Bridges to Postsecondary

Project

Elgin Community College Second Chance

EdSystems is applying its experience and knowledge of long-term system building efforts to support Elgin Community College as it seeks to better serve its students with experiences in the carceral justice system.

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Thought Leadership

What Do the New Policies around Dual Credit Mean?

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:

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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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Project

Illinois Education and Career Success Network: Policy Committee

Launched in December 2022, EdSystems staffs the Success Network’s Policy Committee to provide space for local practitioners and policy leaders to collaborate and learn from one another, elevate local practice to inform State policy, and support local practitioners to take advantage of policy windows.

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Project

Future of Learning Coalition

The Future of Learning Coalition is an alliance working to advance an innovation ecosystem for equitable, student-centered education in Illinois to better prepare future-ready young people and empower them to realize their greatest potential.

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Project

Community College CBE 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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Resource

Transitional Math Resources

Recordings of professional learning sessions for administrators, teachers and counselors to help prepare for implementation of transitional math and state portability submission.

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Resource

Dual Credit Survey Briefs

In 2021, a team including EdSystems conducted a broad survey of key secondary and postsecondary stakeholders about dual credit in Illinois. Download the three survey briefs which include quantitative and qualitative findings.

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Project

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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Project

Postsecondary Leadership Series

In support of the OneGoal team and their Postsecondary Leadership Series, the EdSystems team is providing two primary services: capacity-building for OneGoal staff and advising for partner-facing content relating to college and career pathways, early college credit, transitional instruction, work-based learning, and data.

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Advancing Racial Equity

Equitably College, Career, and Monopoly Ready

From Senior Fellow Ginger M. Reynolds, PhD: I admit that the phrase “college and career ready” gives me pause, particularly with respect to students who aren’t well served through our current system. I like the analogy of Monopoly…”

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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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Resource

Strengthening Supports for Dual Credit Instruction in Chicago: Takeaways and Promising Practices

The continued expansion of dual credit is a core strategy of the Chicago Roadmap, a comprehensive partnership between City Colleges of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. This analysis identifies strategies to shift the dual credit support system from its foundations in a modest number of course offerings into a model that can meet the scale of the joint Roadmap objectives.

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Resource

Transitional English Resources

Access resources created or vetted by the Statewide Advisory Group that align with the Statewide Course Parameters, Competencies, and Policies document to support new and established Transitional English courses to meet the requirements to apply for statewide portability.

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Project

Chicago Equity-Centered Innovation Forum

The Chicago Equity-Centered Innovation Forum promotes models of personalized instruction, competency-based approaches, performance assessments, project-based learning, and other emerging innovations that provide promising education frameworks.

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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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Resource

Statewide Transitional English Course Parameters, Competencies, and Policies

ISBE, ICCB, and IBHE have jointly agreed upon the course parameters, competencies, and related policies set forth in this document, adopted in January 2021. These course parameters, competencies, and related policies will guide the local partnerships between high schools and colleges necessary for the successful implementation of Transitional English instruction.

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Resource

Statewide Transitional Math Competencies and Policies

This document, updated in January 2021, includes an overview of the three transitional math pathways established by the PWR Act and approved by ISBE, IBHE, and ICCB. It then includes the competencies recommended for adoption by the committees of the Statewide Panel for Transitional Math, including process competencies for all three pathways related to mathematical and student success, and content competencies for each of the three pathways.

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Project

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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A high school student looks up while taking notes in class
Project

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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60 by 25 Network Impact Report Cover
Resource

60 by 25 Network Impact Report

This report captures the impact of the Illinois 60 by 25 Network from 2013–2020. Communities in the Network are driving State policy implementation, deepening and validating collaboration by using the organizing principles of collective impact, increasing cross-sector collaboration, and enhancing leadership and governance structures within their communities.

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Podcast

Systems Sessions: Illinois’ Dual Credit Landscape

Our first series dives into the work behind the development of the Model Partnership Agreement (MPA) and how it is being implemented in communities. Systems Sessions explores big, current issues in education policy through conversations with the EdSystems team, State policymakers, and community leaders who are on the ground leading this work.

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Bridges to Postsecondary
Project

Transitional Instruction

EdSystems leads the interagency efforts to define statewide transitional instruction competencies, policies, and implementation plans.

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Screenshot of PWR Transitional Math website
Resource

Illinois Transitional Math

The Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act includes Transitional Math, which is built around courses that increase college readiness for high school seniors. Learn more and access resources.

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A screenshot of the Illinois Success Network: Cradle to Career Community Dashboard homepage
Resource

Illinois Success Network Cradle to Career Dashboard

The Illinois Education and Career Success Network’s Cradle to Career Community Dashboard helps Leadership Communities analyze regional information on education and workforce system characteristics; track progress on postsecondary education attainment and education-to-career objectives,; and benchmark community efforts against state averages.

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