Illinois has distinguished itself as one of the most inequitable states in the nation when it comes to state PK-12 education funding. With the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act, and more recently, the Every Student Succeeds Act, student achievement data has been thrust in front of the public, and conversations regarding equity, quality,…

In March of 2020, in response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of Illinois mandated the transition to remote instruction for all schools. Although schools had the option to resume in-person instruction during the 2020-21 school year (SY21), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) acknowledged that in-person instruction may not…

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 was marked by a transition to remote learning in Illinois schools and nationwide. The following school year, schools and families faced difficult decisions about how and when to return to in-person learning. School leaders, parents and caregivers, and students considered how to balance…

The Illinois Inventory of Educational Progress (IIEP) writing assessment is designed to assess students' knowledge and skills on curricular benchmarks. The Rating Guide for Functional Writing is criterion-referenced. The IIEP is neither mandated by statute nor connected to graduation requirements. Randomly selected students are tested each year.…

Selected titles among the 39 presentations are as follows: "Historical Study of Turnover among Cooperative Extension System Directors and Administrators" (Clark et al.); "Educational Orientation and Job Satisfaction of Extension Field Staff in Michigan" (Suvedi); "Teaching Styles and Teaching Effectiveness" (Barrett);…