“In order to be a leader, a man must have followers. And to have followers, a man must have their confidence. Hence the supreme quality for a leader is, unquestionably, integrity. Without it, no real success is possible.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower

In Illinois, as well as across the nation and world, there is much written about education and reform movements and efforts. In Illinois there have been sweeping reforms over the past few years with legislation around administrator and teacher evaluation, curriculum standards, and recently regarding school funding (SB16). So much is at stake when policy makers consider changes to public schools when they consider societal effects on the public schools and the shared responsibility of all to support growth of our local, county, state, regional, and national endeavors.

In DPS109 we have a lot of work to do in terms of educational reform and instructional transformation! This year has been particularly stressful on our system and staff and parents with multiple initiatives launched at once. One of the main reasons for our rush is the sense of urgency we feel in support of innovative and forward thinking education so that each and every child may succeed and flourish in an educational environment with high expectations and modern evidence based instructional strategies. We are grateful to our stakeholders for communicating with us – pro, con, support, concern – this helps guide and govern our work.

As part of the communications campaign of the groups sponsoring Vision 20/20 I am sharing the informational video below as well as links for more information if you wish to get involved in this “reform,” “transform,” and professional approach to take charge of public education in Illinois. The Illinois Vision 20/20 resources page has links to evidence based finance information as well as current curricular mandates in effect for Illinois public schools.

For more information and an overview of Illinois Vision 20/20, please take a few minutes and watch the following Vision 20/20 video: Fulfilling the Promise of Public Education: