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What we’ve been up to... 

We hope that everyone has had a great Spring Break! Do you believe that we are in the final stretch of the 2024-2025 year already? 

Today, we are excited to be out at a community college working with community college leaders and all of the school districts in their region on topics related to dual credit. We are doing quite a bit of customized work with community college regions on supporting both the school districts and postsecondary institutions with their unique local needs related to dual enrollment. We look forward to updating you on that in our next Newsletter! 

In the meantime, we’ve been busy with the following... 

• ILACEP Dual Credit Summit – Two weeks ago, Rodrigo was excited to attend the ILACEP Dual Credit Summit at Prairie State College, and Jason was thrilled to attend the Summit at Vienna High School. In both cases, we presented a framework for building out a regional dual credit leadership structure that also promotes a culture of collaboration. Currently, this work is taking root in multiple community college regions, and we have learned through both research and practice that such structures and cultures provide the greatest opportunity for long-term student and regional success! 

• Golden Apple Mentor Workshop – Through our integrated team structure with the NIU College of Education, we were excited to host the Golden Apple Foundation’s two-day Mentor Workshop at NIU Naperville with mentors from across Illinois. These mentors work with both Golden Apple Scholars and Accelerators to ensure a successful start to their careers and to promote educator engagement. These mentors are shining examples of what it means to be truly engaged educators. 

• Fenton High School Career and Postsecondary Readiness Planning – We were lucky to be able to work with an extraordinary team of teachers, counselors, and administrators on planning to further strengthen their holistic Tier I approach to ensuring that all students develop both the skills for success and their personal plans for their careers and postsecondary paths. 
  

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KEEP Illinois – Defining Educator Compensation Survey Available on Monday!

Take and share the Defining Educator Compensation Survey

Earlier this year, we released The Road to Retention: Understanding the educator shortage and ways to engage and keep educators. This report featured four recommendations to improve retention and engagement among educators related to: 

• Compensation
• Teacher Leadership 
• Professional Development, Coaching, and Co-Teaching 
• Culture, Working Conditions, and Wellness 

Throughout the winter, we've been coordinating with other statewide groups working in the Teacher Leadership space. Additionally, we continue to develop new programs for the Educational Coaching Network to address professional development and coaching (though not specifically co-teaching, we realize!).   

Next week, we are launching a statewide survey that seeks to gather more information directly from educators of all types across all levels from throughout Illinois to better define compensation. We're hoping for thousands of responses from across Illinois, and we're currently working to build alliances with those that will be able to share out this link across schools, districts, and regions. 

The survey will be available at the link below beginning on Monday, April 7. It should take participants no more than 5-7 minutes, and it is anonymous. Please share with both licensed educators and paraprofessionals in your school districts, regions, and networks. This research will be critical to identifying meaningful targets for improving policy and/or practice related to educator compensation across Illinois. 

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ECN Conference 2025 – Register Now 

We are excited to be welcoming Diane Sweeney back for this year’s ECN Conference on April 24, 2025. This session is ideal for coaches and administrators to attend as Diane will walk us through some of the most critical issues to get right for school culture, educators’ growth, the long-term success of instructional coaching, and, ultimately, student success. Check out this short video Diane recorded for more information!

In addition to this year’s ECN Conference, we still have one more Instructional Coaching Hot Topic session on April 10, after-school, online via Zoom. Learn more and register!

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Get Your Students On-Campus with NIU STEAM

As school districts increasingly seek ways to not only get middle school and high school students on to the campuses of postsecondary institutions but to do so in really meaningful ways, we wanted to be sure that Illinois P-20 Network partners knew of the multiple opportunities available with NIU STEAM. 

In general, NIU STEAM hosts campus visits designed to meet the specific needs of different groups, typically from schools. Additionally, in just a few weeks, the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) is hosting its annual Senior Design Showcase. Like NIU STEAM has done with STEM Fest for a number of years, they are offering transportation grants for the CEET Senior Design Showcase. 

For more information about either of these on-campus visit opportunities, contact NIU STEAM. 

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Calling All First Generation Scholars 
Please share with your high school seniors!

Please encourage your high school seniors who aspire to be the first person in their family to finish college to join ISAC's First Generation Scholars Network (FGSN). The goal of FGSN is to connect first generation college students with one another so they can support each other through this network, and for FGSN students to receive additional support year-round from our ISACorps of near-peer mentors. Students can join by completing the online form provided on the FGSN webpage, and direct any questions to ISAC.FirstGen@illinois.gov. 

Also, on the right side of the First Generation Scholars Network website, check out the First Up podcast, and encourage your postsecondary and high school students, teachers and faculty, and counselors and advisors to do the same! 

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2025 Engaged Learning Conference 

On June 20, 2025, NIU STEAM and the Illinois MTSS Network will co-host the 2025 Engaged Learning Conference. Laura Williams will serve as the Keynote Speaker with her session, Apathy to Agency: Engaging All Learners through Agility and Authenticity, and the day will continue with breakout sessions from experts who range from current school and district staff members to the educational coaches from the Illinois MTSS Network and NIU Steam.  

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