District Mission/Vision/Beliefs

MISSION

The Urbana City Schools are dedicated to excellence in education for the vitality and growth of our community.

VISION

The Urbana City Schools offer the following educational vision statement to assist in the implementation of the mission statement and statement of general beliefs:

The Urbana City Schools shall ensure that our students are able to demonstrate a mastery of predetermined outcomes in the humanities as well as in the academic areas of mathematics, language/communications, science, reading, technical skills and problem solving.

BELIEFS

To these ends we believe:

  • All policies, practices and decisions must be in the best interest of students.
  • Goals are vital to achieve success.
  • Learning is a lifelong process.
  • We learn from both success and failure.
  • Responsible risk-taking is an essential learning skill.
  • All individuals have the potential to achieve excellence.
  • Self-esteem determines the way people learn and interact with others.
  • A strong sense of honesty, integrity and values ensures a successful foundation for the future.
  • The schools and the community must clearly define expectations to promote:
    • responsibility   
    • accountability   
    • success
    • lifelong skills  
    • pride    
  • Successful people demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and inquisitiveness.
  • Individual and group differences bring vitality to the educational process.
  • The effective use of technology is a basic skill.
  • People learn at different rates and through different ways.
  • The mutually supported relationship of home, school and students is essential to educational success.
  • Open communication and the development of teamwork create ownership and quality of work.
  • Trust is a byproduct of open and honest communication delivered and received from the basis of mutual respect.
                                

 WITHIN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM 

  1. We will assure all students equitable access to educational programs.
  2. We will continuously monitor our goals, mission, vision and beliefs.
  3. We will organize the instructional program to allow for individual differences.
  4. Highly competent performance is expected.
  5. Excellence will be rewarded.
  6. We will not reward non-performance.
  7. We will provide a caring, nurturing environment.
  8. We will not tolerate an abusive learning environment.
  9. We will provide a learning environment that is emotionally and physically safe and secure.
  10. We will not allow anyone or any group to disrupt the educational process.
  11. We will require mastery of essential knowledge by all students.
  12. We will continue to provide the best educational staff.
  13. We will assure that staff development programs are results-driven and ongoing.
  14. We will continue to operate within defined budget parameters and strategic prioritization.
  15. We will continually review and be consistent in enforcing effective discipline policies.
  16. We will provide a wide variety of communication avenues for our schools and community.
  17. We will practice a decentralized management system with individual and unit accountability measures.
  18. We will not introduce new programs or maintain existing programs without:
    • a favorable cost benefit 
    • an adequate evaluation design
    • proper staffing                                 
    • clear statements of outcome