Our Approach

Education Systems Center (EdSystems) is a mission-driven policy development and program implementation center within Northern Illinois University, focused on creating clear, unambiguous paths to college and career opportunities. Learn more…

Focus Areas

What We Do

College & Career Pathways

  • Defining and implementing quality pathway models and competencies that prepare students for promising credentials and careers.
  • Scaling and strengthening the College and Career Pathways Endorsement system, aligned programs of study, and work-based learning systems.

Bridges to Postsecondary

  • Shaping and scaling more seamless transitions from secondary into postsecondary, including steering the growth and equity-focused implementation of transitional instruction.
  • Fostering policies and partnerships for strategic and accessible dual credit to accelerate learner progress into and through postsecondary.
  • Building innovative, student-centered systems to demonstrate the competencies needed for postsecondary and career success.

Data Impact & Leadership

  • Strengthening state- and community-level data capacity and systems.
  • Delivering integrated data through tools for practitioners, policymakers, and youth.
  • Engaging with communities to utilize quantitative and qualitative data and evidence to inform pathways and transitions into postsecondary.
  • Establishing evaluation frameworks to assess and improve policy and program implementation.

Geographic Focus

Where We Work

Our primary focus is Illinois, while also working with national and international partners. Through our Northern Illinois University home, we forge longstanding leadership roles with state agencies and interagency boards and commissions. We work at the state level to create ecosystem and policy change while simultaneously working at the local level to create organizational change. This bi-directional approach allows us to align local efforts to state policy while elevating local experiences and learnings to state tables. 

Statewide

We form and lead key interagency and public-private collaborations that drive policy priorities, deepen public system alignment and integration, grow public and private financial support, and enable integrated data to inform continuous improvement.

Community Networks

We build networks that align across secondary, postsecondary, and workforce and connect communities to policy frameworks by providing in-depth technical assistance, facilitation, and policy implementation support. These communities serve as exemplars to inform our state policy efforts.

Current Project Portfolio

Data Impact & Leadership

Academic Performance Indicator for Chicago Public Schools

EdSystems is supporting the district’s development of a new Academic Performance Indicator so that schools can better use standardized test data to understand the success of their interventions, including professional development, changes in curriculum, and innovative approaches to student support.
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College & Career Pathways

Accelerated Model Pathways for Information Technology (AMP-IT)

The AMP-IT initiative is engaging school districts and their community college and employer partners to design and launch an accelerated IT pathway.
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College & Career Pathways

Analysis of College and Career Pathways

To understand the potential impact of the College and Career Pathway Endorsement, EdSystems is engaging in two pathways-related data and evaluation activities: a pathways evaluation framework and an ROI analysis framework.
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College & Career Pathways

Career Pathways Dictionary

To help transform outcomes for youth and adults across Illinois, the Illinois Career Pathways Dictionary defines key terms for career pathway programs and system elements, while also offering resources and implementation guidance to support statewide alignment.
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College & Career Pathways

Career Pathways in Tanzania

Since 2017, EdSystems has partnered with Tanzania Development Support and 4-H Tanzania to implement a career awareness and exploration program designed to help students deepen their awareness of and build competencies and skills in fields that are in high demand in Tanzania.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary

Chicago Public Schools: Preparing Students for College and Career Success

With the support of Crown Family Philanthropies, CPS brought in EdSystems to provide strategic counsel and support of the OCCS pathways vision framework and Student Success Roadmap.
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College & Career Pathways

College and Career Pathway Endorsements

Education Systems Center worked with public and private stakeholders to define key competencies for the College and Career Pathway Endorsements and is now working with community networks to support implementation of endorsement systems in line with the PWR Act.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary

Community College Competency-Based Education Pilot Project

Together with the Illinois Community College Board, we are supporting a cohort of community colleges to develop competency-based education programs in both welding and industrial maintenance.
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Community College Pathway Equity and Currency

To help encourage learners to complete the rigorous requirements and earn a College and Career Pathways Endorsement and matriculate into postsecondary, EdSystems is supporting the development of equity-centered strategies and incentives for students.
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College & Career Pathways

Developing Quality Criteria for College and Career Pathways and Work-Based Learning

EdSystems is developing quality criteria to inform the Illinois College and Career Pathway Endorsement and work-based learning implementation and evaluation, to help raise the awareness and profile of these efforts in Illinois and nationally.
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College & Career Pathways

