1,384 results
Brian Fraley: In January 2025, Dairyland Sentinel requested records from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction related to its June 2024 Forward Exam standard-setting workshop at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. We expected records. Instead, we found a much bigger story. It took more than a year, and it still isn’t over. Along the […]
Kayla Huynh: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty alleges the DPI is “effectively hiding public records behind an illegal” $34,014 fee. In a statement, WILL said the law firm in August 2025 requested from the DPI records of applicants since 2018 who were denied educator licenses for failing to complete an approved program, a […]
Brian Fraley: When State Superintendent Jill Underly launched Wisconsin’s “Portrait of a Graduate” initiative in late May, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) flooded the media with a carefully crafted narrative. Local press outlets quickly repeated the agency’s claims that this massive effort to redefine success in Wisconsin public education was being guided by a […]
Dan O’Donnell The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) has filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and its Standard Setting Committee, alleging violations of the state’s Open Meetings Law during a closed-door conference at a Wisconsin Dells resort in 2024. The suit, filed in Adams County (where the Chula Vista Resort […]
Corri Hess: Members of the Milwaukee Reading Coalition say the Department of Public Instruction promised to help fund an initiative to train teachers in early literacy, but has reneged and the project is now in jeopardy. Fewer than 10 percent of children in kindergarten through third grade attending both private and public schools in Milwaukee are meeting […]
Dairyland Sentinel: When a state agency launches a massive new initiative to redefine what public education looks like, you would think they would want to brag about the people helping them build it. Transparency is usually the first card played when government officials want to build public trust in a brand new, statewide project. Apparently, […]
Cavalier Johnson, Howard Fuller, Gregory Wesley and JoAnne Anton In Milwaukee, nearly three out of four fourth graders cannot read at a basic level. According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — the nation’s most respected measure of student achievement — only 9% of Milwaukee’s fourth graders scored as proficient in reading, and the […]
Quinton Klabon: Early Literacy Curriculum Council interviewed a candidate for state Literacy Director guiding part of Act 20. The candidate is Kaylee Jackson. DPI said “is our person” and this is ongoing consultation to keep going. ELCC said they get input beforehand. —— Early Literacy Screener Map. More. Act 20. 3,887 Madison 4 year old to third grade […]
Patrick Mcilheran: That Jill Underly was elected—and in an election structured to guarantee union control of the outcome—poses a big problem for oversight by the people’s legitimate representatives. Where was DPI Supt when she skipped a public hearing on April 15 on her department’s standards-setting conference in the Dells? This is the level of transparency […]
www The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction today announced new partnerships with public and private schools to expand early literacy support through the hiring of literacy coaches. As part of ongoing efforts under 2023 Wisconsin Act 20, the DPI will place literacy coaches into 50 public schools and four private schools over the next two years. […]
Erin Gretzinger: The state Department of Public Instruction is disputing the findings of an audit by the U.S. Department of Education, which found the state agency improperly ran a pandemic relief program and urged returning over $20 million. The state allocated COVID-19 relief funding to private schools that were ineligible to receive aid, according to […]
Wiseye: On April 15, 2026, the Assembly Committee on Government Operations, Accountability, and Transparency will hold an informational hearingon Department of Public Instruction policies, procedures, and compliance regarding open meetings laws and open records laws; standard-setting and benchmarking process for the Forward Exam. Speakers: ——- Dairyland Sentinel: So far, DPI has said.They dragged their feet on […]
Dairyland Sentinel At the center of the dispute is a four-day “standard setting” session held at a resort, where education officials reviewed and adjusted benchmarks for the state’s Forward Exam. Critics say those changes effectively lowered the bar for what counts as student proficiency. —— A Dane County Judge appointed by Governor Evers – Ben […]
Will Flanders: Interesting that DPI has removed files revenue files from their website that I used to disprove the narrative that schools are underfunded. I used the files to show that school districts have more inflation-adjusted money than in 2000. Wonder why they were removed? 🤔 Related:
Danielle DuClos: Jones was appointed to the Branch 1 seat by Gov. Tony Evers last year after Susan Crawford was elected to the state Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment by Evers, he spent almost a decade as an attorney with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction under three state superintendents, including Evers. For about […]
Will Flanders: If lowering our education standards in Wisconsin was the right thing to do, why is DPI doing everything it can to hide the process that led to it? —- What started as questions about a panel of experts used by DPI brought revelations of a $368K “waterpark workshop.” The story is now much […]
Jon Styf: (The Center Square) – The Dairyland Sentinel is asking the Wisconsin Department of Justice to intervene in what it believes is an unfulfilled public records request. The publication has continued to request a contract between the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Forward Exam test contractor Data Recognition Corp. related to a standards-setting […]
Danielle DuClos: He oversaw the department’s legal strategy and educator misconduct investigations. Jones has also worked in private practice representing school districts and municipalities. ——- Governor Evers appointed Jones to the Dane County Circuit Court in 2025. Happily, we have a competitive election: Huma Ahsan. I’m glad reporter DuClos is covering former DPI lawyer Jones’ activities.
