Schools

New VVSD Director Looking to Create Lifelong Learners of Students

Regina Leeberg's newly-created position with VVSD will place Leeberg in direct contact with teachers and building principals as she serves as a resource to help them help students achieve.

Editor's Note: The following is a release from the Valley View School District.

Regina Leeberg says she can “feel the energy” in Valley View School District 365U.

“It’s a new day, a new view,” said VVSD’s director of pre K-5 literacy and social studies. “There’s a willingness to just dive in and do what we need to do.”

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What VVSD needs to do, she says, is “create lifelong learners who are creative, flexible in their thinking and able to respond to their 21st century environment.”

Leeberg comes to Valley View with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Benedictine University, a Master’s in Reading from Northern Illinois University and a Master’s in Leadership and Administration from North Central College. She taught first and second grade in Lisle Community Unit School District 202 for eight years before serving as the school district’s Pre K-5 Instructional Coach for four years.

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“I loved the small community feel but I felt I needed to be part of a bigger system in which there were lots of different thoughts and ideas,” she said.

Her newly-created position with VVSD will place Leeberg in direct contact with teachers and building principals as she serves as a resource to help them help students achieve.

“I have to be in classrooms. I have to be walking the halls. I have to be in the lunchrooms. I have to see what’s happening at parent events,” she said. “I will be a good resource for helping both teachers and principals achieve Mr. Mitchem’s (VVSD Superintendent) visions of increasing rigor, differentiation and ensuring our students achieve their goals.”

Leeberg is excited by what she has seen since she joined VVSD in July.

“I’m seeing a consistent theme throughout our elementary schools…and that’s the passion the principals have for student learning,” she said. “All of their decisions seem be based on whether the decision will have a positive impact on student learning.

“I’m also seeing a move away from thinking about what we do as teachers by constantly analyzing how we deliver a lesson to simply asking if kids are learning,” she added. “And if they’re not learning, asking how we can change that instruction to ensure they are learning.”

Leeberg has experience with both the new Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment program and Professional Learning Communities, both of which will play significant roles in the changes being undertaken in VVSD.

“I really believe in my heart that the number one factor in student learning isn’t the student’s socio economic background or the level of education of their parents,” she said. “It basically comes down to the teachers standing day-in and day-out in front of the students.

“I’m dedicated to making students positive contributing members of the 21st Century,” she added. “If they are prepared to do that, they will automatically be lifelong learners.”


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