On the Road

On May 31, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster met with her Forces for Four-Year-Olds Advisory Committee. The committee formerly existed as an advisory group for the Trust For Early Education/PreKnow grant. The grant has expired, and the committee will continue as an advisory group to the State Superintendent. The focus will continue to be on 4K and community approaches. Burmaster and the committee discussed lessons learned from their work under the grant, next steps, and future organization.

On June 1, the state superintendent traveled to Milwaukee to appear on a panel at a pre-conference for the Americans for the Arts annual convention. The theme for the panel was Creating Common Ground: Arts Education Policy & Practice. Panel members, in addition to Burmaster, included Ted Hamm, President, Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, and Teri Sullivan and Kim Abler, both of Arts@Large. The panel spoke to an audience of PK-16 arts educators, artists, arts administrators, and representatives of arts organizations.

“We know that through the arts, we develop an intelligence of the heart, that special imaginative intelligence that combines knowing and feeling into a single function,” said Burmaster. “What we need more of throughout our nation are state superintendents, legislators, and business leaders who believe as you do in the arts as our common ground. Look at students who are engaged in arts activities and you’ll see problem solvers, critical thinkers, people who have good interpersonal skills, people who can communicate and articulate a clear message. The arts are not a luxury. They are essential.” The pre-conference, sponsored by Americans for the Arts, ArtsWisconsin, and the Wisconsin Arts Board, focused on statewide arts initiatives defined by the Task Force on Arts Education.

On June 3, Burmaster led an award celebration at the Sun Prairie Library. She presented awards to K-3 students who won Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Awards, and participated in a Share a Story Celebration by reading to students, their families, and friends. The event was the twelfth annual Reading Rainbow contest, where children from kindergarten through third grade are encouraged to write and illustrate their own stories. The contest, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Television and the Educational Communications Board, awards each participating child a special Certificate of Achievement signed by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton.

On June 5, the state superintendent traveled to Washington, D.C. to chair a Council of Chief State School Officers task force meeting to develop the organization’s position on recommended changes to the No Child Left Behind law.

On June 6, Burmaster, as president-elect of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), along with other CCSSO officials, attended a luncheon meeting with Ray Simon, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and Assistant Secretary Henry Johnson, to discuss requirements of the No Child Left Behind law and the current status of relationships between the federal government and state departments of education. The state school officials appealed to the federal regulators to follow thorough on their previous commitments to provide greater funding, guidance, cooperation, and support, as well as a more positive working relationship with states in pursuing the goals of NCLB.

On June 8, State Superintendent Burmaster, after chairing of the UW Regent’s education committee, joined the other regents and members of the UW-Milwaukee community at a ceremony to dedicate the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business. The school and the facility were named to honor the generous support of Lubar, a former president of the Board of Regents.

On June 9, the state superintendent testified before the NCLB Commission at Monona Terrace (see separate story in this issue).

Last updated on 6/12/2006