Urban Education initiatives

Seven Illinois State Faculty from across the campus participated in a course development and urban education residency program.

Read about the 2008 course development initiative (pdf).

Illinois State University Urban Education Teaching Initiative

Illinois State University has ongoing partnerships with urban centers around the state.  These centers include Chicago as well as Springfield, Decatur, Peoria and Elgin.  The partnership school districts work with Illinois State University to recruit graduates to their districts as career teachers.  Furthermore, they are interested in having Illinois State faculty work with their urban schools to improve student learning.

Illinois State University is continuing to develop programs to promote urban education with the following purposes:

• Make public a renewed interest in Illinois State’s role of preparing teachers for urban schools;
• Review existing programs and practices at Illinois State that contribute to the education of teachers for urban schools;
• Identify how current and additional programs and practices can be incorporated into a system that produces measurable effects on future teachers for urban schools.

Urban Education Partners

The Illinois State University Urban Education Initiative is led by a steering committee representing the College of Education and College of Arts and Sciences at the University.  The steering committee continues to work with urban education partners to develop recommendations for improving urban teacher education preparation at Illinois State.