Raising the Bar Earned Ankeny Schools a Spot at a National Conference

A team of leaders from Ankeny Community Schools has been invited to participate in a national education event.

The district will attend the Summit for Innovative Education, hosted by the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) organization, in partnership with aeronautic and space systems company Lockheed Martin. 

Ankeny is the only Iowa school district selected for the summit, which will bring together educational leaders from across the country to focus on elevating the performance of America’s schools to high-performing, high-reliability education organizations.  

As an outcome of the summit, McREL plans to develop an action agenda for practitioners, researchers and policy makers.

“Ankeny Community Schools is honored to be invited to this summit as one of the nation’s high-performing public school districts,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matthew Wendt.  “It is rewarding to be able to represent Iowa as a great school system that is focused on becoming ‘world-class.’  We look forward to joining other high performing schools in a collective quest to reach world-class status.” 

The invitation-only event is geared toward small teams from high performing school districts who are motivated to take further action and raise the bar for education in the United States.  

Participants will learn from experts on high reliability principles and explore how to use these principles to elevate the performance of students, schools and districts.  

The summit also marks the formal launch of the Network for Innovative Education, an organization of public- and private-sector leaders committed to raising the ceiling of education in the United States.

“It is incredible to know that, in the midst of a major facility transition and with rapid growth facing Ankeny, we are not losing sight of our core business, educating kids,” said Leslie Petersen, president of the Ankeny Board of Education.  “I am anxious to learn what comes out of this summit as we continuously look to improve our standards in Ankeny.”

McREL is a private, non-profit education research and development corporation committed to education research to help educators change the odds for success for all students.  Formed by McREL in January 2011, the Network for Innovative Education is a call for action for educational systems in the U.S. toward once again becoming “best in the world.”

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global company that employs approximately 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. 

Lockheed Martin's operating units are organized into business areas such as aeronautics, electronic systems, information systems & global solutions (IS&GS), and space systems.  They operate 572 facilities in 500 cities and 46 states throughout the U.S.

"The Summit for Innovative Education: High Performing, High Reliability Education Organizations," will be held in September in Florida. Wendt, Dr. Bruce Kimpston and Dr. Susie Meade of Ankeny Schools will join Drake University professor Dr. David Darnell and members of the Iowa Department of Education representing the state.

"I am pleased to be joining the Ankeny Community Schools team as a Drake University representative,” Darnell said.  “Our partnership will be enhanced by this experience."