Monday, March 4, 2013--6:20p.m.
MADISON--If you've got a kid in third through eighth grade--or tenth--they took the WKCE exam this fall. "The Wisconsin content and knowledge exam and it's been the statewide test for Wisconsin for quite a few years now," said Dr. Jane Belmore, the superintendent of Madison schools.

Your student could score at one of these assessment levels: minimal, basic, proficient or advanced."This year our WKCE test has been alligned with a nationally-normed test," said Dr. Belmore.

Your student's scores should be showing up soon and it's possible he or she won't be scoing as highly as in the past. "The results of this reallignment is that we're holding ourselves and our students to a higher bar," she said. "So students may be performing at the same level or even better than they were and yet still not get the kind of report that parents might be expecting."

Dr. Belmore said it doesn't necessarily mean your child is doing less well, everyone's just being held to a higher standard. "If our students are being proficient and we're expecting to see proficient we might see basic," she said.

The shift is happening statewide. Dr. Belmore said she thinks it's a good move and that eventually, students should be scoring higher. "All of the work that's going on in addition to holding students to higher measures is that we're also holding our curriculum and our teachers and everything to a higher level," she said. "So we're moving the rigour of the curriculum up."