Great Lakes West
Comprehensive Center

Archive Record of Services

July – August 2006

Record of Services

The Great Lakes West Comprehensive Center works collaboratively with representatives from state education agencies in Illinois and Wisconsin to provide capacity building technical assistance around current state initiatives regarding No Child Left Behind (NCLB) implementation. State managers provide regular updates on the progress of these initiatives; following is the latest record of services for each state, carried out in collaboration with Great Lakes West staff members, subcontractors, Advisory Council members, and state department of education staff members. (Last updated July 2006)

WISCONSIN

Great Lakes West State Manager: Al Hovey

Wisconsin Technical Assistance. The state technical assistance plan developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) staff and Great Lakes West was approved by the U.S. Department of Education in August 2006. Work around the focal areas includes the items that follow.

Statewide Support for School Improvement. In response to the DPI's request for assistance in designing and implementing a Statewide System of Support (SSOS), Great Lakes West completed two initial activities:

Created a summary of current research findings on effective school district practices, strategies, and structures for supporting schools in need of improvement; and connected these findings and the standards for effective school districts set forth in DPI's District Self-Assessment Handbook: A Tool for Improving a District's Support to its Neediest Schools.
Analyzed results from the district self-assessment pilot phase to gain a deeper understanding of the district self-assessment process.

Work continues with the following:

A case study of a district utilizing the SSOS self-assessment
Assistance in the networking of the districts that participated in the SSOS pilot project
Assistance in designing a statewide evaluation of the SSOS

As part of the SSOS work, the DPI is considering strategies for evaluating supplemental educational services providers. Great Lakes West and the DPI are exploring opportunities for assistance in this area.

High School Redesign. To support high school redesign, the DPI formed a task force. DPI is planning a summit to disseminate the task force's recommendation. DPI has set up two committees:

Summit
Implementation

Great Lakes West will provide assistance for the summit and the implementation work as it develops.