Speaks about education reform initiatives
Welcoming the Class of 2025 back to school, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon highlighted a new leadership program aimed at keeping Carbondale Middle School students on track to graduate.
Simon joined Principal Marilynn Ross to tout the first CMS Leadership Academy, which provided students with tools to handle stress and inspire good behavior. The summer academy builds on a discipline program students will learn about in the opening days of class that aims to increase the time students are spending in class.
The future college Class of 2025 is now in sixth grade.
"The Class of 2025 is going to shape the future Illinois," Simon said. "We need to provide every student, from Carbondale to Chicago, a clear path for success. Investing in their education is an investment in our state workforce."
The year 2025 is the deadline set by Illinois leaders to have 60 percent of working-age adults hold a college certificate or degree. Economists say the highly educated workforce will be needed to attract and retain jobs of the future.
As part of the 60 by 2025 strategy, Simon's office is working with the state's public universities and community colleges to bring up college completion rates among students through Guided Pathways to Success, which aims to streamline course requirements so more students can graduate on time, in less debt and with a career connection. She also helped launch the state's first math curriculum to cut down on remediation needs and led the Classrooms First Commission as it recommended ways for districts to redirect $1 billion from administration to classrooms.
Simon serves as the state's point person on education reform and chairs the Joint Education Leadership Committee for the P-20 Council, the state's top educational advisory body. This was Simon's second address to the future college Class of 2025 in Carbondale. She first visited in 2011 when the Class of 2025 was in third grade at Thomas Elementary School.
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