May 1, 2006	Volume 5, Number 14

On the Road

From April 23-25, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster attended the annual legislative conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) in Washington, D.C. During a meeting of the CCSSO Board of Directors on April 23, Burmaster, president-elect of CSSO, reported on the Education Information Management Advisory Consortium (EIMAC), formed in 2004 to strengthen CCSSO’s effectiveness in representing state education agencies on national data issues.

“The CCSSO staff is addressing concerns that affect all of us, especially as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) has increased the need for more data,” Burmaster related. “Policymakers at all levels are also looking for more timely reporting and higher quality data that will be meaningful to raising the achievement level of all students.”

Burmaster facilitated a panel discussion on ESEA Reauthorization: Federal and national perspectives on April 24. The session featured Ray Scheppach, Executive Director of the National Governors Association; Reg Weaver, president of the National Education Association; Toni Cortese, Executive Vice President of the American Federation of Teachers and chair of the organization’s NCLB reauthorization task force; and Bruce Hunter, Deputy Executive Director for Public Policy for the American Association for School Administrators. Later that day, Burmaster led a discussion by CCSSO members on partnering and developing a common vision for the organization’s approach to ESEA.

On April 28, Burmaster keynoted the National Conference on Global Studies held at UW-Madison (see separate story in this issue).

On April 30, Burmaster spoke at a luncheon and participated in a legislative dialogue session with students at the Youth ROC! Statewide Youth Summit on Education. The summit was sponsored by Youth Reclaiming Our Community (Youth Roc) and the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future (IWF), in collaboration with Milwaukee Public Schools, the Department of Public Instruction, UW-Madison, the Alliance for Attendance, and other educational and community organizations. Students discussed issues including school funding, violence, and truancy, and participated in college readiness sessions given by UW-Madison and the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation. The summit was attended by about 200 high school students.

Last updated on 5/01/2006