-- We've Moved! --
The Federation is now located at:
33 West Grand
Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60654
We also have new phone and fax numbers:
P: 312-836-0854
F: 312-836-0877
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Join the Forum Planning Committee
Did you attend last year's Illinois Community Schools Forum and leave with ideas for improving it this year? Then consider joining the Forum Planning Committee.
To ensure that the Forum provides participants with the resources and information that truly supports their work, we need your input. Forum Planning Committee members commit to participating in monthly meeting / calls, reviewing materials as needed, and being willing to provide honest and constructive feedback into the structure and content of the event.
If you're interested in participating on the Committee - or otherwise contributing to the planning process - please email Havilah Darnieder. |
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Getting Ready for Common Core
As many of you know by now, Illinois (and almost every other state in the country) is making the shift to Common Core Standards. The new standards are aimed at ensuring that children and young people develop necessary critical thinking, analytical, problem-solving, and learning skills, and are prepared to do increasingly rigorous academic work as their educational careers progress. Although the transition is taking place over time, on this year's ISAT test - which students will take in March - approximately 20% of the questions will be Common Core questions. In addition, the ISAT proficiency score cut-off points are being adjusted, and with that adjustment, many schools are concerned about reduced ratings.
If you haven't already undertaken activities and initiatives to support students, parents and teachers with understanding and adjusting to Common Core standards, February is a great time to start! Undertaking activities that support students' transition to Common Core Standards and prepare them for new items on the ISAT also offer opportunities to enhance some elements of your community school work. Because of the rigor of the new standards, out-of-school time programs must incorporate common core, as well. This will require resource coordinators and community school teams to develop an understanding of the new standards, and to access supports that they can use to infuse out-of-school time activities with common core standards. Click here for a guide that aligns Common Core standards with classroom activities, out-of-school time programs, and parent workshops.
There are several ways that community schools can support school progress through these changes:
1) Engage parents as partners in the transition to Common Core. Hold workshops about the new Common Core standards and about the changes to the ISAT; include this information in newsletters, updates, communications, etc. for parents. Also provide parents with tools and strategies that they can use to help their children with this transition - including activities that parents can do at home to reinforce the Common Core standards. For a guide to Common Core standards that can be used in parent workshops, click here.
2) Collaborate with teachers on ways to include activities in the extended day programs that give students opportunities to master the new Common Core reading standards. Have students dramatize the stories they read or illustrate the social studies and science sections they read in the classroom; provide strategies for out-of-school time program staff to use "common core" language. For an example of how to integrate Common Core standards into arts-based programming, click here.
3) Work with teachers and staff to expand (or create) a math learning center in which students play games that reinforce the math knowledge they need on ISAT. Use out-of-school time to provide expanded learning opportunities that are linked to the math Common Core standards being taught in the classroom.
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Community Schools & Workforce Development Symposium Recap
On Friday, January 25, community school and workforce development professionals came together to explore linkages between our efforts that can strengthen everyone's work. During the symposium, we discussed the ways in which community schools are poised to help youth explore their interests and talents, expose them to opportunities beyond their immediate cultural framework, and develop the social and interpersonal skills needed for post-
secondary success. The group also talked about the ways in which community schools can serve as an ideal infrastructure for providing adults with work readiness opportunities - either by offering programs at the school or connecting them to existing programs in the community.
Read a recap of this symposium, including key learning, ideas for next steps, and a list of resources for practitioners, students, and families here.
We want to hear from you! Please complete our short on-line evaluation so we can continue continue to enhance the quality of the workshops, trainings, and symposia that we offer our members.
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Governor Quinn Declares February 15 "Illinois 5Essentials Day"
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced that starting Feb. 1, students and teachers will be given the first statewide opportunity to weigh in on learning conditions and school climate, indicators that have been proven necessary for strong student outcomes, including better attendance and improved student performance. The State Board joins UChicago Impact at the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute in providing an online survey, called the Illinois 5Essentials Survey, to help the state's nearly 4,000 schools better identify their strengths and areas needing improvement.
The Illinois 5Essentials Survey asks about leadership, family involvement, collaboration, instruction and the school environment and will be administered in February and March to all certified K-12 teachers and students in grades 6-12 across the state.
As part of the first statewide survey, Gov. Pat Quinn has declared Friday, Feb. 15 "Illinois 5Essentials Day" and encourages schools to take 15 minutes on the 15th to provide important feedback on learning conditions and school climate. Strong participation is needed; at least 50 percent of students and teachers at each school must fill out this survey in order for ISBE to have enough data to generate a school-level report.
5Essentials generates data that helps schools target resources and make decisions that help accelerate learning and test score gains. Based on 20 years of research conducted by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research in more than 400 schools, the 5Essentials has been shown to be strongly predictive of school improvement. Schools strong in 3 to 5 of the Essentials are 10 times more likely to improve student learning than schools weak in 3 to 5 of the Essentials. Those differences remain true even after controlling for student and school characteristics, including poverty, race, gender and neighborhood characteristics. Strength on components within the Essentials also correlates with increased teacher retention, student attendance, college enrollment and high school graduation.
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Funding Opportunity for Community Schools
The RGK Foundation is an independent foundation that recently expanded its programmatic areas of interest to include Education,
Community, and Health/Medicine. The Foundation's primary interests within Education include programs that focus on formal K-12 education (particularly mathematics, science and reading), teacher development, literacy, and higher education.
Within Community, the Foundation supports a broad range of human services, community improvement, abuse prevention, and youth development programs. Human service programs of particular interest to the Foundation include children and family services, early childhood development, and parenting education.
Youth development programs supported by the Foundation typically include after-school educational enrichment programs that supplement and enhance formal education systems to increase the chances for successful outcomes in school and life.
All applicants must complete an electronic Letter of Inquiry from the Web site as the first step. For more information, please visit RGK Foundation on the web.
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New Book Demonstrates Importance of Afterschool and Community Collaborations in Supporting Student Development
Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success, edited by Terry K. Peterson, Ph.D., demonstrates the role that afterschool and summer learning play in improving and expanding students' education, the ways that communities with different demographics are building successful supports for their students, the role that afterschool programs play in education reform, the ways in which these programs are helping students become more career and college ready and engaged in learning, and more.
This seminal work features studies, reports, and commentaries by more than 100 thought leaders and provides a variety of concrete, effective approaches to expand learning after school and during summers to serve more students.
The book is available at Amazon.com, and individual articles will be available for free download.
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