level readability.

The WKCE also assesses the range of readability at each grade level being assessed. For example, the 5th grade WKCE reading test may have a grade level range from 3rd through 6th grade. Students who score at a level of Proficient on the 5th grade WKCE are demonstrating reading skills at 5th grade or better.

2006-07 WKCE Results for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

For questions about this information, contact Carol M. Schweitzer (608) 266-7097

Last updated on 2/22/2008 1:25:09 PM