Brian Fraley: DPI has yet to provide all the public documents I requested 14 months ago. I enlisted the help of the Institute for Reforming Government. It shouldn’t take threats of legal action to get government agencies to release public data, but here we are. Eventually, DPI did release SOME of the information we requested […]
Goldy Brown III: Most Wisconsin parents don’t spend much time thinking about how the state superintendent of public instruction is chosen. They’re focused on whether their child can read confidently by third grade, whether math finally clicks or whether their local school can attract and keep strong teachers. But the way Wisconsin selects its top […]
Brian Fraley: DPI has a transparency problem that is quickly becoming a legal one. After a year of stonewalling our investigation into what we discovered was a taxpayer-funded Waterpark Workshop, the department has yet to release the vendor contract. Conveniently for them, it is the very document they claim restricts their ability to provide more details […]
Ah politics. Funny how things “work”. Ben Jones: Prior to being appointed to the bench, Judge Jones built an impressive record as an attorney in private practice, and then was legal counsel under three successive Superintendents at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the state’s education agency. Ben distinguished himself at DPI as the […]
Quinton Klabon: You MUST watch this @dgo151 journalism! Green Bay says all schools are underfunded.Reporter asks if hiring way more staff has caused deficits.(Per DPI, GB would pay 350 fewer staff if they had 2017 ratios.)GB freezes, changes mind, says it’s actually good to super-staff. —— “An emphasis on adult employment”
Institute for reforming government: Without following open meetings requirements under Wisconsin law, the secretly adopted test standards could be invalidated. Under state law (Wis. Stat. § 19.97(3)), a court may declare void any action taken at a meeting held in violation of the Open Meetings Law, including DPI’s adoption of new Forward Exam standards. KEY […]
Brian Fraley: The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has many problems. They’re self righteous, secretive and indignant. Their communications efforts do not offer clarity, they obfuscate. This was on full display in their spokesperson’s response to Dairyland Sentinel’s reporting. The statement was emailed out to many media outlets. Here’s a link to the full statement as […]
Brian Fraley: UPDATE 6:18pm As a result of Dairyland Sentinel’s reporting, this afternoon the Joint Finance Committee delayed a scheduled vote to release $1 million to the Department of Public Instruction for agency operations. Committee Co-chair Mark Born, R–Beaver Dam, cited this report as the reason for the postponed vote, saying the committee decided to […]
Mark Treinen: I really can’t let this stand @DrJillUnderly @WISCTV_News3. The superintendent’s continued claims of DPI transparency and our reporting’s inaccuracy are problematic. Thread. ——— Much more on Jill Underly, here.
