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Panelists for January 15, 2002 Satellite Town Meeting

Guest panelists are:

Nancy Blackwell
Nancy is the Principal of Hambrick Middle School in the Aldine Independent School District in Houston, Texas. After six years of comprehensive reforms, Nancy turned Hambrick around from a low performing school to the highest performing Texas middle school that serves predominately minority and economically disadvantaged students. As a result, the school's administration and teaching staff are noted for their ability to analyze and use test data to constantly adjust instruction to ensure every child is learning.

Susan Traiman
As the Director of the Education Initiative at The Business Roundtable (BRT), Susan oversees the BRT's education reform activities for chief executive officers of leading corporations interested in improving student achievement and raising academic standards in the Unites States. A major focus within BRT's initiatives is testing and accountability. The Business Roundtable is located in Washington D.C.

Herman Gaither
As the superintendent of Beaufort Public Schools in Beaufort, South Carolina, Herman led this once-small and quiet school district to national recognition with its standards based assessment and accountability efforts. Created within the district's "Five-Year Academic Plan," performance and exit standards define what students need to know. Specially-written and computerized tests gauge students' progress toward meeting these standards and allow for customized instruction for the continuous progress of students.

Mike Flanagan
Mike is the Executive Director of the Michigan Association of School Administrators. Prior to his current position, Mike was Superintendent of the Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency for seven years. Mike is a strong proponent of using test data to improve Michigan schools and he is working with Standard and Poor's "School Evaluation Services" (SES) to make this happen. SES analyzes academic and financial indicators and trends, provides valuable comparative benchmarks, and presents S&P's impartial findings on the performance of school districts and/or school sites.