On the Road

On June 27, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster attended a meeting of the Milwaukee 7 (M-7) group at the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce offices in Milwaukee. M-7 is a regional economic development council being formed to promote development in seven Southeastern Wisconsin counties including Milwaukee, Waukesha, Kenosha, Walworth, Washington and Ozaukee. The group is co-chaired by Gale Klappa, CEO of Wisconsin Energy Corporation, and John Torinus, CEO of Serigraph Inc. of West Bend.

Burmaster has been asked to join M-7’s resource team, to offer her professional perspective on the 4K-16 education system and its effect on the social and economic well being of the region. The resource team will help identify regional professional experts and key data in the areas of workforce and human capital, infrastructure, economic patterns, corporate assets, social and cultural capital, natural resources, and education/capital/finance. The group shared their personal and professional knowledge and perspectives to help identify key sources of information and steer the analysis.

Later that day, Burmaster met with her Collaborative Council, a group of education leaders from across Wisconsin that works to improve education in the state. The meeting was organized as a listening session to hear from district administrators on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Deputy State Superintendent Tony Evers moderated the meeting, which featured comments by Wisconsin school district administrators John Eickholt of Howards Grove; John Hendricks of Sparta; and Cathy Daniels, Principal of Waters Elementary School in Fond du Lac. DPI Executive Assistant Mike Thompson gave a report on NCLB reauthorization activities and summarized the input from a series of listening sessions held by Burmaster over the past several months. Margaret Planner, Assistant State Superintendent for Reading and Student Achievement, spoke on the AYP/SIFI Report and what it means for the future. The council also heard reports on Data Management from Rick Grobschmidt, Assistant State Superintendent for Libraries, Technology, and Community Learning; the Wisconsin Quality Educator Initiative from Deborah Mahaffey, Assistant State Superintendent for Academic Excellence; and budget development from Brian Pahnke, Assistant State Superintendent for Finance and Management.

On June 29, the state superintendent gave the keynote address for the opening session of a national conference sponsored by the Milwaukee Partnership Academy and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Alliance of Black School Educators. The conference was organized with support from the National Education Association. The conference for educators and administrators, including representatives of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association and Milwaukee Public Schools, focused on closing achievement gaps, partnerships, and leadership.

Burmaster chaired the board meeting of the National Center for Learning and Citizenship (NCLC) on July 9 in Minneapolis. NCLC’s sixth annual Education Leadership Colloquium on the Civic Mission of American Education was held there July 10-11. The colloquium engaged state teams committed to advancing the civic mission of American education, preschool through college.

Last updated on 7/10/2006