One year ago today, the new IEA Website was launched amid promises that IEA members would be served better than ever with more video, more stories and more opportunities to comment and discuss the issues addressed at ieanea.org.
We think it’s been a pretty good year. We didn’t get one million visitors in the last 365 days, but we came pretty close. We had almost 25,000 visitors on a single day in March and nearly 147,000 “hits” during that month.
Why the big surge? We think it’s because we provided variety and regular updates to IEA members about subjects they’re interested in: Innovative programs created by teachers, retirement issues, activism, training opportunities, lobbying and battles with a major newspaper. We had dozens of videos and stories that garnered more than 1,000 “hits” each, some getting more than 13,000 clicks.
During the year, we posted videos that told stories of the great work IEA members are doing. We spotlighted the advocacy that IEA members and staff engage in on a daily basis. We informed members about what the Illinois General Assembly was doing and, when necessary, the Website played a major role in mobilizing members to pass good legislation and defeat bad bills, such as a voucher proposal that would have diverted $100 million in public money to private schools.
Looking forward, the IEA Website will be an important tool for the November election as we seek to inform our members on key political races. You will be reading a lot about why, for the good of public schools, education employees and especially the students IEA members serve, the Pat Quinn-Sheila Simon ticket must win in November.
We’re very happy about the response to the IEA Website, but we’re not satisfied.
We have a question: How can we get better?
Post your comments below. Feel free to wish ieanea.org a happy birthday and sing along.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Illinois Education Association is an association of more than 130,000 members composed of Illinois elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty and staff, educational support professionals, retired educators and college students preparing to become teachers.
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