Leadership Matters - February 2013

IASA to launch Vision 20/20 initiative

Message from IASA Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark

Many times statewide organizations are best known for what they oppose rather than those things for which they stand. When it comes to educating children, the IASA has always tried to be proactive. The IASA Board of Directors in November overwhelmingly supported a proposal to move forward with a “visioning” process to develop a long-range blueprint for improving public education in Illinois. The mountain educators in Illinois have to climb is high and getting much steeper with more and more unfunded mandates, a litany of reform measures that have limited or no proven record of success, and the raising of federal and state standards – all converging at the same time budgets are being slashed and teachers are being laid off, resulting in larger class sizes and less individualized instruction. It’s easy to say those things are wrong, but just being anti-something doesn’t really help solve problems. We need to offer a better plan, and the visioning initiative will help us accomplish that goal. Public education probably won’t look the same in five years, let alone 10 years from now. We believe IASA members have the collective education, experience and wisdom to provide a long- term vision for public education, which we are calling “Vision 20/20,” referring not only to the time frame, but also to developing a clear focus. Our guiding principle will be our current mission:

“Maximum Educational Success for All Students.” Tackling such a daunting task is not a knee-jerk reaction to the latest budget cut, unfunded mandate or tactic by so-called reformers. Back in July of 2012 we asked Dr. Phillip Schlechty and Dr. John Horn, both of (Continued on page 4)

“The mountain educators in Illinois have to climb is high and getting much steeper with more and more unfunded mandates, a litany of reform measures that have limited or no proven record of success, and the raising of federal and state standards – all converging at the same time budgets are being slashed and teachers are being laid off, resulting in larger class sizes and less individualized instruction. It’s easy to say those things are wrong, but just being anti-something doesn’t really help solve problems. We need to offer a better plan, and the visioning initiative will help us accomplish that goal. Public education probably won’t look the same in five years, let alone 10 years from now.” -- IASA Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark

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