Page 4 - Leadership Matters February 2013_3140b78f.pub

4
the Schlechty Center in Louisville, Ky., to brief the
IASA Board of Directors about a public education
visioning project they helped facilitate in Texas. Dr.
Schlechty also addressed our entire membership at
the IASA Conference in October.
Several of Dr. Schlecty’s public education
observations seemed to hit the mark, including the
following:
 Public sentiment
regarding public
educators goes
something like
“We know what
you’re against, but
we have no idea
what you are
for…”
 Over time, schools
have been
transformed into
government
schools, not
community
schools, and it is time to harness the power of
teachers and local educational leaders to take back
more control of their schools.
 The bottom line is mission transformation to create
“student-centered schools.”
One of his political observations also made sense:
Politicians generally are followers more than they are
leaders. They follow many things, including the wishes
of large campaign donors. But the thing they follow
most is public opinion. School districts must be the
standard bearers of public opinion as it relates to
public education in their communities.
Our strategy is to arm teachers, principals,
administrators and school board members with a vision
that will resonate with parents and citizens
at a grassroots level.
The framework for the visioning process is to form
six working subcommittees to deal with the following
categories:
 Finance, including the issues of foundation-level
funding, adequacy of funding and the development
of revenue.
 Leadership, including what the jobs of
superintendents and principals should look like
going forward, as well as training and professional
development, licensing and the certification
process as education undergoes a metamorphosis.
 Governance, including finding the proper
partnership and balance among local school
districts, the Regional Offices of Education and the
Illinois State Board of Education.
 Digital Learning,
including exploring what
public education should look
like in the future with regard
to technology in the
classroom, online
learning and virtual
schooling.
 Assessment and
Accountability,
including possible
alternatives to current
testing models, methods
of assessment and
looking at the
effectiveness of the new
reform measures.
 Organizational
Transformation,
including the
development of partnerships between educators
and community leaders at the local level.
This initiative will be discussed further during our
“Leadership Week,” scheduled for February 26-28 in
Springfield. The framework we plan to submit to the
board calls for each of our 21 regions to select a
representative to serve, with that representative to be
assigned to one of the subcommittees. Those
representatives would be supplemented by at-large
appointments so that we would have seven or eight
members on each subcommittee.
The six subcommittees will work with a
subcommittee chairperson, the Education Consultants
and Research Associates (ECRA) and other research
resources to finalize and formalize a new vision for
Illinois public education.
The timeline for this project is to have “Vision
20/20” completed by June of 2014. That is a very
ambitious schedule, but an important one given the
fact that we will elect a governor in November of that
year. It will require an extraordinary effort on the part of
the leaders, staff and membership of IASA.
Please consider in advance your commitment and
willingness to take part in this important initiative if
called upon to serve on one of the “Vision 20/20”
subcommittees or to share your ideas with those who
are on the subcommittees. It will take a team effort, but
the end result will benefit the children of our state.
(Continued from page 3)
Vision 20/20 ————————————————————————————
Framework
 Finance
 Leadership
 Governance
 Digital Learning
 Assessment & Accountability
 Organizational Transformation