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Superintendent of Vienna High School

Dr. Stafford grew up in Southern Illinois working for his family’s farm businesses and learned a great deal about management and hands-on hard work. While working full time he pursued his education in business administration, which led to many opportunities, including serving as school superintendent in Vienna. He has served in the school district since 2004. Under Stafford’s leadership, Vienna has been noted both regionally and throughout the nation for its strong early college program and expansion of initiatives connecting all students to meaningful career paths. 

He earned an associate degree at Shawnee Community College, a bachelor’s degree at Murray State University in business administration, a master’s degree and principal’s endorsement at McKendree University, and completed a superintendent’s endorsement and educational specialist degree at Eastern Illinois University and earned a doctoral degree from McKendree University. 

He serves on various committees, groups, and boards both at the state and national level that address educational policy and advocacy including:  Southern Illinois Future Teachers Coalition (SIFTC), Scaling Educational Pathways in Illinois, Pathways to Prosperity Institute, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Advance Illinois, Equity First Superintendents, Partnership for Resilience/Resilient Southern Illinois, Stand for Children as a policy fellow on dual credit access and quality, Illinois Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (ILACEP), National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP).  Dr. Stafford is an active member of the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO), the Illinois High School District Organization (IHSDO), the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools, and a member of the Illinois Association of Christian Administrators (IACA). 

As a native of Johnson County, he also serves in various community roles as well, which include service on the SI NOW board (formerly SI Bridges to the Future) which covers the southern 17 counties, One Shawnee Regional Community Development Board which covers Illinois House District 118, Create Bridges, Little Egypt Emmaus and Chrysalis Camps, service on the Eagle House Ministry Board, and as a youth leader at Fellowship Baptist Church. In addition, he has also been involved with missions, both internationally, including India, Haiti, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, and in the States, which has allowed him to see school and life in other parts of the world. These experiences have fueled his passion to ensure that we “strive to inspire students to become positive, lifelong learners” and provide students with experiences that allow for them to be equipped for “a global and multicultural society.”

Under Dr. Stafford’s leadership, Vienna has been noted both regionally and throughout the state for its strong early college programs. Illinois has made great progress in increasing equitable access to dual credit and early college programs and Vienna has been a voice in advancing these policies. In many ways, Illinois serves as an exemplar with its historic Dual Credit Quality Act, model partnership agreement, and professional development plan in order to better increase equitable access for all students.

Vienna is an early college high school offering over 125 dual credit hours on its master schedule in cooperation with three Illinois community colleges. Each year Vienna graduates anywhere from 7% to over 17% of it seniors not only with a high school diploma but also an associate’s degree. While this is a big highlight and easy to garnish attention, the more important accomplishment has been the correction for the need of remedial/development course work post-high school. Vienna’s senior classes have had as few as 9% of students needing remedial/developmental coursework.
 

Dr. Meg Bates is the inaugural Director of the Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) at the University of Illinois. IWERC is a research-practice partnership with the State of Illinois that focuses on emergent education issues of interest to policymakers and practitioners. Since joining IWERC in September 2020, Bates has cultivated close relationships with state government, developed novel data-sharing agreements with state units, overseen the production of over 27 research reports, and raised over $4 million in grants, contracts, and gifts (on top of IWERC’s initial operating gifts of $4.3 million). By training, Bates is an educational psychologist with expertise in STEM education (Ph.D. 2009, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). Before coming to IWERC, she spent over a decade at the University of Chicago working with schools and teachers on STEM education research, technology, and pedagogy. She has served as PI or Co-PI of numerous NSF grants related to mathematics teacher learning, science teacher learning, and STEM teacher retention.

Dr. Jason Klein is the Senior Director of Learning Partnerships at Northern Illinois University (NIU). This role includes work in both the NIU College of Education and the NIU Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development. In this role, Jason co-facilitates the Illinois P-20 Network and coordinates partnerships with school districts, community colleges and other organizations for both degree programs and other professional learning. Additionally, at NIU, Jason has worked as a member of the P-20 Research and Data Collaborative and with the Illinois Interactive Report Cards office.

Prior to working at NIU, Jason served for nearly 25 years in demographically diverse Illinois public school districts as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent. His instructional focus has been on transforming learning opportunities for all students so that they benefit from differentiated and challenging authentic problem-based learning. Jason has focused on implementing democratic models of school improvement informed by modern principles of project management, and he has been a leader in using technology to innovate assessment and instruction to increase access and outcomes for all students. Jason has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s degree, and Ph.D. in educational administration from Illinois State University, and an Ed.S. in educational administration from NIU.

Dr. Erica Thieman is currently serving as the Director for K-12 Standards and Instruction for the Illinois State Board of Education where her team oversees the Il Comprehensive Literacy Plan, Illinois Learning Standards, academic content areas, driver education, advanced learners, and educational technology. Previously she oversaw agricultural education for ISBE, was a teacher educator and education researcher at the University of Illinois and began her career in education as a high school agriculture science teacher, community educator, and FFA advisor in the rural Ozarks of Missouri.

Heather Lueken has been with the Illinois State Board of Education CTE department for five and a half years.  She is a Principal Consultant overseeing School Counselors across the state, as well as working with the Arts and Communications Career Field. Prior to her position at ISBE, Heather was a band director for 10 years and a school counselor for 15 years in the Pana School District. Mrs. Lueken is activity involved in overseeing the College and Career Pathway Endorsement requirement, College and Career Readiness Indicators, and Career Exploration.