Two weeks ago, it was revealed that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) held a four-day junket at a waterpark, on the taxpayers' dime, to "redefine student proficiency."
Then the DPI issued a gag order on participants.
The Dairyland Sentinel did some digging and found "documents concerning the 'standard setting' process used to redefine what it means for a Wisconsin student to be 'proficient' in reading and math." Under those new standards, proficiency rates jumped 12 percent, which means a majority of students now "meet expectations." Did the DPI lower proficiency standards to inflate those numbers? The public deserves to know that.
But despite Superintendent Jill Underly vowing transparency last year, that transparency hasn't come.
Remember how we got here. Wisconsin’s state superintendent was ducking responsibility for changes in the benchmarks to the state’s forward exam. pic.twitter.com/7OkhSm1wuQ
— Dairyland Sentinel (@DairylandSent) February 17, 2026
"The department updated achievement benchmarks for the Forward exam this summer in a transparent process, and reflecting the recommendations of nearly 100 experts from across the state, I accepted the recommendations of these professionals after they carefully determined how to measure student performance according to Wisconsin's rigorous state standards," Underly told WPR on January 21, 2025.
The Dairyland Sentinel asked the DPI for information on who these experts were, howe they were chosen, and what it all cost.
We followed up. We asked: who were these experts?
— Dairyland Sentinel (@DairylandSent) February 17, 2026
How were they chosen and how much did all of this cost?
To date, we still have not been given answers to many of our questions.
We’ve waited more than a year for some of these records.
They have not gotten any answers as the DPI continues to stonewall the public.
The Dairyland Sentinel is again turning to the Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) to compel the DPI to release public records. On Friday, Jake Curtis, general counsel and director of the Center for Investigative Oversight for the IRG, sent another demand letter to the agency, this time following its failure to produce a signed and executed contract with Data Recognition Corporation, the vendor who helped coordinate the workshop and the standards-setting process.
If Superintendent Jill Underly and her staff choose to continue to hide behind the terms of a contract with a vendor, they at least should have to produce the contract. Fulfilling our open records request would take someone 30 seconds to produce, and after waiting more than a year for partial fulfillment of our request from 2025, our patience has worn thin.
We are not alleging any wrongdoing on the part of the vendor, or DPI or their hand-picked conference participants. This is a search for public records and answers to questions that are in the public interest.
We originally requested a copy of the contract with DRC almost two weeks ago, and despite an acknowledgment from the agency two days later, no documents have been provided. As IRG noted in their latest demand letter, responses to open records requests must be provided “as soon as practicable and without delay” under state law. While we appreciate the demands of responding to many requests, compliance at some unspecified future time is not authorized by the public records law.
As we reported earlier, the DPI made those "experts" sign non-disclosure agreements, and said some of the records requested by The Dairyland Sentinel "don't exist."
We’re not giving up our quest for public records from DPI. Once again, we’ve enlisted the help of @ReformingGovt, and they are relentless.
— Dairyland Sentinel (@DairylandSent) February 16, 2026
👉🏽 https://t.co/ZIoHPIkY8w👈🏼 pic.twitter.com/cAiENpK5LU
The Institute for Reforming Government is working with The Dairyland Sentinel to obtain those records.
NEWS: We are raising new questions about the Department of Public Instruction’s decision to hold its Wisconsin Forward Exam standard-setting workshop in private, at a waterpark resort, while banning participants from disclosing the committee’s discussions. See our latest release…
— Institute for Reforming Government (@ReformingGovt) February 12, 2026
"DPI owes the public a basic accounting of its use of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to fund an extravagant retreat, to say nothing of its dilution of statewide proficiency standards to hide poor academic performance. But if DPI also broke Wisconsin’s Public Meetings law in conducting these activities in secret, serious practical consequences could follow," the group wrote on X.
Wisconsin taxpayers not only deserve to know what was spent, and what that money was spent on, but they're owed an explanation for the change in Forward Exam standards and why a large number of Wisconsin students still remain less than proficient in reading and math, despite the DPI seemingly putting its thumb on the scales.
Editor’s Note: Help us continue to report the truth about corrupt politicians like Jill Underly.
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