News

News

Kyle Westbrook Named Executive Director of EdSystems

Education Systems Center at NIU is pleased to announce the appointment of Kyle Westbrook as its new executive director. Kyle brings a wealth of experience and a strong commitment to educational equity, making him an excellent fit for the organization’s mission.

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Events

Performance-Based Assessment Showcase

At the Performance-Based Assessment Design Cohort Showcase on May 18, 2023, we were able to hear the teachers talk about their projects and the process of creating them, and see up close how performance-based assessments can be used across disciplines and with students from a range of backgrounds with a variety of characteristics.

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News

Executive Director Transition Announcement

Education Systems Center at NIU (EdSystems) today announces that Founder and Executive Director Jonathan Furr will be transitioning from his role as of June 2023 after nearly eleven years of building and leading the organization. Jon will be pursuing new professional opportunities, which he will share in the coming weeks.

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Advancing Racial Equity

Placing Our Big Bets Through 2025 and Beyond

EdSystems is coalescing around five new goals, which we call our Big Bets, to ensure that our state’s education and workforce systems truly lessen racial inequities and lead to tangible progress for our Black and Latinx students that have for far too long been underserved by these systems.

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News

Introducing Launch: Equitable and Accelerated Pathways for All

EdSystems is excited to announce our selection as one of 11 states participating in Launch: Equitable & Accelerated Pathways for All. Launch is a national college and career pathways initiative that strives for every learner to have access to and succeed in high-quality and equitable pathways.

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News

2022 In Review

2022 marked the tenth anniversary of Education Systems Center at NIU. Our portfolio–and the team supporting the work–has expanded significantly in the past decade, and more growth is on the horizon.

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News

Governor Signs HB3296/Public Act 102-0917, Advancing on PWR Act

Governor Pritzker signed Public Act 102-0917 (HB3296) into law on May 27, 2022. HB3296 builds from the 2016 Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) Act and many years of dedicated work by communities statewide to develop and implement high-quality college and career pathways systems that ensure students are prepared for whatever comes after high school. 

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News

EdSystems Joins Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Accelerate ED, Launches Accelerated Model Pathways for Information Technology

EdSystems is proud to announce our participation in Accelerate ED: Seamless Pathways to Degrees and Careers, an initiative that seeks to blur the lines between high school and higher education and career learning experiences, allowing students to earn a career-aligned credential or degree by the end of one additional year after high school.

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News

2021 in Review

As we look back on 2021, we remain hopeful that change is possible and is, indeed, happening here in Illinois.

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News

An Initial Analysis of Scaling Education Pathways in Illinois

An analysis of the initial implementation of the Scaling Education Pathways in Illinois initiative, with input from the first cohort of collaboratives. It was undertaken to understand how the components of the education pathway were being executed in practice and to collect promising practices and lessons learned.

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News

Working Toward a Thriving Illinois

EdSystems applauds the adoption of the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s new 10-year strategic plan, A Thriving Illinois: Higher Education Paths to Equity, Sustainability, and Growth.

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News

Expanding the Law and Public Safety Pathway in Rockford

The support Rockford Public Schools receives from Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University, thanks to the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, is helping to drive aligned college and career pathways forward, including the Law and Public Safety pathway.

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News

Announcing the Chicago Equity-Centered Innovation Forum

In collaboration with leaders of Chicago Public Schools, school leaders of competency-based education (CBE) pilot schools, and other interested stakeholders, EdSystems will support the implementation of innovative instructional models as strategies for dismantling systemic inequities in traditional educational approaches.

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News

Expanding Supports for College and Career Readiness: State Adoption of Transitional English Course Parameters, Competencies, and Policies

To increase the number of high school graduates placed into college-level reading and communications courses without the need for remediation, the Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Community College Board, and Illinois Board of Higher Education have adopted the Statewide Transitional English Course Parameters, Competencies, and Policies.

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Exterior of Ridgewood High School
News

Ridgewood H.S. First in IL to Award College & Career Pathway Endorsement

As students across the state return to school, many high school students are now working towards earning a College and Career Pathway Endorsement. Ridgewood High School, located in the Chicago suburbs and a leader in the pathways approach, was the first in Illinois to award the College and Career Pathway Endorsements to Class of 2020 graduates who successfully completed the Education and Manufacturing and Engineering pathways.

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CTE students learning electrical wiring
News

Guidance and Resources for Providing High-Quality Work-Based Learning

Through collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Education Systems Center has released a Career Development Experience Toolkit aligned to the frameworks established in the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) Act and embedded within Illinois’ broader strategies around scaling high-quality career pathways and work-based learning.

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Employer Summit with ISTC and EdSystems
News

Summit Engages Employers on Building Effective Learning Partnerships

On May 11, 2017, the Illinois Science and Technology Institute (ISTI) and Education Systems Center at NIU hosted an employer summit to bring employers together to talk about building effective learning partnerships between employers and schools through problem-based learning, titled Employer Summit: Building Effective Learning Partnerships.

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