Extended Model Pathways in Chicago

In fall 2023, EdSystems began work with Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago to develop five extended model pathways starting from early college through associate and bachelor degree completion for the following industry sectors: health sciences, information technology, advanced manufacturing, IT, and construction.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary

Greater Peoria Essential Abilities and Knowledge (GPEAK)

To help stabilize and grow the local economy, community partners in Peoria are working with EdSystems to design and implement GPEAK, which translates the state’s ten competencies into a practical system to prepare individuals for meaningful and fulfilling careers.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary

Illinois Education and Career Success Network

Illinois Education and Career Success Network supports communities to increase meaningful and equitable postsecondary attainment and civic engagement.
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Data Impact & Leadership

Illinois Education and Career Success Network Dashboard

To support Success Network Leadership Communities, the dashboard serves as a single stop for data to inform community decisions in advancement of equitable postsecondary attainment.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary, Data Impact & Leadership

Illinois Education and Career Success Network: Policy Committee

EdSystems staffs the Success Network’s Policy Committee to foster collaboration and peer learning, elevate local practice to inform state policy, and support local practitioners.
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Data Impact & Leadership

Illinois Longitudinal Data System

The Illinois Longitudinal Data System (ILDS) provides the governance and technical systems that support the integration of longitudinal data across participating Illinois state agencies.
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Bridges to Postsecondary

Illinois Math Badging Initiative

In partnership with XQ Institute and Student Achievement Partners, EdSystems is launching an initiative to create an Illinois high school math badging system as an alternative credentialing mechanism wherein students can certify learning gained through a broad range of sources including coursework, independent study, summer school, and work-based learning.
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Data Impact & Leadership

Illinois Postsecondary Profiles

Illinois Postsecondary Profiles (IPP) is an online resource for data describing 2- and 4-year postsecondary institutions in Illinois.
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College & Career Pathways

Illinois Work-Based Learning Innovation Network (I-WIN)

I-WIN helps educators, work-based learning coordinators, and employers leverage innovative models for scaling high-quality work-based learning opportunities in school districts and community colleges across the state.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary

Increasing Dual Enrollment Access and Success (IDEAS)

In partnership with JFF and College of Lake County, EdSystems is supporting the design and implementation of a new dual enrollment hub to help improve educational outcomes for high-need high school students.
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College & Career Pathways

Joliet Junior College: Support for Work-Based Learning

In their ongoing commitment to enhance college and career pathway development, EdSystems is supporting Joliet Junior College in designing and implementing equitable work-based learning opportunities for high school students throughout the region.
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College & Career Pathways

Lake County: Support for Career Pathways

In 2023, EdSystems began supporting Waukegan CUSD 60 and its regional partners with targeted support for alignment to the Illinois College and Career Pathway Endorsement and systems for career exploration.
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College & Career Pathways

Liberia Career Pathways

EdSystems worked with Liberian partners to launch the Liberian nongovernmental organization and the U.S. based nonprofit organization.
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College & Career Pathways

Model Programs of Study Guides

The Model Programs of Study Guides were developed in consultation and collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education through a process led and facilitated by Education Systems Center.
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College & Career Pathways

Northern Illinois: Support for Career Pathways

Since 2015, EdSystems has provided strategic counsel and technical assistance to RPS 205 and RVC and their partners as they build and expand their college and career pathway systems.
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PWR Act

EdSystems staff and their partners led a multi-year process to develop and enact the PWR Act in close collaboration with a broad range of education and workforce stakeholders.
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Data Impact & Leadership

Rockford Regional Education Research Collaborative

To understand the long-term outcomes of pathways students in the Rockford region, the Rockford Regional Education Research Collaborative has designed a data infrastructure that leverages both state- and local-level data.
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Scaling Transformative Advanced Manufacturing Pathways (STAMP)

STAMP serves secondary districts in implementing manufacturing pathways that align to the College and Career Pathway Endorsement, with a particular focus on historically marginalized students.
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Bridges to Postsecondary

Transitional Instruction

EdSystems leads the interagency efforts to define statewide transitional instruction competencies, policies, and implementation plans.
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College & Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary

Youth Apprenticeship

Youth apprenticeships at EdSystems offer a unique blend of hands-on experience, networking with industry professionals, and postsecondary planning.
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