Corrinne Hess: The increase in emergency teaching licenses was higher in extracurricular subjects. For example, from 2022 to 2024, emergency licenses in Spanish grew by 49 percent. Physical education grew by 96 percent. The three subject areas with the most emergency licenses were special education, regular education and elementary/middle education. These grew by a collective […]
Via Quinton Klabon: 2026 wish list: a map like this for, like,“What reading, mathematics, science, and history curriculum do you use?”“What is your student-to-staff ratio?”“What is your spending as a whole and truly spent on your own students?”and things of that nature. It would pack insights! ——- link:
Jim Bender & Patrick McIlheran: Accused of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence — and new questions about whether it is capable of handling myriad key functions. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice […]
Quinton Klabon: ——- Poverty explains 50% of Forward Exam scores and 36% of ACT. So, control for poverty, and you can accurately rate and rank schools! best: Wauzeka-Steuben (small), Fond Du Lac (medium), Sheboygan/Janesville (big) ——- large districts’ Forward: Sheboygan: mid 4Janesville: mid 4Elmbrook: high 3Waukesha: mid 3Middleton: mid 3Wausau: mid 3Eau Claire: mid 3Appleton: […]
By Jim Bender & Patrick McIlheran Accused of gutting academic standards, manipulating report cards, slacking on fiscal oversight and bungling oversight of sexual misconduct among teachers, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is facing a crisis of confidence — and new questions about whether it is capable of handling myriad key functions. The latest blow […]
Kayla Huynh: The state Legislature’s bipartisan audit committee on Nov. 5 ordered a review into the Department of Public Instruction’s process for removing, suspending or restricting educator licenses. The audit comes as State Superintendent Jill Underly has received criticism for her department’s handling of grooming and sexual misconduct allegations against licensed school staff. The Legislative Audit Bureau will examine the […]
Danielle DuClos: State legislators called both hearings this week in response to reporting by the Cap Times that uncovered hundreds of sexual misconduct and grooming investigations conducted by the department from 2018 through 2023. In a joint statement, the audit commitee’s co-chairs — Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, and Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Caledonia — said Underly and the department “failed […]
Mark Treinen: I’ve been doing journalism a long time and don’t recall a public official ever demanding a “public correction” of an entire story, and then proposing a bunch of fixes to the exact problems highlighted in the @CapTimes story. Jon Styf: DPI Superintendent Jill Underly appeared in front of the Senate Committee on Education […]
David Blaska: All committed under the un-watchful eye of Superintendent Underly, a MAGA-hating progressive bought by the Democrat(ic) party (to the tune of $1,141,632 — 80% of her total campaign funding), supported by the teachers union, and endorsed by The Capital Times itself. As the news outlet reported: The WI Department of Public Instruction investigated more than […]
Danielle DuClos: The Cap Times found the Department of Public Instruction has investigated more than 200 educators from 2018 to 2023 following allegations of sexual misconduct or grooming. The reporting also revealed the department relies on a rudimentary system to track its investigations, obscuring the scale of misconduct for policymakers and the public. Wisconsin State […]
Tom Tiffany: Wisconsin’s DPI poured time and resources into a 35-page DEI Plan but couldn’t find time to fully investigate 200+ teacher sexual misconduct cases. Our kids deserve better than woke leadership and coverups. Yet all we hear from Tony Evers and Jill Underly are crickets. 🦗 ——- more. ——— Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI […]
Senator John Jagler Here is the response from @DrJillUnderly to the letter and questions @SenRomaineQuinn and I asked about the @CapTimes investigation into teacher sexual misconduct investigations. I appreciate the reply. But her answers only leave me with few more questions 🧵 —- Dan Shafer: It is absolutely ridiculous that Dr. Jill Underly is off […]
Keegan Kyle: Underly stood by the department’s practice of allowing educators under investigation for misconduct to voluntarily surrender their licenses to avoid further investigation. She said voluntary license surrenders often spare victims from “retraumatization through lengthy investigations.” She also called these license surrenders a “binding, legal agreement to a permanent, lifetime ban on their ability […]
Adding to the curious tale for data submitted to DPI 7.15.2025: e-mail received 21 October, 2025: Jim, Public records laws do not require agencies to create records that do not currently already exist. The data you requested is not currently available in a record that is responsive to your request. Districts are required to submit […]
Quinton Klabon summary: LAB said DPI is very harsh to choice schools! DPI threatened to defund private schools whose finances were 1 week late and defunded after 1 month. DPI…perhaps did not threaten districts? And it took DPI 5.5 months to defund MPS? 1 month versus half a year is a big disparity! ——- ——— […]
