History

THE HISTORY OF

THIS “STRETCH TARGET” ENDEAVOR

When the Green Bay Packers work to accomplish a long term “Stretch Target”, another Super Bowl win, the challenge is very complex and the endeavor difficult. Without a well understood, simple scorecard/weekly NFL standings for this complex game, we fans would not be able to track Packer progress or hold them “accountable”. The same applies for businesses and nonprofits with complex challenges and a need for radical change. Do these targets & a scorecards not also apply to the education of our great state, for which we spend so much of our money? Please read on.

SO, WHO IS THIS GUY WHO STARTED THE ENDEAVOR? I, DAVE BASKERVILLE, am not a politician, economist, educator or activist. My votes over the past 68 plus years have been very ‘independent’. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, I have spent over forty years in international business, mainly for two USA companies. Since 1993, I retired with my wife back to our hometown, Madison, where for another twenty-two years, my post retirement work has been consulting for companies headquartered around the United States {BaskervilleInternational.com}. I have lived twenty years in East Asia, and on both coasts of America. I have traveled to over 100 countries for work and for church/NGO-related volunteer activities. I have observed literally hundreds of offices and factories in many countries; was on a blue ribbon Japan Keizai Doyukai Education Committee to improve Japanese education, and eventually looked into the education backgrounds of those entering the work force closer to home here in America.

A check of the data consistently confirmed that educationally, we were behind! The data also confirmed my observations that American workers at most levels were ill-prepared vis a vis their counterparts elsewhere in the world. In math, science, reading, and problem solving. Our wonderful American kids at every level were behind their First World peers as they entered the workforce or higher education. I was very aware that such basic skills related very directly to where companies invest and create good paying jobs… and to how social justice and equality of opportunity in Wisconsin can be greatly improved!

I have also noted that most fellow Wisconsinites that I have interacted with do not believe that our great State has long term direction or goals that they understand. Nor can citizens readily evaluate over time the impact of complex policies proposed or implemented with considerable rhetoric by both political parties. Does not Wisconsin need a sense of direction and three critical long-term goals that will greatly improve our lot? And, yes, a scorecard that we can all at the grass roots level understand and regularly & easily track, a Wisconsin Global Scorecard?

I, needless to say, am not leading this endeavor alone. Many have been & are most supportive. JIM ZELLMER, entrepreneur and long time operator of the blog, schoolinfosystem.org, is one reason, I, Baskerville, began devoting a major share of my time to “Stretch Targets”. CHAN STROMAN, prominent real estate lawyer with a passion for ‘much better’ Wisconsin education supports and critiques our efforts at every turn. CURT FUSZARD, retired bank executive and financial advisor, is a constant developer of contacts around the State. His son, Luke Fuszard, a high-tech executive, has given us critical insights especially in the Civics Course area. GREGORY ST. FORT, who was formerly the CEO of 100 State in Madison and currently the CEO of LetsKeepBuilding Inc. in Houston, Texas, is responsible for marketing and for this excellent Web page, and assures that the endeavor remains very relevant to his fellow Millennials. MARNIE GINSBERG of marnie@readingsimplified.com, a specialist in special education and KERRYANN DILORETO, senior analyst at the UW Survey Center have also been most helpful, especially with the launching and managing of Facebook!

If enough Wisconsinites buy into these bipartisan “Targets”, and read the Scorecard, AND persistently relay it and their concerns to their families and colleagues, the Governor, other political candidates, our local School Board Members, educators and the teachers’ unions… they finally WILL see! Under our Statewide pressure, policies/focus/results will in the long term enable us to reverse our 50+ year economic slide vis a vis Minnesota…and allow us to again become one of America’s top education states…and in the top 10 among the nations!

MANY OTHERS are stepping forward to volunteer their time and talents during this ‘do or die’ era…or just signing up to read/pass on the Scorecard and the “Stretch” challenge. They include schoolteachers, students, business executives, economists, legislators, craftsman, construction workers and civil rights advocates. Some are Republicans and/or ‘far Right’. Some are Democrats and/or ‘far Left’. Most are politically somewhere ‘in between’. But increasingly, they are Wisconsin PEOPLE of ALL WALKS OF LIFE who simply want much more from our great state and for our kids! i.e. Very significant but doable positive change! A long shot? Indeed…POSSIBLE? You bet!