When superintendent Rudy Hernandez first arrived at Cicero School District 99, he knew he had challenges to address across the district. With a near-90 percent poverty level and a student population made up of 50 percent English language learners, he knew he needed to work with teachers to build a data-driven support system to affect change.…

The nation's changing economy requires workers to attain increasingly higher job skills. Leaders in education, workforce development, and economic development recognize the need to help workers meet this challenge and to help employers find qualified employees. Barriers to educational and career opportunities will need to be removed so that…

Reading several documents from the early history of Francis W. Parker School and an essay by John Dewey entitled "The Need for a Philosophy of Education" helps the author's students gain some precision in defining what otherwise remain rather loosely held opinions about the core values of the school. For most of the students, these…

Noting that professional development activities are a key component in the continuous process of improving instruction, this guide assists schools that are considering a visit to a Leadership and Learning Best Practice site (Illinois schools that have demonstrated a commitment to the reading best practices as identified by the Best Practices and…

The CRU project identified and selected four Illinois secondary educational institutions effectively utilizing community resources (Mattoon, Orion, and Sycamore High Schools and the Little Wabash Cooperative Vocational Center) and provided on-site visitation of models. A published manual covers identification, development and utilization, and…

Describes an alternative method for identifying exemplary practices in early childhood education programs. In this approach, parents and practitioners identify exemplary practices after coming to know the practices and the context in which they operate through observation, interview, and document review. Discusses methodological issues raised by…

The purpose of the study was to conduct a survey of all the public community colleges in Illinois to evaluate how the colleges develop and approve vocational-technical education programs. Objectives included evaluation of the criteria used in selection and approval of programs, getting information to improve management processes used in selecting…

In order that we may know where we stand in secondary education, the membership of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools four years ago took the lead in urging a study. When the members of a committee of this association appeared before the Bureau of the Budget in 1928, they received a very courteous hearing. It was…