Please accept my appreciation to all of you for being here today. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to hear about the state of the Rockford Public Schools.

It is a privilege and an honor to lead our schools, and I am delighted to share my thoughts with you today. We had some difficult times in 2007-2008, but so far this year things couldn’t be better. Last year, we had already dealt with several serious discipline code violations, resulting in suspensions and expulsions. I am here today to report things are much improved.

We have no serious discipline incidents to report to date. Our schools have had a change in climate that is noticeable to everyone. The simple answer to how this change took place is: the leadership in the buildings and the teachers pitching in to make sure that everyone is safe.

During passing times, many teachers and all principals and assistants are in the hall way. All staff members are contributing to improved school climate. Having the right people in the right places makes all the difference.

I want to extend my gratitude to my Cabinet, Tom Hoffman, Chief Operations Officer; Marcia Strothoff Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction; Colleen Cyrus, Assistant Superintendent for Student Support; Thomas Schmitt, Assistant Superintendent for Community Outreach & Procedures; Pam Laughlin, Assistant Superintendant for Human Resources; and Steve Katz, Board Attorney;
Gina Nelson and Julia Halsted, my administrative assistants; and the many staff members who come to work each day with their sole purpose being: How can we support improved student achievement today?

I want to extend my appreciation to the School Board for dealing with some very difficult issues. They listen to the community and then make decisions that take into account the majority of what they are hearing. Their jobs are not easy, but they are diligent in their duties and truly seek what is best for all of our students.

The question of changing to elementary attendance zones came up again this year. Four forums were held, which resulted in the Board again postponing the issue for further study. The major points of concern seem to be the expansion of the Montessori Program to Bloom School and the expansion of the Creative and Performing Arts Program at Ellis Arts Academy.

Another concern expressed by a few speakers was something we all worry about: poverty. The poverty in our District was measured at 54% in 1999; it climbed to 66% by 2005 finally reaching 74% this year.

We are now in the second year of assigning middle & high school students by attendance zones. The process is producing successful results in achievement, discipline, connections to the community and positive school climate.

We have a competent and committed-to-Rockford staff that is set to maintain the progress we have enjoyed this year. We are determined that all students become positive and productive learners who are capable of building a bright future for themselves and for our community. We are aware that sometimes it looks like small steps, but to us they are milestones.

When we witness several schools closing the achievement gap by 18% and 20% in reading & math, we have trouble containing our joy! Our academic success this year is attributed to the dedicated principals, teachers, staff and families.

Today, I will focus on three areas:
• Financial Progress
• Student Achievement
• Community Relations

As we pause to reflect on the state of our schools, I would like to focus on the positive areas that deserve recognition.

At its worst, the Education Fund had an accumulated deficit of $39.1 million as of June 30, 2002, the result of serious overspending. Due to improvements in the District’s financial practices, the deficit in the Education Fund has been completely eradicated, and there is an accumulated surplus of $63.3 million as of June 30, 2008.

Over the past decade, the District relied on short-term borrowing in the form of Tax Anticipation Warrants each year -- as much as $77 million in both FY02 and FY03 to provide adequate cash flow to pay the District’s bills. Fiscal Years 2007 and 2008 were the first years since 1993 that the District was able to meet its cash flow requirements without any short-term borrowing.

Since the inception of the School District Financial Profile, which was created by the Illinois State Board of Education in FY02 to help monitor the finances of school districts, the District has been making improvements. With the completion of the audit for the year ending June 30, 2008, the district has achieved the highest rating under the Illinois Board of Education Financial Profile: FINANCIAL RECOGNITION.

This is a significant accomplishment! I have to thank Tom Hoffman again; he keeps me in line when it comes to spending.

I promise you that we will continue to exercise tight financial controls so that we can maintain the highest financial rating and build a world-class educational system that meets the needs of all of our students.

One area where we continue to depend on our community for help is in the renovation of our aging buildings.

Heartland Church, along with several other churches, helped us again by taking a two-week period in the summer to work on Stiles Elementary, Flinn Middle School and East High School. They also helped with replacing much needed partitions in bathrooms across the District. We could never complete these projects without their help.

