BY MATTHEW STONE

Staff Writer

Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is one of 10 state education chiefs helping to lay the groundwork for President-elect Barack Obama's incoming education secretary.

Gendron and education commissioners from nine other states met with an Obama education adviser Monday and began piecing together recommendations to help the president-elect's education secretary during the administration's first 100 days.

The group met with Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond, an Obama education adviser whose name has been floated as a potential education secretary.

In an interview, Gendron said task force members discussed how states could change their relationships with the U.S. Department of Education.

They recommended a relationship in which the federal government is more open to state-level ideas, said Scott Frein, advocacy director for the Council of Chief State School Officers, a nationwide network of state education commissioners.

"Some states have better ways, more innovative ways of moving forward on education," Frein said.

"Currently, the states have not had what we consider a partnership with the U.S. Department of Education," Gendron said. "It was pretty much a compliance-driven agenda. We see some real opportunities now to work collaboratively."

Gendron said the task force members saw the No Child Left Behind Act -- the sweeping education reform bill passed in 2002 -- as valuable, but still called for changes.

"We all acknowledged that (the Act) had been beneficial," Gendron said in a statement, "but it was now time to focus on how to build on strong standards with a focus on 21st-century skills, expanded learning opportunities, and differentiated practice in the classroom to reach every child."

Gendron has made equipping students with "21st-century skills" a focus in her time as maine's top educator.

Last winter, the Department of Education proposed changes to the state's high school graduation requirements, calling for a greater emphasis on student projects over exams.

The department pulled the proposed changes in March, but a new task force formed in August to update the state's graduation requirements. That group recently released new recommendations to Gendron.

Gendron also has asked that business professionals be involved in shaping school curriculums.

At the Monday meeting with fellow education commissioners, Gendron suggested that Obama include provisions to expand broadband Internet access in any economic stimulus package.

Expanded broadband Internet access can help students complete assignments at home and help attract businesses to rural areas, she said.

"We need more capability within our schools, but we also want to make sure that gets extended to communities," Gendron said. "We saw it as benefiting all types of learners in every state."

The Council of Chief State School Officers appointed Gendron and colleagues from Alabama, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Obama has yet to nominate his education secretary.

And while Gendron said she would be open to working with the Obama administration through the council, she ruled out an administration job.

"I don't aspire to go to Washington," she said.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, Ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com