Reading Time: 4 minutes
In 1998, the Madison School Board adopted an important academic goal: “that all students complete the 3rd grade able to read at or beyond grade level.”
Flash forward 28 years to a July 29 Rotary Club event. Madison Superintendent Joe Gothard highlighted recent improvements in literacy in district schools. But he pointed out that proficiency rates still hovered around just 40% at the elementary, middle and high schools he listed.
“We should not be sitting in a place where we can say 60% of our students are not proficient at their grade level in reading,” Rebecca Kundert, the district’s senior executive director of curriculum and instruction, said in follow-up remarks.
As Wisconsin embarks on another major effort to improve reading, the history of previous initiatives shows why sustained attention matters.
“It’s complicated,” one retired teacher said at the Rotary talk. Many factors add complexity, including readiness to learn, distractions, leadership turnover, attention spans and civic malaise.
Nearly three decades have passed without Madison reaching that goal, even as the district spends substantial money. It has a total budget equivalent to about $26,000 per enrolled student — far above average.
But Wisconsin doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Other states have significantly improved their reading proficiency.
What should Madison and other school districts learn from other states?
1. Stick with it
In 2011, Wisconsin lawmakers approved one of Massachusetts’ teacher-content-knowledge requirements for early literacy. Beginning in 2014, the law required applicants for a broad assortment of teaching licenses to pass the Foundations of Reading test, just like Massachusetts educators, before they could teach early learners.
But the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) allowed many who failed to keep teaching on temporary licenses. First-time pass rates were often in the mid-60% range.
Consider the message this sends to teachers, schools of education, administrators, students and parents.
2. Commit real effort
Former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and his wife, Sally, donated $100 million in 2000 to improve early literacy in Mississippi, which ranked 49th nationally in fourth grade reading.
Wisconsin ranked above average at that time.
The funds helped retrain teachers, update curriculum and teacher preparation, and provide classroom coaches. Mississippi also passed SB 2347 in 2013, requiring “intensive intervention for any K-3 student with a reading deficiency, notice to parents, and no promotion past third grade for children whose deficiency is not remedied, subject to good-cause exemptions.”
In 2019, Alan Borsuk, writing in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, noted that Mississippi “was the only state where fourth grade reading scores improved.” He cited a “strong requirement that teachers be well-trained in reading instruction,” similar to what Massachusetts previously implemented.
National Assessment of Educational Progress results in 2024 showed Mississippi fourth graders at 219, outscoring the national average for the first time. Wisconsin, at 215, was statistically indistinguishable from the national average of 214.
The New York Times published a district-by-district test-score lookup in May 2026. Columnist Nicholas Kristof reported that “a Black fourth-grader in Mississippi is now two and a half times as likely to test proficient in reading as a Black fourth-grader in California.”
Comedian Bill Maher carried the comparison to his show.
“Mississippi is kicking our ass in education and for way less money.” he said.
3. Use an honest scorecard
Wisconsin has shown weak academic transparency and changed the goalposts when convenient.
In 2003, for instance, 80% of Wisconsin fourth graders scored proficient or advanced on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination (WKCE) in reading, but just 33% scored at the proficient or advanced level on the NAEP.
In 2008, DPI officials went so far as to state: “Schools should not rely on only WKCE data to gauge progress of individual students or to determine effectiveness of programs or curriculum.”
Wisconsin has a fresh opportunity to get it right
In 2023, the Wisconsin Legislature passed and Gov. Tony Evers signed Act 20, modeled on Mississippi reforms, after he vetoed the two previous attempts to address Wisconsin’s literacy disaster.
Act 20 shifted reading instruction from 4K through third grade toward phonics and the science of reading, bans the “three-cueing” method beginning in the 2024-25 school year and requires universal early-literacy screening, reporting of results to parents and personal reading plans for struggling readers.
Wisconsin Act 20 requires school boards to have adopted a written policy specifying criteria for promotion from third to fourth grade by July 1, 2025. Then, beginning Sept. 1, 2027, a school board may not promote a third grader to fourth grade unless the student satisfies the criteria in that district’s policy.
The law also created an Office of Literacy at DPI, authorized up to 64 literacy coaches and created a Council on Early Literacy Curricula to vet curricula for a program that reimburses schools for part of the cost of approved materials. The $50 million earmark for literacy initiatives in the Joint Finance Committee’s supplemental appropriation became the subject of litigation involving DPI, the Legislature and Evers.
Citizens, parents, teachers, politicians and administrators now have an unprecedented view of 4K-through-third-grade literacy skills through Act 20’s early-literacy screener requirement. The screener is administered three times annually in kindergarten through third grade and twice to students in 4K.
Nearly 97,414 4K-through-third-grade students, or 37%, scored below the 25th percentile in a national comparison group during the 2024-25 school year. Madison lagged the state, with 3,888 students, or 43.7%, scoring below the 25th percentile.
What can you do?
Understand your school district’s total spending, staffing and student enrollment. Review early-literacy screener data and ask elected officials what they are doing about it. Track changes over time.
Packers President Dominic Olejniczak hired Vince Lombardi after the team’s disastrous 1-10-1 season in 1958, its 11th consecutive season without a winning record.
Lombardi won a title in 1961, his third year, and again in 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967.
We can do much better, quickly.
Jim Zellmer is part of the team that created Fast Lane Literacy by SEDSO, a research-based early literacy box designed to accelerate foundational reading skills for nearly anyone attempting to learn to read.
Guest commentaries reflect the views of their authors and are independent of the nonpartisan, in-depth reporting produced by Wisconsin Watch’s newsroom staff. Want to join the Wisconversion? See our guidelines for submissions.
Guest opinion: Wisconsin has tried to improve reading for decades. Will this time be different? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