Here’s a short video of their project.

The next area on which I would like to focus is academic achievement. Tremendous gains in this area have occurred over the past five years.

We have analyzed what works and are replicating these successes across the District. The number of students who meet or exceed state-specified targets has increased significantly since the No Child Left Behind law was enacted. Focus and determination on the part of our staff helped students and schools meet the mandated targets, or make continued advancement toward those goals.

Significant progress occurred at the elementary and middle school levels again this year. We must continue to improve, especially as the No Child Left Behind mandated targets increase by 7.5 points each school year.

The over-arching goal is for every student to meet or exceed standards in reading and mathematics by 2014. The goal of 62.5% was the target last year, this year we are expected to have 70% of the students meeting grade level standards.

I can honestly tell you that when the law was passed many teachers and administrators in this District thought there was no way we could ever accomplish this enormous task. Now, I believe we will progress to at least 90% by 2014. We know what it takes, and we will get there.

We have adopted a universal screening tool that allows us to identify learning deficits for our students. These skills can then be re-taught in different ways so that students can be successful.

In 2003, the U.S Department of Education approved the Illinois plan for aligning state accountability processes with the NCLB law.

Since that time, an additional 22% -- or 2,800 students -- in grades three through eight are meeting or exceeding grade level standards. Furthermore, Rockford is outpacing the State of Illinois by 7%. Here are this year’s testing dates:

• March 2-13 ISAT for grades 3 through 8
• April 22-23 PSAE for grade 11
• Our goal this year is 70%

We continue to achieve rigorous and relevant learning in our elementary and middle schools, and we are carrying this forward to our high schools with a meticulously planned High School Redesign Project. The types of skills needed in contemporary society are different from the skills traditionally taught in American high schools, and the level of competency required is higher than ever before.

The academic framework of the High School Redesign Project will include standards-based education, student-centered learning and work-based learning with an emphasis on developing strong, direct connections between content knowledge and real-world applications.

Over the summer, the School Board and Cabinet worked together on a new Three-Year Strategic Plan.

A regular reporting system is in place to keep the Board and community informed of our progress in accomplishing the plans goals. There are five areas we will focus on:
• School Climate
• Student Achievement
• Community Collaboration & Communication
• Staffing
• Infrastructure

Earlier, I spoke about our High School Redesign Project; it is an exciting initiative to increase the effectiveness of our high schools. A big thank you to the Regional Office of Education, Dr. Richard Fairgraves, Dr. Lori Fanello and their support staff who help us in many ways and funded the high school redesign project consultant, Dr. Gary Fields, from the William Daggitt Corporation.

Each of our high schools created leadership teams that address barriers to success. The high schools will come away from this process with a:
• Unity of purpose or shared vision
• High expectations for all students
• Improved relationships with fellow workers and students

High school teachers will make a commitment to truly know their students and to value and inspire each and every one of them. We all know it’s about relationships.

The high schools are committed to improving counseling services and creating a culture of collaboration and relevance for students. This total change in our high schools won’t happen overnight, but rather is a process that will occur over several years.

The capacity of our educational team is continually enhanced by staff development training. Classes for principals, teachers, paraprofessionals and parents are offered to ensure a consistent, competent and data-driven approach to increasing student achievement.

A well-trained educational staff, equipped with the right resources, is essential to our students’ success. We know it is the teacher in the classroom who has the greatest influence on each student’s achievement.

We launched the Freshman Foundation initiative in each of the high schools last year; we continue to improve this initiative by analyzing what is working. We have added an assistant principal at each high school who is dedicated to the Freshman Foundation.

With many supports to promote academic success, a record number of 9th graders met the requirements for sophomore status at the end of the 2007-2008 school year. It is typical for slightly more than 50% of our 9th graders to gain sophomore status, but this past June, 69% of our 9th graders moved on to the 10th grade.

An additional 10% will gain sophomore status by simply earning one or two credits. The success of the first year will reap rewards of increased graduation rates within the next three years.

We continue integrating a variety of reading strategies in our elementary and middle schools. A co-teaching model is used with our special education and general education students. Various studies show that integrating curricular areas leads to success in raising student achievement, reflects how we all tend to learn and should help students and schools meet the ever-increasing No Child Left Behind achievement targets.

