The demand for skilled information technology employees continues to grow in Illinois. However, according to P33, “Colleges in Illinois and across the US produce computer science and other STEM graduating classes with too few Black, Latinx and female graduates, reproducing and exacerbating race and gender divides that start in K-12 education, which ensures that these divides are reproduced downstream inside companies.”
In response to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Accelerate ED initiative, EdSystems brought together partners CodeNation, Discovery Partners Institute, and P33 to support Illinois school districts piloting a new vision for IT pathways: Accelerated Model Pathways for Information Technology (AMP-IT).
Our Role
AMP-IT launched in early 2022 with our initial cohort of Chicago Public Schools, District 214, and Belvidere District 100 and their community college and employer partners. EdSystems supported the initial implementation of AMP-IT pathways in 19 high schools through the first cohort. In fall 2023, EdSystems launched a second cohort with five new regional partners representing 16 additional high schools to scale AMP-IT. We invited collaboratives representing two or more high schools with an established IT program of study, prioritizing regions that serve significant populations of racial minorities or rural students.
Students in AMP-IT schools have the opportunity to:
- Earn 15+ hours of early college credit in high school and align to the College and Career Pathway Endorsement in IT.
- Seamlessly transition into aligned associate and bachelor’s degree programs.
- Participate in a continuum of meaningful work-based learning opportunities to help them affirm their interest in the industry and gain valuable hands-on experiences and soft skills while earning social capital with industry employers.
AMP-IT supports school districts to accelerate and deepen aspects of their existing IT pathways by designing opportunities for high school students to earn more than 15 hours of early college credit that seamlessly stack into associate and bachelor’s degree programs. Early college credit will be available through both IT career-focused course sequences and general education courses in math, English, science, and social sciences, selected based on their strategic value for articulation into aligned postsecondary credential opportunities. AMP-IT collaboratives will develop a regional version of the Illinois Model Programs of Study Guide in Information Technology, using a data-driven, backward-mapping approach that extends from the areas of job growth down through the high school course sequence.
Through this project, EdSystems is also investing in work-based learning, data evaluation, and teacher credentialing around IT pathways to help scale and sustain AMP-IT.
- In partnership with Discovery Partners Institute, we are offering subsidized scholarships for graduate-level computer science coursework to help qualify teachers to teach computer science courses, potentially for dual credit.
- In partnership with Work-Based Learning Alliance, we are providing students access to turn-key, virtual work-based learning opportunities that meet Illinois requirements for a career development experience or team-based challenge. Students can complete a paid cybersecurity project experience and earn the IBM SkillBuild Cybersecurity Credential.
- In collaboration with the NIU Research and Data Collaborative, we are designing a new data infrastructure to collect disaggregated student-level data and enable longitudinal reporting and analyses.
