P-20 Network Newsletter — August 11, 2023

The NIU Illinois CTE Project, one key component of the larger Illinois P-20 Network Team, is contracted by the Illinois State Board of Education’s CTE & Innovation Team to collaborate with ISBE and educators across Illinois in leading CTE-related professional learning; evaluating, identifying, creating, and sharing instructional resources; supporting the goal of having high-quality and diverse CTE educators in classrooms across Illinois; and implementing ISBE’s annual Career Connections Conference.

As schools across Illinois begin the 2023-2024 school year, we are excited to announce two new members of our NIU Illinois CTE Project Team:

Brian Rick – Brian joins the team with a background having served as a high school CTE teacher as well as having worked in CTE at the community college-level and in the Regional Office of Education setting. Brian has extensive experience in construction and engineering classrooms, with Perkins V and its related processes, in implementing and leading Skills USA within a school district, and with leading efforts to close opportunity gaps for all students. Most recently, Brian has served as the CTE Navigator at Southeastern Illinois Community College having also previously worked at Vienna High School, ROE 20, Shawnee Community College, and at Carbondale High School. Brian has been involved in IACTE, and this past year, Brian was also part of ACTE’s IAED Diversity Cohort.

Betsy Westergreen – Elizabeth (Betsy) Westergreen joins the team having most recently served as the Career and Community Services Coordinator at Pontiac Township High School. In addition to teaching in this role, she was actively involved in leading schoolwide efforts to implement the PaCE Framework and the Work-Based Learning Continuum as well as serving as a liaison with community and business partners and the community college. Prior to her most recent role, Betsy also worked on the Innovative Curriculum Resource Project at Illinois State University under contract with ISBE, and Betsy served for many years as a CTE teacher in Flanagan-Cornell Unit School District 74 in which she taught classes across the Arts and Communications, Finance and Business Services, and Information Technology Career Pathways as well as leading a range of student activities.

Over the coming weeks and months, we look forward to the opportunities that teachers, counselors, and administrators across Illinois will have to collaborate with Brian and Betsy alongside current NIU Illinois CTE Project Team members Shavina Baker and Bill Rose.

Student-Centered Coaching is an evidence-based instructional coaching model that shifts the focus from “fixing” teachers to collaborating with them to design instruction that targets student outcomes. Over six days throughout the year, this institute will take a deep dive into this coaching approach with expert Diane Sweeney. Diane is an educator, coach, author, and highly sought-after facilitator.

Institute Overview

November 29-30 – Core practices for Student-Centered Coaching, including using standards and evidence from students to anchor coaching as well as examining the impact of coaching styles
February 7-8 – Focus on school culture and teacher engagement through teacher self-efficacy and school improvement
April 10-11 – Exploration of reflective dialogue with opportunities for practice and problem solving

The year-long Institute format of paired days separated by weeks provides the chance to reflect and start implementing Student-Centered Coaching in your local school context. All six sessions will be delivered in person at NIU’s Naperville campus with plenty of parking, food, and camaraderie to make everyone’s learning experience positive and memorable.

The NIU Illinois CTE Project Team, in collaboration with the ISBE CTE and Innovation Department, has opened registration for the Work-Based Learning and High-Quality CTE for All Students online courses for the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 sessions.

These courses are available to educators at no cost!

Both opportunities include learning about specialized content and engaging in discussions with a diverse group of educators from across Illinois. Participants that complete these courses will earn Professional Development Hours (PDHs), and those that complete the Work-Based Learning course will also receive a special designation from ISBE.

For more information, please click on the links below.

The Illinois State Board of Education has released a new resource to support schools in addressing trauma, racism, and inequity. As part of the Advancing Racial Justice and Educational Equity in Schools learning series, the Center for Childhood Resilience has launched several online courses to support school or district teams to initiate conversations, assess their environment, and ignite their journey toward equity and racial justice.

The REACH Learning and Resource Hub not only emphasizes trauma-responsive practices and policies but also promotes strategies for personal and professional resilience, social-emotional awareness, and self-care. As part of the Illinois P-20 Network’s KEEP Illinois efforts, it’s already clear in the early stages that such efforts to support educators’ well-being in authentic and integrated ways is critical to improving learning environments for students and for deepening connections between schools and their families and communities.

To learn more and to access these invaluable resources, please visit the Learning and Resource Hub at childhoodresilience.org/hub.

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