The practice of using good reading strategies is another way of insuring that all of our high school instructors, no matter what subject they teach, begin to see themselves as reading and writing teachers.

We opened the Academic Career Education High School, or ACES, this year with 52 eager students.

Our hope is that we will build experiences for students that foster their development and increase their academic and life skills at the same time. We believe this initiative meets students’ interests and prepares them for productive adult lives.

Internships are an integral part of this school’s plan.

Students routinely tour businesses in the community where they may become future interns. Here is an area where the community, especially the business community, can step up to the plate. We must have businesses provide internships for the students.

The career high school demonstrates an essential component of our strategy to produce a world-class educational system in Rockford.

I want to share with you a few highlights about the Academic Career Education High School in its first year:
• Attendance rate = 98%.
• Two students with a perfect 4.0 grade point average
• Composite GPA = 2.83%.

The school is currently located at the Stenstrom Center next to Jefferson High School. Next year, the enrollment will increase by 60 students and will be moving to Skyview School. We began this year with manufacturing and health careers, and next year culinary arts/hotel management and parks/recreation services will be added.

ACES was designed and supported by various members of the Rockford community. We appreciate the partnerships with Dr. Jack Becherer and his staff at Rock Valley College, Einar Forsman and his staff at Rockford Chamber of Commerce, Bob Trojan and the manufacturing and building trades. Each one of you helped us along the way in establishing this program.

We value your insight and support, and look forward to working with you in the coming years. We are exploring new options for the future.

Another area where partnerships are vital is attendance & truancy. We increased staff and created a new position, Director of Attendance and Truancy, to address this issue.

We conducted a “Taking it to the Streets” walking campaign in October, where many community and school volunteers knocked on almost 700 doors to talk to families about the importance of attending school. We were able to hear what some of their reasons are for not making it to school each day.

We plan to repeat this initiative again and hope more community members will participate since truancy is a community problem. Here is a short video on the “Taking it to the Streets” campaign.

I know the community cares about our schools, and I’ve seen the power we have when we work together to solve problems. I believe we can do great things for our students, our school district and our community’s future by continuing to collaborate.

The Ncenter, run by the Salvation Army, opened this year. We supplied a teacher tutor during the summer months and after-school transportation during the year. We expect this affiliation to continue for many years.

In 2008, we have seen the strength of our partnerships. We have seen the strength of our commitment to excellence through increased student achievement, increased rigor and relevancy in classes, improvement in discipline and the strength that our state financial recognition status brings us.

If our stakeholders aren’t aware of these accomplishments, much of the value is lost. Therefore, I continue to increase communications between the District, our families and the broader community. I have addressed this issue in five specific ways:
• Electronic Emergency Notification System (EENS)
• Monthly Guest Column Rockford Register Star
• Quarterly Newsletter
• Increased Content on District website, rps205.com
• Creation of Monthly Media Calendar

As we regularly invite the media into our schools, we invited community leaders to participate in our Principal for a Day program on October 23.

It was a great day for all involved. The Principal for a Day program helps us to change the perception of the schools, as participants see that behavior is not out of control and students are learning. You will have the opportunity to participate and see our schools again in the fall of 2010. Here is a short clip from Principal for a Day:

In closing, I’m reminded of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small in comparison to what lies within us.”

It echoes the idea that each of us can have an influence on a child in the school system. Every person in our community can help our students grow. Students, parents, grandparents, teachers, staff, the Board of Education and the Rockford community at large are all responsible for our individual and collective lives.

We must celebrate our success and strive to put the District in a better place each day in the future. I invite you to roll up your sleeves and go to work with me and the students in the Rockford Public Schools. It takes all of us to make the district successful.

A meeting recently took place with several community members and Judge Janet Holmgren. We decided it would be helpful to get more male mentors in our kindergartens. If you would like to mentor in kindergarten, please call my office.

This would have such a positive influence on our students. As Maya Angelou put it, “People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.”

I want to thank Einar Forsman and the Chamber of Commerce for the opportunity to speak with all of you today. I wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season.