About Us

Vision

Decatur and Macon County will be the most educated community in Illinois.

Philosophy

The Decatur Area Education Coalition believes the extraordinary challenge of helping all children learn at high levels and become prepared for life-long success demands an increased role for business, educators, parents and others outside the school room.

The extraordinary reward of meeting this challenge is an improved quality of life for Decatur and Macon County residents and increased prosperity for all in the region.

What is needed is a fundamental way of working differently as a community to achieve community solutions to a high priority concern.

Background

A group of educators and community leaders started meeting in 2005 in Decatur to form an organized response to the issue of student performance.

Studies and assessment projects conducted by the Economic Development Corporation, the United Way, The Community Foundation of Decatur/Macon County, the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce, the Decatur Board of Education, and others began to focus all attention on improving academic achievement.

The complexity of the problem calls for a systemic, community-wide and sustained approach to achieve improvement. To facilitate this approach the group has organized a community support infrastructure called the Decatur Area Education Coalition.

Goals

The Decatur Area Education Coalition identified three goals to make this vision a reality:

• Every child is fully prepared for success when entering Kindergarten.
• Every student masters grade level work.
• Every student graduates from high school with the skills and resources to enroll in college or join the workforce.