NEW THIS YEAR

Using Data and Standards to Drive Program Design: A Perfect Match

The Illinois Resource Center is happy to offer a new technical assistance workshop series entitled A Perfect Match: Using Data and Standards to Drive Program Design. This three part (six day) series is intended to provide sustained professional development to teams of teachers and administrators interested in participating in a process to improve their district’s language education programs for English language learners (ELLs).

Illinois Resource Center (IRC) specialists and World Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium experts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison will provide engaging and dynamic opportunities to team participants for data mining and analysis, a structured framework for applying the gathered data and resulting interpretation to craft an exemplary program design for ELLs and a process for addressing curricular and instructional implications of the resulting exemplary program design. At the end of the workshop series, team participants will acquire the tools, skills and strategies necessary to effect positive change in educational programming for ELLs in your district.

The IRC specialists who typically serve school districts in the area of program development and improvement believe that the pairing of IRC specialists with WIDA Consortium experts in a multi-district format will provide elevated levels of expertise, increased resources, multiple perspectives and ample opportunities for networking that our previous format for technical assistance (long-term consultation with an IRC specialist) could not begin to realize.

A commitment on the part of the district to support school or district-wide teams’ participation in the entire series is critical for implementing these standards-based educational services. Homework tasks will be assigned to registered team participants prior to the first session and in between each two-day workshop. Continuing professional development units (CPDUs) are available for this workshop series. This workshop series qualifies for use of Title I and Title III funds. The series will be offered two times this year.

Dates for the first workshop series:
October 21, 22, December 2, 3, 2008 & January 21, 22, 2009
Registration form, with complete payment, is due by October 1, 2008

Dates for the second workshop series:
April 22, 23, May 4, 5, & May 27, 28, 2009
Registration form, with complete payment, is due by March 20, 2009

For additional information, contact Barbara Marler at the IRC at 224-366-8555 or at bmarler@thecenterweb.org.

©2002 Illinois Resource Center, 2626 Clearbrook Drive,
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005-4626
Phone 224-366-8555, Fax 847-649-0551