4 page letter (PDF), sent via certified mail: 16 October 2025 response to my 6 October request for student at risk data (districts were mandated to provide this data by 15 July, 2025) Good afternoon, This data will be publicly shared in a report due to the legislature by November 30 each year. Please check […]
Quinton Klabon: Will reading reforms work in Wisconsin? By July 1st, teachers were supposed to relearn reading instruction the way the best states do it. Unfortunately ——- More: DPI misinterpreted Act 20 to say there was no deadline to follow the law. The Legislature has not enforced it, nor have they updated the law to […]
Will Flanders: It appears DPI got the data wrong about private school choice performance in their press release on state tests. They note a decline in performance of 2.3 percentage point in ELA and a 2.7 percentage points in math. More from Will: Earlier I tweeted a question to @WisconsinDPI about their press release on […]
Will Flanders Summary: The title of this thread on the Wisconsin Reddit is both funny and sad because WI should only WISH to be Mississippi when it comes to NAEP scores. Dan Lennington: Tony Evers has been in charge of Wisconsin education policy since 2009 (& effectively since 2001). Republicans have been completely unable to […]
Cleo Krejci Jill Underly, the top DPI official, finalized those changes Sept. 3. They will be applied to 2024-25 state report card data, which will be released in November. “Just as you wouldn’t rely on a decade-old GPS to find your way today, we can’t use outdated performance benchmarks to guide school improvement,” Underly said […]
Quinton Klabon: 2025 SCHOOL REPORT CARD CUT SCORES SENT TO DPI FOR APPROVAL Corrine Hess For some, one of the most confusing aspects of the report cards is that sometimes those stars don’t align with student proficiency rates in math and reading. And that isn’t likely to be changed this go-around. ——— Wisconsin DPI press […]
WILL: The News: WILL submitted recommendations to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) today, urging an overhaul of the state’s school report card standards. WILL’s analysis highlights DPI’s track record of inflating ratings that masks a decades-long stagnation in student achievement. These efforts come after years of DPI making unilateral changes to the accountability system, a […]
Chris Rickert: A group of 32 education officials is set to work with the New Hampshire-based Center for Assessment on updating the report card metrics. Underly would have the final say on approving them. ——- Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection?
Quinton Klabon: Here is who will help set Wisconsin school report card standards. There is not much they can do. The law is specific and key districts would get mad. So, wait for 2029 when DPI updates reading/maths standards, raise test cut scores to NAEP, and remake report cards accurately. ——— Meanwhile: The taxpayer funded Madison […]
Will Flanders Last yr, DPI met behind closed doors to lower the standards for the Forward Exam. Now, they will apparently do the same thing for the state report card. We need transparency in these meetings. Why are these standard settings that effect all WI families held behind closed doors? —— Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin […]
Will Flanders DPI still claims they didn’t lower the standards, but this data release proves that to be a lie. It’s time we stopped allowing DPI to lie to us on the continuing failures of our public schools. —— Quinton Klabon: DPI uploaded scores in the least usable way possible, so I did it for […]
WILL: The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has issued a warning to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and its Superintendent, Jill Underly, to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, or potentially lose federal funding. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has set a deadline for Thursday, April […]
Chris Rickert: The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both DPI and the Madison School District offer various programs and resources in the DEI field, although whether any of them would violate the Trump administration’s interpretation of federal nondiscrimination law is unclear. Among the resources offered by DPI […]
Corrinne Hess Schools that fail to comply with the Trump administration’s directive about diversity, equity, and inclusion may be at risk of losing Title I funding. This school year, Wisconsin received about $216 million in Title I funds. About $82 million of that money went to Milwaukee Public Schools. Underly said the request from the […]
IFRG: New public recordsreleased Thursday by the Institute for Reforming Government’s (IRG) Center for Investigative Oversight reveal how the Department of Public Instruction’s lenient enforcement of Milwaukee Public Schools’ 2024 finance deadlines set up different, more destructive outcomes than DPI’s stricter enforcement in previous years. Superintendent Underly’s DPI released the records March 5, 2025, 8 months after IRG’s June […]
WisPolitics email summary: The record spending in Wisconsin’s state schools superintendent race between education consultant Brittany Kinser and incumbent Jill Underly has now hit $4.5 million. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection? notes and links on Incumbent DPI Superintendent Jill Underly.
