MADISON – Wisconsin Forward Award Executive Director Elizabeth Menzer today announced the recipients of the 2010 Wisconsin Forward Award.

 

Wisconsin Forward Award, the state’s premier organization for the promotion and recognition of high-performance management principles, will honor award recipients at a ceremony and reception at the Monona Terrace Conference and Convention Center in Madison on the evening of August 31, 2010. The ceremony will also celebrate the accomplishments of hundreds of Wisconsin organizations that have benefited from the program’s services and learning opportunities, as well as the tens of thousands of hours of service that its volunteer Board of Examiners have contributed.

 

Nine organizations are receiving recognition this year, including Pewaukee School District, the first K-12 school district to receive the Governor’s Forward Award of Excellence, the highest achievement level possible under the Wisconsin Forward Award. These organizations demonstrate refined approaches, good-to-excellent results, and are considered industry leaders and role models for others. Pewaukee School District, a highly diverse public school district offering quality education to Village and City of Pewaukee students in early childhood through 12th grade, was recognized for, among other strengths and best practices:

• Capitalizing on its campus setting -- one of the district’s core competencies, which gives it various ways to save resources to focus on its main mission: high student achievement.
• The student-focused environment cultivated at the district, aligned with its mission, “Opening the door to each child’s future” focuses paraprofessionals, teachers, administrators, and non-academic staff members with the needs of individual students. In many areas of student learning, PSD has levels that are approaching or exceed either its Baldrige or best-in-Wisconsin comparators.
• Its Curriculum and Renewal Cycle (CARC), used to improve and innovate student learning. The systematic CARC process involves teachers from multiple grades working with research, best practices, and input from stakeholders to create new curricula.

Three organizations will be recognized at the Mastery level, demonstrating significant maturity in developing and refining processes that are tied to good results in such areas as building a highly-skilled workforce, financial and organizational performance, and exceptional customer satisfaction and retention. These include:

 

• Muskego-Norway School District, a K-12 school district in southeastern Wisconsin serving 4,900 students whose mission is, “every student learning, growing…succeeding.”
• Stoughton Hospital, a 35-bed rural non-profit community critical access hospital affiliated with SMM Health Care of Wisconsin. The mission of Stoughton Hospital is to provide safe, quality health care with exceptional personalized service.
• Other organizations receiving recognition in 2010 include:
• Black River Memorial Hospital, Black River Falls
• Clement Manor, Greenfield
• Franciscan Skemp Healthcare/Mayo Health System, La Crosse
• Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin, Madison
• Workforce Connections, Inc., La Crosse

Wisconsin Forward Award, Inc. was created in 1997 by the Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment to advance the competitive position and world-class status of Wisconsin organizations in the international marketplace, and to enhance learning, continuous improvement, and enterprise performance. The award promotes excellence in organizational management, recognizes the achievements and results of Wisconsin organizations implementing performance excellence systems, and publicizes successful performance excellence management strategies.

 

All types and sizes of Wisconsin organizations are eligible to apply, including manufacturers, service companies, small businesses, educational institutions, health care organizations, and non-profit organizations, including trade and professional associations, government entities, and charities.

 

WFA is a public/private partnership modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program. The not-for-profit organization receives financial support from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce as well as other organizations across the state. Wisconsin Forward Award is a division of the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence.

 

Visit www.forwardaward.org to learn more.