Change in benchmark terminology brings asset based language to standardized testing

Annual standardized testing is finally in the rearview mirror, allowing West students to move on with their lives. However, traditional standardized testing never rests, as the national boards have formed new categories to describe student understanding and placement. Now, instead of ‘below basic,’ ‘basic,’ ‘proficient,’ and ‘advanced,’ which describe students’ abilities as seemingly fixed attributes, the benchmarks are ‘developing,’ ‘approaching,’ ‘meeting,’ and ‘advanced.’ The new terms imply that student learning is an ongoing process. These changes were made due to a tidal wave of comments Superintendent Jill Underly received in December 2023 from hundreds of teachers who felt that new language would be beneficial to indicate that grades are only a pitstop rather than the end-all-be-all. However, many are politically critical of Underly’s softer adaptations to the terminology, feeling she has censored the meaning of the benchmarks.

Marissa Lukaszewski, an Instructional Support Teacher, shared her thoughts on the new benchmark categories.

“The new language around the performance levels, I think, actually reflects the language that’s currently being used in schools: advanced, meeting, approaching, developing,” she said. “I think those are pretty accessible for parents and families and teachers and students to understand, and it’s more asset-based.”

South Park English teacher Jehan Brown, who teaches eighth grade, has been teaching both before and after the amendments to the benchmark terms were enforced in the 2023-2024 school year.

“I think the new categories are more positive,” she said. “A student who sees that they are labeled as ‘below basic’ isn’t going to feel as bad as if they were ‘developing.’”

Brown did see how the change could make a student’s academic standing less clear. 

 “However, this makes it harder for a parent to understand what this means because ‘developing’ doesn’t create as strong of a response as ‘below basic,’ since ‘developing’ isn’t really seen as negative and it's not as clear what it means,” she said. 

While Underly’s changes to benchmark categories have garnered some controversy, there are some who feel the new language communicates greater understanding towards students. English teacher William Brydon has gained a parent’s perspective on standardized testing now that his daughter is in grade school and has started testing. When she was given her score back, she wasn’t ranking the highest amongst her classmates and started to stress over what this outcome meant about her.

“Now she sometimes says, ‘Well, what if I'm not a good reader?’ It just breaks my heart because that's happened to hundreds of thousands of kids across this country due to state testing over the years and they’ve just internalized that their score is their value when it’s not,” he said. “I personally like the changes in the verbiage because it’s kinder.”

In 2024, students nationwide were still performing worse on standardized testing in math and reading than they were before the pandemic. There has been a concern with the OASD that students aren’t performing as well as they could, which is why many scrutinize the changes in terminology and whether the new language really provide clarity where a student stands. In the past few years, there has been a shift towards using the StudySync curriculum to try to address underperformance. StudySync is marketed as a more flexible curriculum option, with online and offline features. It has only become prevalent in Wisconsin recently, finding its way into Brown’s classroom in the 2023-24 school year. 

“Last year, we started doing StudySync, which is more similar to the kind of material students see on the Forward Test, so they are a bit more familiar with those kinds of concepts and analyzing text, but there isn’t as much time to do book groups or read-alouds,” she said. “The curriculum they see now is almost like a bunch of mini-Forward Exams, which isn’t as engaging, but students are becoming more proficient at reading.” 

Brown provided statistics to further show the positive benefits of StudySync. However, goals still have yet to be reached.

“This year, 44% of kids were at reading level when they took the I-Ready in January, which is a big increase from the 31% at the start of the year,” she said. “As of now, it could be more than that, but the district goal for this year of 55% still hasn’t been reached.”

South Park isn't the first middle school to take on StudySync. Freshman Zoey Syms received literary lessons from StudySync prior to her eighth grade year during 2023-2024 at Traeger. Many within West’s student body can relate to this.  

“It definitely is similar to the structure of the PreAct,” she said. “I guess in hindsight, it was helpful. I just didn't enjoy it personally. I think if they made the stories a little more interesting and slightly easier, and worked our way into the more complex stuff, it would’ve been better.”

While StudySync has been implemented to raise students to certain benchmarks, others, including junior Maddalyn Meartz, believe that there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to standardized testing. 

“One of the main issues I notice with not only myself but many in general is the overall pressure that standardized testing puts on students,” she said. “Some kids perform much better in class but are just bad test takers, and that can be due to a number of reasons which is why that score may not reflect their true knowledge.”

While a consensus has not been reached on what changes are needed to best suit students and whether these new terms are helpful, the majority of people believe the decision came from a desire to empathize with students. Brydon shares this perspective.

“I think the changes were made to encourage students to not dial out and to stay engaged in the process,” he said. “To make them feel like they are not lost causes.”

by Sarah Mrazek

Published April 28th, 2025

Oshkosh West Index Volume 121 Issue VII