Springfield, Ill. – The Illinois State Board of
Education has named Randy J. Dunn to serve as State Superintendent
of Education through January 31, 2007. Dunn has served
as Interim Superintendent since September of 2004, and
the Board’s action removes Dunn’s interim status.
The State Superintendent in Illinois serves as the state’s
chief education officer for elementary and secondary education.
“We are pleased with the great progress we’ve
made in reforming education in Illinois with Randy leading
the agency,” said Chairman Jesse H. Ruiz. “His
experience, commitment to act quickly and proven ability
to effectively address the Governor’s priorities
position him as the best person to lead the important
work of the Illinois State Board of Education.”
Dunn has led ISBE’s efforts over the last ten months
to address Gov. Blagojevich’s top priorities for
reforming education in Illinois. There has been a clear
focus on eliminating the agency’s chronic problems
in serving Illinois schools, including error-filled School
Report Cards, a massive teacher certification backlog
and hundreds of pages of unnecessary rules and regulations
that plague schools.
“I applaud the State Board of Education for naming
Randy Dunn as State Superintendent. Since last September
he has focused on doing the right thing for kids and working
on the top priorities I laid out when I named the new
State Board last year,” said Governor Rod R. Blagojevich.
“Randy has worked with the State Board to achieve
our goals of improving the way we educate Illinois children
and working with local schools and teachers, instead of
against them. I look forward to continuing to work with
him and the State Board of Education to improve education
in Illinois.”
Dunn began his education career as a fourth grade teacher
in Gibson City, Illinois. He later moved into administration,
serving as principal for two schools in central Illinois
and later as Superintendent of the Argenta-Oreana Community
and Chester Community School Districts. Dunn’s education
background includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary
Education with an emphasis on Reading and a Master’s
in Education. He began his studies in broadcasting and
later switched to elementary education. He has made teaching
children to read a focus of his career ever since. Dunn
is on leave from SIUC as Chair of the department of Education
Administration and Higher Education.
High Quality Preschool Programming
With a commitment by Governor Blagojevich and the leadership
of Superintendent Randy Dunn, Illinois was recognized
by the National Institute for Early Education Research
(NIEER) as having one of the strongest state-run, early
childhood programs in the nation. The NIEER study gave
Illinois a score of nine out of a possible 10 for quality,
making it one of only three states to receive a nine
or higher. Illinois was recognized because of its rigorous
requirements for preschool teachers, low staff-child
ratios of 1:10, vision, hearing and health screening/referral
requirements, and the comprehensiveness of its preschool
curriculum standards.
The new State Board took action prohibiting state-funded
preschools from denying undocumented immigrants access
to their programs. The need for action came to light
after the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Fund asked the new Illinois State Board of Education
and Governor’s Office to intervene on behalf of
a child denied access to a preschool operating in an
Illinois public school building, and is consistent with
a 1982 Supreme Court decision guaranteeing immigrant
and non-English speaking children the right to free
public education.
The State Board also launched a Latino Preschool Outreach
Campaign to ensure that all children in the state have
access to high-quality, preschool education. State Board
staff held a series of community meetings to encourage
Latino organizations to apply for preschool slots in
Cicero/Berwyn, Aurora, and Elgin; more than 100 constituents
attended. State Board staff, community members, and
the Ounce of Prevention Fund participated to offer their
support and assistance in the effort.
Higher Standards for High School Graduation
Recognizing that Illinois has some of the lowest high
school graduation requirements in the country, Superintendent
Dunn worked alongside Governor Blagojevich and members
of the General Assembly to pass legislation that would
increase requirements in the core subject areas. With
the passage of SB 575, by 2012 all students will be
required to take one additional year each of science,
English and math. Students will also be required to
take two writing-intensive classes, algebra, and geometry.
By creating higher expectations for graduation, students
will do better in school and Illinois high school graduates
will be better prepared to pursue higher education and
to succeed in their careers. Higher standards will also
improve the quality of Illinois’ workforce, allowing
it to meet the demands of current and potential Illinois
employers.
Reform and Accountability
Last September Illinois’ teacher certification
backlog was massive with thousands of applications waiting
processing. Added to that, teachers had to navigate
a complex maze of forms and paperwork, and contend with
multiple layers of bureaucracy, in order to be recertified.
Since that time the agency has totally eliminated the
backlog. In addition, the agency has refocused its efforts
on improving customer service and has implemented a
plan to ensure that a certification backlog never develops
again.
School Report Cards
Working closely with local districts, the new State
Board was able to correct errors in School Report Card
data affecting more than half of all Illinois schools.
The corrections avoided a repeat of problems experienced
under the old leadership at ISBE, when over 400 schools
suffered No Child Left Behind sanctions after having
been mislabeled as not meeting federal standards due
to incorrect data on cards.
Partnering with the PTA and the Governor’s Office,
the State Board also designed a new “snapshot”
of School Report Cards that provides the information
parents want to know about their schools in an easy-to-read
format. These snapshots were designed based on input
provided by hundreds of parents who participated in
an online survey.
Reduced Red Tape
Under the leadership of Superintendent Dunn, the new
State Board has worked hard toward changing its relationship
with local districts, and reducing rules and regulations
that tie the hands of school administrators and educators.
The Board launched a regulation overhaul, which has
already identified and proposed the elimination of almost
400 pages. In addition, the agency created an email
address, lessredtape@isbe.net, to solicit constituent
input throughout the process. School administrators,
educators and parents have shared with the Board their
ideas on where red tape can be cut, and the agency has
already acted on a number of those proposals.
Helped districts save money
Responding to the Governor's call to create savings
opportunities for local school districts, the Illinois
State Board of Education (ISBE) launched the Illinois
School Purchasing Network. The network offers all school
districts in Illinois access to high-quality products
at some of the best available government prices.
Expanded meal subsidies to 40,000 more children
By creating a collaborative partnership between the
Illinois State Board of Education and the Department
of Human Services, eligibility for reimbursement of
nutritious meals to home childcare providers was significantly
expanded. As a result 19,000 home childcare providers
will now be able to offer healthy meals and snacks to
the more than 40,000 children in their care.
Preserved tutoring programs for 40,000 students
Last year 11 school districts in Illinois received
notification from the US Department of Education that
they would have to shut down their district-run tutoring
programs. The new Illinois State Board of Education
and Superintendent Dunn worked quickly to negotiate
an agreement with the USDOE, even traveling to Washington
D.C., in order to preserve the important tutoring programs
that serve more than 40,000 low-income students in Illinois.
Improved oversight of NCLB tutoring
The State Board recently adopted a comprehensive plan
to increase the agency's oversight of private tutoring
as required under No Child Left Behind. Illinois' regulation
of tutoring providers will now be among the most comprehensive
in the country. With the heightened oversight, parents
will know that their children are being tutored by proven
providers who can bring about the best results.
The extension to Superintendent Dunn’s contract
is effective September 20, 2005. Illinois law requires
that the Superintendent’s contract expire at the
end of the incumbent Governor’s term.