Dairyland Sentinel: Sixty-four days have passed since the Dairyland Sentinel filed an open records request with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and State Superintendent, Dr Jill Underly. Underly and the Department have yet to hand over the records, despite the legal requirement to do so. The request, submitted Jan. 21, seeks details on controversial changes […]
Dave Cieslewicz: “We’re voting for Kinser as much as we’re voting against incumbent Jill Underly. Underly is underwhelming. In our view, she rigged state test scores just before the election to make her record look better. Even Gov. Tony Evers, who once held her job, disagreed with her. Then she further eroded her credibility by submitting a […]
WisPolitics: Ahead of the forum, Kinser and Republicans have repeatedly attacked Underly for changing the educational assessment standards, charging the incumbent lowered the standards which leads to misrepresentation of how students are doing. The GOP-run Legislature passed a bill to reject the Underly change. It’s now before Gov. Tony Evers. Underly has defended the change, […]
Molly Beck: The move could deliver a blow to Democratic State Superintendent Jill Underly ahead of the April 1 spring election, when Underly is up for reelection against education consultant Brittany Kinser. Lawmakers passed a bill 18-14 that requires the DPI to overhaul its state report cards to match how they measured academic achievement before […]
Capital Times Editorial:a In contrast, Underly is backed by the state’s most ardent advocates for public-school students and teachers. Many of her backers are Democratic legislators, and she’s supported by the party. But, more importantly, she’s supported by educators who work in the state’s urban and rural schools, technical colleges and universities. American Federation of […]
John Nichols summary The contest pits two people with very different views against one another. Underly — who taught in rural schools before becoming an elementary school principal, school district superintendent, university academic advisor and administrator, and assistant director at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction — was elected to serve as superintendent in 2021. […]
Kayla Huynh The new benchmarks are lower than the NAEP-aligned scores, which Underly has said are “an extremely high standard to meet, beyond grade-level knowledge.” McCarthy said educators requested the change and 100 teachers consulted with the department about the new system as part of a routine effort to update standards. “That’s the right approach,” McCarthy said. […]
Dan Shafer: In the upcoming Spring Election, the highest-profile race is the one for Wisconsin Supreme Court, the latest in Wisconsin’s seemingly endless number of everything-on-the-line elections. The undercard, then, is the race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Elections for this ostensibly nonpartisan office have not always attracted much attention, but this year’s race might buck […]
grok 3 You’re right to push for thoroughness—my previous response might not have captured every possible city visited by Brittany Kinser, Jill Underly, and Jeff Wright in their 2025 Wisconsin DPI campaigns based on all available X posts and media links up to February 18, 2025. The challenge is that campaign travel isn’t always exhaustively […]
Jim Bender & Patrick Mchileran: More than a bureaucrat, the superintendent is defined in Wisconsin’s constitution. Wisconsin is the only state in the country that elects its superintendent but has no state board of education. This results in a constitutional officer who reports to nobody except the voters every four years. The superintendent heads the […]
Kaylah Huynh: In a Marquette Law School Poll last year, about half of Wisconsin respondents said the state’s school choice program was a “complete success” or “mostly a success.” A quarter said the program was “mostly a failure” or a “total failure.” —- Jill Underly and ongoing rigor reduction. Much more on the taxpayer funded dpi. […]
Kayla Huynh on Jill Underly: Underly’s top priorities include securing more state funding for schools and increasing the amount of money schools are reimbursed for special education services. She wants the state to reimburse 90% of schools’ special education costs. on Jeff Wright: Wright’s top priorities are to restore confidence in the Department of Public […]
Will Flanders: Tom McCarthy from DPI: “we haven’t lowered standards one iota.” This is a lie. Did taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI Superintendent Underly Juice Test Scores for Reelection? The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery… The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if […]
Quinton Klabon: This lines up with what DPI has said previously. It is primarily Milwaukee’s responsibility, and DPI was shocked when they discovered MPS was not making good progress and being secretive about it.
