East St. Louis School District 189’s mission is to cultivate the potential in every student to thrive as a global citizen by inspiring a love of learning and civic engagement, by challenging and supporting every student to achieve academic excellence, and by embracing the full richness of our community.

Five goals guide the work in East St. Louis School District 189:

1. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
   Establish and maintain continuous academic growth toward exceeding grade-level expectations for all students using diverse, culturally responsive, rigorous, and ISBE standards-aligned curricula, instruction, and assessments.
2. FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY
   Preserve strong financial standing while maintaining stable funding and sound fiscal stewardship to provide appropriate instructional resources and support services, and to operate facilities at maximum efficiency.
3. SAFE AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENTS
   Foster a positive culture and climate that supports the health and social-emotional well-being of every student.
4. STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
   Engage families, community members, and all stakeholders in a collaborative process to create a thriving culture for students.
5. COMMITTED, HIGHLY EFFECTIVE STAFF
   Recruit, hire, retain, and develop highly effective personnel to achieve academic excellence and support students’ physical and social-emotional health.
   The most important goal is to improve academic outcomes for students, and the District focuses resources on this area.