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What we’ve been up to... |
While there are still school districts and postsecondary institutions kicking off over the next two weeks, many students of all ages are back in classrooms across Illinois. We hope everyone has had a great start to the year!
Dr. Leroy Mitchell Elementary School Ribbon-Cutting and Open House – We were excited to attend both the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and the Family and Community Open House at Mitchell Elementary School. From hearing Dr. Mitchell speak about his family, his career, and this honor to seeing the excitement on the faces of incoming students, this marked an extra-special beginning-of-the-year!
Important and Informative Statewide Webinars –<> Over the past few days, we’ve attended wide-ranging, important, and informative statewide webinars, including The Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools Rural CTE Project webinar focused on Career Readiness in the Middle Grades as well as yesterday’s Illinois State Board of Education webinar on the Equity Journey Continuum. Both of these webinars are examples of critical learning topics that should be central to school and district improvement planning and to shifting instruction for all learners! In addition, the Illinois P-20 Network participated on the panel for the WIOA Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship Committee webinar held this past Wednesday, and there is more information below about the draft report and opportunities for feedback.
Back to School Events – Of course, Northern Illinois University is the Illinois P-20 Network’s home and supporting institution, and it has been great to be on campus with students, faculty, and staff kicking off another year. In-person, high-energy events have kept everyone busy, and we hope these events in your community, ranging from Back-to-School-Bashes to Walk-Your-Schedule to Residence Hall Move-Ins have been great!!! Let’s get rolling with 2025-2026!
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Register Now for the ECN Student-Centered Coaching Series with Diane Sweeney |
We are so excited for this year’s innovative and custom ECN Student-Centered Coaching Series with Diane Sweeney. We have been privileged to partner with Diane to develop a new and unique approach to examining Student-Centered Coaching this year. This year’s coaching promotes partnerships between coaches and both teachers and administrators, as well as aligning with The School Leader Paradigm from the Illinois Principals
Association, a model for promoting growth among school leaders.
This year’s series includes six workshops divided into three levels. Participants can choose to attend as few or as many individual workshops as they want. The paired workshop dates are designed to promote the attendance of administrators and coaches together on the first day and just coaches on the second day. Of course, coaches are welcome and encouraged to attend without administrators, and administrators are welcome to attend both days of each level!
November 17 – 18 – Level 1 Workshops
February 24 – 25 – Level 2 Workshops
April 14 – 15 – Level 3 Workshops
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| Learn more and register now
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Feedback Requested – IWIB Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship Workgroup Report |
Earlier this week, the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship Committee (WBLA), which is facilitated by staff from the Workforce Policy Lab at the Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies and by staff from the Illinois Center for Specialized Professional Support at Illinois State University, held a webinar to release this draft of its report, Work-Based Learning in Illinois: Insights & Action.
Over 100 people were able to attend the webinar and receive an overview of the report, but even if you were unable to attend, we are excited to provide this opportunity to share the report across the Illinois P-20 Network. Feedback on the report is welcome and can be shared directly via email with Antonio Gomez at Illinois State University (abgome2@ilstu.edu) and Jennifer Foil at Northern Illinois University (jfoil@niu.edu). Unfortunately, the timeline for feedback is relatively short, so please share any thoughts or questions by the end of the day on Wednesday, August 27.
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STEM Fest 2025 – Bring Your Students |
To assist school districts with bringing students to this year’s STEM Fest, held on Saturday, September 20, 2025, from 10 AM to 3 PM at Northern Illinois University, NIU STEAM is again able to offer the following supports:
For schools in which at least 40% of students come from families that are identified as being Low Income, up to $500 in travel expenses can be reimbursed.
For teachers who bring a busload of students (or families!) to STEM Fest, there is a $250 stipend available.
To learn more and apply for these benefits, please visit: https://go.niu.edu/STEMFestBus.
To learn more about STEM Fest generally, please visit the NIU STEAM Stem Fest website.
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Building Our Statewide Community – Illinois Education Podcasts |
For nearly twenty years, the Illinois P-20 Network team has been avid listeners of podcasts, and in preparing this week’s Newsletter, we were excited that a new episode, the first of the 2025-2026 school year, dropped into our podcast apps from Vienna High School – The Better than Detention podcast.
One of the most profound aspects of working as part of the Illinois P-20 Network is the strong sense of community among educators in Illinois, and we had the thought, ‘How cool would it be to collect all of the podcasts being created in schools and postsecondary institutions and to share that list back statewide?’
So, this is a very simple, very quick (3 questions only) call-to-action: Does your organization have a podcast? It can be on any topic from academics to the arts to athletics (to pop culture, politics, or more)! Podcasts can be student-generated (awesome!) or created by staff. If so, tell us about it and drop the link into this short form, and we’ll share this list out this fall! Please forward this to others in your organization and throughout your region.
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| Share an Illinois Education Podcast
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Illinois Report Card Open Forum
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The Illinois State Board of Education will hold an online open forum for school districts about the Illinois Report Card. (The 2025 Illinois Report Card will be released in just over two months!) This webinar is scheduled from 10 to 11.30 AM on August 28, 2025. The webinar will briefly cover important dates as well as tools for managing your district’s Report Card data. School districts can also take advantage of this time to ask questions related to the Report Card.
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| Register for the ISBE Report Card Open Forum
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One Click College Admit – Informational Webinars |
The Illinois Board of Higher Education, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and Common App invite high school counselors and other college access professionals to join an upcoming webinar to learn about this unique program for all Illinois high school students! With this program rolling out for current eleventh and twelfth grade students, it is important that educators at both the high school and postsecondary level are aware!
Click on your preferred date below to register. The webinars will be recorded and will be made available on the One Click College Admit
website.
One Click College Admit is an initiative of the state of Illinois and is the state’s free, quick, and stress-free direct admissions program into state public universities and community colleges. Through this program, all eligible high school seniors automatically receive offers of general admission to state public universities and to their local community college, and the program removes the requirement for application fees, essays, and letters of recommendation.
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P-20 Network Email Newsletter —
Pass it along today!
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P-20 Network Newsletters will typically come out every two weeks on Friday. The newsletters include updates on critical policy developments, professional development opportunities, success stories from the Network and much more.
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You are receiving this message because you have previously attended a P-20 Network Meeting and/or have been on previous P-20 Network emails. We encourage
you to forward this email to others in your organization, such as principals, assistant principals, and department chairs by using the Forward to a Friend link below. Others can subscribe by simply completing this very short form.
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Forward this message by using the “Forward to a Friend” button below.
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Copyright © 2025 Illinois P-20 Network, All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Illinois P-20 Network
Lowden Hall
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
United States
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