DEWS and CCREWS district data

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) Beginning of the year aggregate Dropout Early Warning System (DEWS) data for each Wisconsin district and charter school detailing the risk scores—high, medium, and low—assigned to students, broken down by student race/ethnicity and year from 2012 through 2021. The data should be broken down as follows: district name, academic year, number of students who are Black and assigned a high risk score, number of students who are Black and assigned a medium risk score, number of students who are Black and assigned a low risk score, number of students who are White and assigned a high risk score, number of students who are White and assigned a medium risk score, number of students who are White and assigned a low risk score, and so on for each race/ethnicity that the system tracks. If the data must also be broken down by grade level I will accept that, but it is not necessary.

2) Beginning of the year aggregate College and Career Readiness Early Warning System (CCREWS) data for each Wisconsin district and charter school detailing the risk scores—high, medium, and low—assigned to students, broken down by student race/ethnicity and year from 2012 through 2021. The data should be broken down as follows: district name, academic year, number of students who are Black and assigned a high risk score, number of students who are Black and assigned a medium risk score, number of students who are Black and assigned a low risk score, number of students who are White and assigned a high risk score, number of students who are White and assigned a medium risk score, number of students who are White and assigned a low risk score, and so on for each race/ethnicity that the system tracks. If the data must also be broken down by grade level I will accept that, but it is not necessary.

Please note that I am not requesting identifiable student information, but rather aggregate data. I understand that certain data fields may need to be redacted if the number of students is too low (i.e., if there is only one Black student assigned a moderate risk score in a particular district).

DPI provides this data to districts annually and, as documented in this presentation (https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.wasda.org/resource/resmgr/Data_Summit_2016/WISEdash-DEWSData.pdf), the data can be deidentified to exclude student names.

I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest. In the event you choose to impose fees, I request a detailed breakdown of the fees, including the hourly wage of each employee involved and an explanation justifying the employee hours required to fulfill the request.

Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of it, I ask that you provide a detailed breakdown of the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each/any portions from public review.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers