Scores lag, but Brown Deer schools show improvement

Public Forum:

The Public Policy Forum recently released its yearly report on 50 southeastern Wisconsin school districts during the 2011-12 school year, listing how each district fared in the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concept Exam.

The report showed that:

Brown Deer continues to spend more money on educating its students. Brown Deer ranked 3rd in per pupil spending ($13,492).

68.1 percent of students attending Brown Deer last school year were minority. Only Milwaukee had a higher number, 85.8 percent.

39.8 percent of Brown Deer of students qualified for a reduced or free lunch.

Although Brown Deer's WKCE scores remain fairly low, there are some bright spots.

For instance, Brown Deer ranked above the state average in seven of eight performance categories. The only area where Brown Deer was below the state average was its ACT score of 20.7 compared to the state average of 22.1.

Here's how Brown Deer ranked last school year in the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concept Exam:

Fourth-graders were 31st in reading and 41st in math, eighth-graders were 37th in reading and 29th in math, and 10th-graders were 26th in reading and 29th in math. All six rankings were better than how Brown Deer fared during the 2010-11 school year.

Mike Christopolus

Brown Deer