WILL: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a nationally representative sample of schools throughout the country that allows for an apples-to-apples comparison of students in each state, and some cities. Early this morning, the 2024 NAEP results were released. Not surprisingly, they paint a dim picture of student performance since the pandemic, both […]
wisconsin state journal summary That includes money provided directly to the DPI itself as well as dollars that are passed along to school districts or other agencies. Among other things, the money has gone toward bolstering the state teacher workforce, expanding access to mental health services and providing free meals to students. Schools with large […]
Institute for Reforming Government DPI has yet to fulfill a June 17, 2024, records request from IRG concerning their role in MPS’ late financial reports. Seven months later, it raises the question, what are they hiding? THE QUOTE: “The Institute for Reforming Government is calling on the Department of Public Instruction to immediately release IRG’s requested records,” said Jake […]
Abbey Machtig: In 2022, about 33% of Wisconsin fourth-grade students were considered proficient in reading, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. About 43% of fourth-graders were proficient in math. Underly has faced sharp criticism for revising language arts and math standards in a way that critics say lowers the bar for […]
Dan O’Donell: Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has never been the most unpredictable man in the world—in each speech one can expect a few “by gollys” and references to pickleball—but on the first day of this year’s legislative session, he delivered a shocker when asked about State Superintendent Jilly Underly’s decision to change K-12 testing standards. “I hate […]
Will Flanders: Given that Superintendent Underly appears to not even understand what DPI’s actions regarding the Forward Exam have resulted in, the results of this records request are vital. If Underly is checked out, who are the “experts” actually setting academic standards? —Much more on reduced rigor and Jill Underly. Dairyland Sentinel Files Open Records […]
AJ Bayatpour We’re doing profiles on all 3 candidates for state superintendent. We start with Brittany Kinser’s first interview since her campaign launch. Would she accept Republicans raising funds for her? “Anyone who aligns…I will work with anyone and attend a fundraiser from anyone” ——- 2 of 3 Madison School Board 2025 April election seats […]
Brittany Kinser: “Only three out of ten students in Wisconsin are college and career ready – 32% is too little! Our kids deserve so much better. We must restore high standards and focus on reading, writing, and math to ensure every child can get a meaningful job, attend college, or master a trade,” stated Kinser. […]
Jenny Warner DPI sends email defending LLI and Reading Recovery as OK at a WI school. THESE CURRICULUM DON’T HAVE A PHONICS SCOPE AND SEQUENCE. @WisconsinDPI again what curriculum are outlawed because the law says you can’t buy programs with MSV. Lead don’t mislead! more. So let me get this straight Reading Recovery and LLI […]
Jessica McBride: Embattled incumbent Jill Underly is under growing fire from multiple corners within her own party, as infighting fractures the Democrat party in the state school Superintendent’s race. Underly has drawn not one, but two, likely opponents in the Feb. 18 spring primary to continue heading the state Department of Public Instruction. The top […]
Corrinne Hess: A group of Wisconsin parents say the Department of Public Instruction is dragging its feet on implementing new curriculum that aims to improve children’s reading skills. In 2023, lawmakers passed legislation known as Act 20. It required schools to shift away from “balanced literacy” curriculum to a phonics-based model known as “the science […]
Jenny Warner:
Duet Stroebel: Publicly, @DrJillUnderly touts Act 20 as “landmark literacy legislation” and uses it as a campaign talking point. Privately, she refers to literacy reform as “nonsense” and is actively trying to undermine the historic reading reforms behind the scenes. Which is it, Jill? Kyle Koenen: DPI says that the dumbing down of standards happened […]
“Public education is non-partisan for a reason”—Jill Underly, at her State of Education Address (2023). https://t.co/BckLfiuUhE pic.twitter.com/NRftohKYsC — Brooks (@EBrooksUncut) December 15, 2024
