Many people assume middle school students are too young for career exploration, but by encouraging self-discovery and exploring real-world challenges, we can help these young people pursue their futures. Here are key considerations for work-based learning in middle school.
EdSystems is incorporating feedback from our youth apprentices to inform continuous improvement, both immediate and long-term, and ensure the students’ experiences are meaningful. Learn about our strategies, including tools that can be incorporated in any youth apprentice program.
The Illinois Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) framework, which empowers districts and students by guiding quality college and career advising and development, is a model for the nation. Here’s why.
Our youth apprenticeship program has introduced a new, innovative component to empower young people and drive positive community change while advancing EdSystems’ mission: youth action research.
Designing and implementing high-quality work-based learning experiences is challenging, and communities often struggle to find support. The Illinois Work-Based Learning Innovation Network provides a model for peer collaboration by fostering a supportive environment for sharing resources and insights.
What are your biggest hopes for artificial intelligence (AI)? How about your biggest fears and worries? In December, the I-WIN community met to reflect on these questions and explore the potential of AI to be a thought partner in the design of work-based learning experiences.
We dive into the latest release of the Illinois Report Card, revealing dynamic shifts in CTE outcomes and a wave of opportunity in dual credit enrollment. We share our perspective on the data shaping the future of college and career readiness for Illinois students.
The key outcome of work-based learning is social capital, and building this valuable asset starts with being able to guarantee this outcome for all students. As a determinant factor in social mobility and overcoming socioeconomic barriers, social capital prepares students for their futures.
Alongside state and local leaders from across Illinois, we have been engaging in a design thinking process as innovation cohort participants of the Launch initiative. Through this process, we are working to identify systems-level barriers to equitable access and outcomes and develop innovative solutions for pressing challenges in postsecondary transitions and success.
From work-based learning to pathway design to creating currency for students, EdSystems is learning valuable lessons through the Scaling Transformative Advanced Manufacturing Pathways (STAMP) initiative, a partnership with the IMA Education Foundation.
Over the past few months, the Illinois Community College Board and Higher Learning Commission each published sets of rules for public feedback that will shape dual credit implementation in Illinois. How? Read our thoughts and public comment to ICCB:
On August 15, 2022, EdSystems and more than 160 partners from across the state delivered a letter to IBHE, ICCB, and Illinois Articulation Initiative to request increased transferability of major coursework for future educators seeking to teach in elementary and secondary settings.
There are many different components of successful Career Development Experiences, but with the battling priorities that educators face daily, there is one that you cannot miss: mentorship.
High school intern Eni shares their personal journey on deciding what to do after graduation plus three tips for high school seniors to consider.
Chicago Public Schools’ CBE pilots has released “Shifting Chicago Narratives,” a four-part series of student-produced videos aimed at shifting the narrative from a focus on all that students lost through the pandemic to what they gained.
An exciting initiative underway in Chicago Public Schools’ Competency-Based Education schools is engaging students through multi-media platforms to tell their stories and shift the narrative on pandemic experiences.
Looking at ISBE’s 2020-21 Illinois Report Card, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted learning for students of all ages across Illinois, the impacts of which are reflected in several critical measures. However, increasing dual credit enrollment and declining postsecondary remediation enrollment rates are cause for celebration.
New rules ensure alignment of CTE to existing policy frameworks such as the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act and that implementation embodies the spirit and intent of the articulated State Plan components. This clarified focus on college and career, with an emphasis on quality and equity, will ensure that Illinois’ students are empowered to succeed.
We applaud the US Department of Education for acknowledging the pandemic’s impacts on schools and build from innovative practices. We join USEd in seeking to re-envision how we educate young people and dismantle barriers that stand in the way of success for students of color for far too long.
Competency-based education means different things at different schools, but at Benito Juarez Community Academy, a Chicago neighborhood public high school, it means a focus on equity—and that means prioritizing social-emotional skills, or developmental/adaptive competencies, as well as academics.
The Education Omnibus Bill results in sweeping changes to Illinois’ P-20 education and workforce systems, spanning from home visiting programs serving Illinois’ youngest children to expectations for community colleges and universities.
In response to the U.S. Department of Education’s RFI on Expanding Work-Based Learning Opportunities for Youth, the EdSystems team offered public comments based on the PWR Act and community interests, examples, and concerns gathered from our I-WIN members.
New reports highlight opportunities to enhance dual credit policy for equity and quality.
The Illinois State Board of Education recently released the 2019–20 Illinois Report Card, and student readiness for postsecondary appears to be rising overall across the State—dual credit enrollment is rising, remediation rates are falling, and graduation rates are growing.
How quarantine proved personalized, project-based learning and competency concepts can provide frameworks for doing school better.
Learn more about the need to elevate competency-based education districts with the shift to remote learning.
With EdSystems’ focus on key metrics of college and career readiness, the release of new Illinois Report Card data provides us with an opportunity to both celebrate progress and identify areas needing attention.
The new College and Career Placement Endorsements address the disconnect between what’s taught in the classroom and what employers need.
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