Pictured: An illustration depicting a modern classroom. [Wesley Fryer / CC BY 2.0]

Following the changing Illinois public education landscape after the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, education leaders from five statewide organizations in Illinois announced on Friday the statewide education initiative Vision 2030. 

Among the plan’s main focuses are attracting and retaining high-quality teachers, addressing student and school safety and striving for more success for students after high school, including encouraging more trades apprenticeship and armed forces opportunities to interested students, according to the plan’s creators.