IRG Senior Research Director Quinton Klabon: The Joint Committee on Finance was forced to dispute the actions of the Department of Public Instruction once again on critical Act 20 reading reforms. The Institute for Reforming Government calls for DPI to follow the law as written so Wisconsin can catch up to leading literacy states. What […]
Quinton Klabon: Oh, BROTHER.The Wisconsin Education Department ruled Reading Recovery is not banned under science of reading laws and gave De Pere a cookie for having to justify its use.We are a Stone Age state.@kymyona_burk @ehanford @karenvaites @KJWinEducation @MichaelPetrilli @rpondiscio —— Nadia Scharf: Niffenegger’s complaint stated that the district was using unapproved curriculum and “three-cueing,” […]
Jenny Warner Does get your mouth ready or word parts sound like teaching with a science based method? Do better DPI @WisconsinDPI dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/…
Quinton Klabon: ACT 20 READING UPDATE@wispolitics had this letter from Superintendent Underly to the Legislature. Good news: DPI recommended what ELCC did (HMH: ugh), no additions. Bad news: DPI says rulings say they decide curriculum, not JFC. News: DPI criticizes Act 20 funding conflict. —— Much more on the Wisconsin DPI’s ongoing rigor reduction campaign. […]
Kaylah Huynh: State Superintendent Jill Underly wants to put the responsibility of funding schools back on the state, she recently told the Cap Times in an interview. Underly, who leads the state Department of Public Instruction, is proposing over $4 billion in spending toward schools for the 2025-2027 state budget. The plans would reimburse 90% […]
Leila Fletcher and Sandy Flores Ruiz We are concerned that Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction seems less than committed to the reforms outlined in Act 20. It’s been over a year since Gov. Tony Evers signed Act 20, dubbed “the reading bill.” Act 20 looks to address our state’s dismal reading scores with science-based literacy […]
Quinton Klabon: 84% of schools are 3 stars or above and 93% of districts are. We need report cards that accurately judge schools based on our national performance. Report cards change again next year, so that is the perfect opportunity. ….. DPI suppressed insanity from lowering test score standards, though it led to some bizarre […]
Quinton Klabon: DID YOU KNOW…schools had until September to obligate ~$1.49B in federal aid?…DPI lists ~$13.1M outstanding and ~$300K over the limit, despite the deadline?…details on evidence-based line items have been broken since May?Schools (probably) did their jobs. Hurry up, DPI!
Will Flanders: An example of the problem with DPI changing standards from Reddit. This poster earnestly believes proficiency is up 12% this year. The average person doesn’t have time to delve into the nuance of state tests. DPI is willfully pulling the wool over our eyes to hide their failings. Curiously, after reducing rigor statewide, […]
Dave Cieslewicz And the racial achievement gap in Madison was far worse than the rest of the state. Statewide the gaps were 43% for English and 50% for math. About 60% of white students were proficient in English compared to 17% of Black students. About 64% of white students were proficient or better in math […]
IRG: Wisconsin’s 2024 test scores, out tomorrow, are inflated, biased, and unreliable. How they got that way is the subject of “Testing Our Patience: How Wisconsin Lowered Standards, Widened the Achievement Gap, and Busted Its State Exams,” the latest Institute for Reforming Government Center for Investigative Oversight (IRG CIO) report. The report and supporting materials […]
Quinton Klabon: No. This is incorrect. The Legislature specified certain amounts for certain things. Governor Evers’ partial veto put the money in 1 pot. Whatever. But DPI then wanted to spend it on wrong stuff, which will waste tens of millions of dollars with no effect. A deeper dive into taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI’s ongoing […]
WILL This week, Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) unveiled yet another change to how “proficiency” is measured on the state’s Forward exams. This change, not the first in recent years, makes it difficult to tell whether school districts are doing good work and hold them accountable: long-term trend lines can’t be constructed when the […]
Nadia Scharf: The Unified School District of De Pere is under investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction after board member Melissa Niffenegger accused the district’s reading curriculum and its director of curriculum and instruction, Kathy Van Pay, of violating Wisconsin law. “That is retaliation. You are retaliating against the board for disagreeing with […]