The Higher Education Act as amended by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) contained several provisions to increase access to higher education for youth and adults with intellectual disability. One outcome of these provisions was the appropriation of funds by Congress to create a model demonstration program aimed at developing and…

Illinois soybean growers have not been satisfied with recent lagging yield trends. A yield "challenge" was created to blend the motivation and creativity of a yield contest with the learning power of teamwork and on-farm demonstration. In the initial year (2010), 123 on-farm side-by-side demonstration plots were located throughout the…

More than 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, and around 700,000 are released from prison each year. Those who are released face daunting obstacles as they seek to reenter their communities, and rates of recidivism are high. Many experts believe that stable employment is critical to a successful transition from prison to the…

More than 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, and around 700,000 are released from prison each year. Those who are released face daunting obstacles as they seek to reenter their communities, and rates of recidivism are high. Many experts believe that stable employment is critical to a successful transition from prison to the…

An increasing number of jobs in today's workforce require postsecondary education, yet large numbers of workers lack the essential skills and credentials to fill these jobs. The result is that many workers remain underemployed, reaching a ceiling early in their working careers. In 2007, the Joyce Foundation launched the Shifting Gears initiative…

This report provides initial results of Illinois' Shifting Gears Initiative that operated between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. This mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) evaluation sought to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess program and student outcomes for two models (adult education and developmental education) for two target groups…

This research report examines the Baby TALK model, an innovative early childhood intervention approach used to identify, recruit, and serve young children who are at-risk for developmental delays, mental health needs, and/or school failure, and their families. The report begins with a description of the model. This description is followed by an…

Illinois Shifting Gears is a multilevel initiative that has simultaneously created bridge programs in the field and altered state policy to facilitate the creation of more programs in the future. These efforts have informed each other, giving policymakers the opportunity to interact with practitioners, troubleshoot bridge programs, and make…

Accessing Curriculum through Technology Tools (ACTTT), a model development project, was developed and tested by staff of the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood (the Center), a research and development unit within the College of Education and Human Services at Western Illinois University. The major goal of ACTTT was to develop,…

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT WAS TO APPLY CURRENT KNOWLEDGE, METHODS, AND TECHNIQUES IN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TO REHABILITATING THE HANDICAPPED BY USING THE LABOR FORCE AVAILABLE IN SHELTERED WORKSHOPS AND HOMEBOUND PROGRAMS. DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS WERE ESTABLISHED AS TASK FORCES IN CHICAGO, NEW YORK, AND LOS ANGELES WITH THE…

This report of the activities of Project MEDIA, the Illinois State-Wide Facilitator for the National Diffusion Network, includes a description of the diffusion and facilitation process in the state, the numbers and types of requests for information and assistance from the project, the impact of Project MEDIA on local education agencies (LEAs) in…

In its first year of funding, Project MEDIA (Meaningful Educational Directions Through Innovative Approaches) offered school districts in Illinois information concerning the latest emerging developments in the field of education, specialized assistance in developing and implementing new approaches and techniques, and a centralized resource for…

Father involvement enhances children's well-being. A growing body of research supports this conclusion, showing that children with involved fathers exhibit greater school readiness, increased cognitive development, higher levels of empathy, and other positive characteristics (Administration for Children and Families 2004a). Research also indicates…

The comprehensive vocational guidance program in Rockford, Illinois, included a career awareness curriculum at the elementary level, personality and interest exploration for the middle schools, and utilization of a career planning data retrieval system at the high school level. The third party evaluation utilized information from eight population…

As a conveyance for local in-service efforts, the Talent Pool endeavors to identify effective practitioners in the field who can share their methods and materials with less experienced practitioners through demonstration and discussion. Developed by the Career Education Service Center (CESC), this document is a compilation of sample forms and…