Superintendent Who Led Stevenson's Rise to National Prominence Has Died

Richard P. DuFour, who led Stevenson High School into national prominence and later became one of the country’s most respected voices for education reform, died Wednesday at age 69 after a two-year battle with cancer

DuFour spent 19 years at Stevenson, joining the school as its principal in 1983 and later serving as superintendent from 1991 until his retirement in 2002, according to a District 125 news release.

During his Stevenson career, the school earned a reputation as one of America’s best high schools, and was named “the most recognized and celebrated high school in the United States in the 1990s” by the U.S. Department of Education, according to school officials.

“While we have many amazing current and former colleagues that have helped to build Stevenson High School into a model of school reform and a nationally recognized school of excellence, Rick was instrumental in helping to shape our culture and sustain our mission of ‘Success for Every Student,’” said District 125 Superintendent Dr. Eric Twadell, who worked closely with DuFour as the school’s director of social studies in his early days at SHS.

Under DuFour’s leadership, Stevenson became the first public high school in Illinois to receive four Blue Ribbon Awards for Excellence from the U.S. Department of Education (in 1987, 1991, 1998 and 2002), according to the news release.

Stevenson received the New American High Schools Award from the Department of Education in 1998, and in the same year was named the initial recipient of the Illinois State Board of Education’s Excellence Award for Learning Communities. During his tenure, Stevenson was cited as one of the country’s leading high schools by several national publications.

“Rick often joked in his presentations that the fact Stevenson High School just keeps getting better and better each and every year after he retired was a constant reminder to him that while he was here, he may have been the weight that was holding Stevenson back,” Twadell said. “We know, of course, that it is just the opposite. Rick led the effort to build the culture of continuous improvement and growth that continues to characterize our school today.”

The Kankakee native’s education career began after his 1969 graduation from Illinois State University, from which he earned its Alumni Achievement Award, according to Stevenson officials.

He taught history at Batavia High School from 1969-1974, then moved on to West Chicago High School, where he served as a Dean of Students from 1974-1976, assistant principal from 1976-1978, and principal from 1978 until coming to Stevenson in 1983.

One of the people who made the decision to hire DuFour as Stevenson’s principal was Merv Roberts, who has served on the District 125 Board of Education since 1981 and was its president from 1984-2000, according to the news release.

“It was an honor and a privilege for me to serve as president of the Stevenson school board for 16 of Rick’s 19 years at Stevenson,” Roberts said. “In more than 50 years of working with and observing leaders in education, public sector and the private sector, I have observed many effective leaders. Rick was the best of the best.”

DuFour was the first high school principal in Illinois selected by the State Board of Education for its Distinguished Educator Award in 1988. He received the state’s “Excellence Award” for achievement as a superintendent in 1996, and its “Break the Mold Award” for innovation in 1999, Stevenson officials said.

DuFour was named as one of the Top 100 School Administrators in North America by Executive Educator magazine, and in 2004 received the National Staff Development Council’s Distinguished Service Award. DuFour received Stevenson’s highest honor, the Heritage Award, in 2008.

Roberts said that when he and other school board members interviewed DuFour in 1983 for the principal’s position, his leadership capacity made him stand out in a field of excellent candidates.

“He was visionary, not just in theory but also in practice,” Roberts said. “He knew that a shared vision would enable the organization to move toward and achieve at extraordinary levels. He knew that a vision of excellence provided the guidance and focus to the school’s creativity, collaboration and research into best practices, yielding results that exceeded nearly everyone’s expectations.”

During his tenure, DuFour became one of the nation’s most prominent voices for reform within the education community, a role he continued after his retirement from District 125.

He authored or co-authored several books, including the best-selling Professional Learning Communities at Work, Learning by Doing, and his last, In Praise of American Educators, released last year. DuFour Also wrote more than 75 articles for various education publications, and penned a quarterly column for the Journal of Staff Development for nearly a decade.

DuFour also helped design and lead the Professional Learning Communities at Work Institutes for Bloomington, Ind.-based Solution Tree. The institutes are held several times each year throughout the country, including every August at Stevenson, and have been attended by an estimated quarter of a million educators nationwide.

• Solution Tree has a great video here showcasing Dr. DuFour's career
  

Dr. Timothy Kanold, who succeeded DuFour as Stevenson’s superintendent in 2002, reflected on his 35-year professional relationship with DuFour.

“Rick DuFour was one of those rare teachers and leaders that in an authentic, driven, intellectually brilliant, comedic and sarcastically witty way delivered passion for the profession, with a distinct humility of self. And I know, because I was often on the receiving and the giving end of that sharp wit!” said Kanold, who regularly spoke at the PLC at Work Institutes with DuFour. “There was never an acceptance of mediocrity in Rick’s world. He expected much of himself and of you. And he asked you to do nothing he was not willing to model and do himself.”

DuFour battled the cancer that claimed his life for more than two years, continuing to follow a grueling speaking schedule. One of his last public appearances was at Stevenson last August, when he gave the keynote address to around 1,200 educators at the PLC at Work Institute.

Kanold recalled the ending of DuFour’s address.

“He would finish each keynote address with this challenge to everyone in our profession: ‘Will you act with a sense of urgency, as if the very lives of your students depend on your action? Because in a very literal sense, more so than at any other time in American history, they do.”’ Kanold said. “Finally, he delivered an emotional moment: ‘I don’t know how much time I can be on this journey with you, but I know you are the greatest generation of American educators, and you can carry on this challenge. I wish you Godspeed.’“There was not a dry eye as he ended his address to the packed house of educators, including mine. The standing ovation for this courageous educator was both deserved and well-received. He was almost embarrassed by it. It is what made him so remarkable.”

DuFour’s is survived by his wife, Rebecca DuFour, and his son Matthew, a 1996 Stevenson graduate. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Photo credit: District 125 press release