In 2016, Illinois initiated a statewide transitional math program to support students to be academically ready in college-level math before graduating from high school. This qualitative study focuses on the perspective of community college faculty and administrators on the statewide implementation of transitional math programs. We find that a…

The Young Olympians Program was developed to further a partnership between a university and the local Boys and Girls Club in central Illinois. The program was developed to improve youth participants' academic efficacy and social and emotional learning, while also engaging them in physical activity. This article shares the project-management stages…

Similar to national trends, in Illinois, fatal opioid overdoses have risen. Black men (35+) outrank all other racial subgroups for the highest rate of fatal opioid overdoses in the state. To address this, Prevention First and the Illinois Department of Human Services developed a public health education campaign to support increasing enrollment in…

Amid growing concerns about students' declining interest and proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] subjects, this study underscores the urgent need for innovative educational interventions. It does so by investigating the impact of week-long residential STEM summer camps on the career interests of middle and high…

Home visiting connects expectant parents, new caregivers, and their young children with a support person, called a home visitor. The home visitor meets regularly with the family, develops a relationship with them, and supports them to achieve their goals and meet their needs. To reach the thousands of additional families who could benefit from…

The Learning While Leading (LWL) professional development program motivates and further prepares administratively certified educators to become principals or assistant principals and offers continuous support to new principals during induction. The LWL program addresses a clear need for transitional support to motivate, fully prepare, and support…

Partnerships between communities and institutions of higher education have become central ways in which post-secondary students and faculty members interact with teachers and students in community environments. These partnerships can be challenging to develop, however, particularly given the numerous and shifting priorities of both schools and…

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program that serves young people ages 16 to 18 who are struggling to complete their high school credential. This is the ninth report in an annual series that RAND researchers have issued. The prior annual reports cover 2015 through 2022. Each annual report documents the…

High-impact tutoring is a research-based approach to providing individualized instruction for students and accelerating learning. It was one of the most popular uses of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) dollars, with 10 states spending a portion of their funding on large-scale tutoring initiatives. Illinois was one…

The Reimagining Assessment Practicum (RAP) at Northwestern University exemplifies the importance of cross-functional collaboration, iterative design, and robust feedback processes in faculty development initiatives. RAP, a flexible, three-week series with both synchronous and asynchronous components, was created to enhance teaching and learning…

This report summarizes the final results of the Future Forward Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Scale-Up grant awarded to Education Analytics in 2021. Through this grant, the number of schools receiving Future Forward increased to 20, extending the program to a larger number of schools and students. However, the results suggest that Future…

Lead poisoning from ingestion of bullet fragments in gut piles and unretrieved deer carcasses continues to cause mortality in bald eagles. To address this issue, the Midwest region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) initiated an outreach program during 2016-2018 encouraging hunters to voluntarily use nonlead ammunition while deer…

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) contracted with three child welfare providers that operate transitional living (TLP) or independent living (ILO) programs (or both) to implement LifeSet, an intensive case management program developed by Youth Villages, for youth in care who are 17.5 to 21 years old. LifeSet helps…

The following resource is an impact story of how NCSI built the capacity of Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to design a state system of support to begin addressing the special education teacher shortage. The resource provides context for the intensive technical assistance focusing on improvement science, provides qualitative and…

Getting a head start on college coursework in high school has become an even more important goal for high school students in recent years, due in part to the rising costs of obtaining traditional four-year college degrees coupled with the disruptions in learning for high school and college students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever,…