Jill Underly was projected to prevail in her reelection for Wisconsin superintendent of public instruction, beating challenger Brittany Kinser, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Though the race is technically nonpartisan, Underly was backed by the state Democratic Party and Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), while Kinser, an education consultant who has advocated for school choice, was backed by the state GOP, among other groups.
Though the state superintendent race hasn’t received the same kind of attention that the Wisconsin Supreme Court race has, the election has become a focus within the state, particularly because of Underly’s decision last year to change the way students are assessed in the state.
Underly received criticism from Republicans and even Gov. Tony Evers (D) after she made changes that affected the state’s school exam, the Forward Exam. The Forward Exam used to be tied to benchmarks used in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the nation’s report card.
But she changed the benchmarks used to assess students taking the Forward Exam, which critics say have lowered the state’s standards in measuring student achievement and say the changes make it harder to compare student achievement between years.
Underly has argued that the state wasn’t lowering standards but were “reflecting actual student results using Wisconsin’s strong academic standards.”