Dr. Elaine Cawley Weintraub has been appointed to an elite education think tank, the only teacher among a group that includes principals, superintendents and executives in private industry, such as IBM.

The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School history teacher and West Tisbury resident already has attended her first meeting of the Global Education Advisory Council, after her recent three-year appointment by the commonwealth commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Mitchell D. Chester.

“I believe it was interesting for them to hear from a real person, who works with kids directly,” she said of her first meeting. For instance, they discussed the state’s MCAS results, which are among the highest in the country. Yet the achievement gap between rich and poor students, and between minority and white students, remains the same; all their results have risen since the test began, but the gap has not lessened.

“There was great discussion about how there was too much teaching to the test,” Mrs. Weintraub said, “and teachers not being very inspired or innovative. And I said, well, that’s a bit unfair . . . . which superintendent is going to say, well, our kids got a wonderful, creative education, even if they didn’t get the MCAS scores? Though I believe you can teach anything in an interesting and creative way, you can breathe life into it . . . the teachers have to ensure the test standards are met.”

The achievement gap is one of the specific charges the governor has asked the council to consider. Mrs. Weintraub said she was impressed with the emphasis on equity and diversity that was coming from the current governor, secretary of education and commissioner.

Mrs. Weintraub also will have the opportunity to help rewrite history standards within a few months. “I’ll have real opportunity to bring grassroots voices into the process,” she said.

The Global Education Advisory Council is one of 17 councils that were established, in part by the Education Reform Act of 1993, to advise the commissioner and the board of elementary and secondary education on education reform.