[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-586303-105":59,"doc-detail-586303-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","nepc-review-beyond-race-what-really-drives-wisconsins-achievement-gap","NEPC Review: Beyond Race: What Really Drives Wisconsin’s Achievement Gap","","NEPC’s third-party review examines a Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty report on the state’s achievement gap between White and Black students, especially in early elementary ELA/reading. The review summarizes the report’s claims that poverty, disability, and family instability explain disparities and argues that the original analysis underestimates systemic racial inequalities and interactive effects between home and school. It questions the report’s reliance on the Science of Reading and the “Mississippi Miracle,” noting that proposed explanations weaken by eighth grade.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/nepc-review-beyond-race-what-really-drives-wisconsins-achievement-gap/586303/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/nepc-review-beyond-race-what-really-drives-wisconsins-achievement-gap/586303.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Taylor Morgan","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-13","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What achievement gap does the WILL report focus on in Wisconsin?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It highlights a large achievement gap between White and Black students in Wisconsin, particularly in elementary ELA/reading.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the NEPC review evaluate the WILL report’s explanation for the gap?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The review states that poverty, disability, and family instability are intertwined with race and that the WILL report fails to sufficiently acknowledge systemic racial inequalities in educational opportunities.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does the review say about the “Science of Reading” and the “Mississippi Miracle”?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It argues the phonics-based approach promotion is unwarranted, because the Mississippi reading gains have multiple contributing factors and the explanations largely evaporate by eighth grade.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},586303,1792189442,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},1099523885336,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","NEPC Review: Beyond Race:  \nWhat Really Drives Wisconsin’s Achievement Gap (Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, March 2026)  \nReviewed by:  \nJaekyung Lee University at Buffalo SUNY  \nMay 2026  \nNational Education Policy Center  \nSchool of Education University of Colorado Boulder [nepc.colorado.edu](nepc.colorado.edu)  \nAcknowledgements  \nNEPC Staff  \nFaith Boninger  \nPublications Manager  \nPatricia Hinchey Academic Editor  \nElaine Duggan Production Design  \nAlex Molnar NEPC Director  \nKevin Welner NEPC Director  \nSuggested Citation: Lee. J. (2026) . NEPC Review: Beyond race: What really drives Wisconsin’s achievement gap. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved [date] from [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[nepc.colorado.edu/review/beyond-race](nepc.colorado.edu/review/beyond-race)  \nFunding: This review was made possible in part by funding from the Great Lakes Center for Educational Research and Practice.  \nGREAT LAKES CENTER  \nFor Education Research & Practice  \nThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License.  \nThis publication is provided free of cost to NEPC’s readers, who may make non-commercial use of it as long as NEPC and its author(s) are credited as the source. For inquiries about commercial use, please [contact NEPC at](contact NEPC at nepc@colorado.edu)[ nepc@colorado.edu](contact NEPC at nepc@colorado.edu).  \nThe National Education Policy Center (NEPC), a university research center housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third-party reviews of think tank reports. NEPC publications are written in accessible language and are intended for a broad audience that includes academic experts, policymakers, the media, and the general public. Our mission is to provide high-quality information in support of democratic deliberation about education policy. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence and support a multiracial society that is inclusive, kind, and just. Visit us at: [http://nepc.colorado.edu](http://nepc.colorado.edu)  \n[http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/beyond-race](http://nepc.colorado.edu/review/beyond-race) 2 of 14  \nNEPC Review: Beyond Race: What Really Drives Wisconsin’s Achievement Gap (Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, March 2026)  \nReviewed by:  \nJaekyung Lee  \nUniversity at Buffalo, SUNY  \nMay 2026  \nSummary  \nA new Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) report highlights the extreme achievement gap between White and Black students in Wisconsin, particularly in ELA/reading at the elementary school level. The report criticizes education policymakers for their purported misdiagnosis of the problem as systemic racism. It argues that factors presented in the report as separate from race, including poverty, disability and family instability, account for the racial disparities and illustrate the need for newer approaches. While the report highlights important issues and offers some simplistic analysis of the influence of poverty and disability, it fails to acknowledge systemic racial inequalities in educational opportunities in schools. It also overlooks racial differences in interactive effects of family and school learning environments. Poverty, disability and family instability are not “beyond race”—they are intertwined with race. Moreover, the report’s promotion of the Science of Reading phonics-based approach alone, based on what is known as the “Mississippi Miracle,” is unwarranted, given that explanations for Mississippi’s huge reading score gains are attributable to a combination of other factors—and that they evaporate by eighth grade. Except for a timely nudge to take another hard look at how to address achievement gaps, policymakers will find the report’s findings and recommendations of little practical value.  \n[http://nepc.c","cbCail4sqFTuBSKT","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCail4sqFTuBSKT","pdf",1026494,14,"English","# Summary\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What achievement gap does the WILL report focus on in Wisconsin?\",\"answer\":\"It highlights a large achievement gap between White and Black students in Wisconsin, particularly in elementary ELA/reading.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the NEPC review evaluate the WILL report’s explanation for the gap?\",\"answer\":\"The review states that poverty, disability, and family instability are intertwined with race and that the WILL report fails to sufficiently acknowledge systemic racial inequalities in educational opportunities.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the review say about the “Science of Reading” and the “Mississippi Miracle”?\",\"answer\":\"It argues the phonics-based approach promotion is unwarranted, because the Mississippi reading gains have multiple contributing factors and the explanations largely evaporate by eighth grade.\"}]","NEPC Review: Beyond Race: What Really Drives Wisconsin’s Achievement Gap | PDF",1792057536,35]