Summer & Fall Schedules Now Available

The Educators’ Center of Lake County is designed to provide professional development services to address the needs of pre-K-12 teachers and administrative staff in Lake County, with special focus upon those school districts with low ISAT performance and low income ratios. An additional goal is to help Lake County “grow its own” teachers by providing certification programs for non-traditional candidates.

A steering committee composed of faculty from the subset of our member institutions with schools of education, superintendents from these school districts, the regional superintendent of education, and representatives of the teacher’s unions guides the Educators’ Center program development. Also, meetings are held with Lake County superintendents from time to time to obtain additional input as to what professional development programs are needed by their teachers.

The Educators’ Center is located in the University Center at Waukegan and includes a classroom and a “mini-computer laboratory” of four computers, available to students and teachers involved in Educators’ Center activities.

For further information about the Educators’ Center or to request services, contact Director Lynne Reynolds at (847) 665-4017. or lreynolds@ucenter.org.

Since 2002, the Educators’ Center has worked with the Regional Office of Education to conduct bi-annual surveys of the Lake County school superintendents concerning their current and projected needs for teachers and other certified personnel. In 2002, the Educators’ Center also surveyed Lake County paraprofessionals about their desire for teacher certification programs. Based on that data, Illinois State University sought and received a a five-year U.S. Department of Education “Transition to Teaching” grant that provided bilingual paraprofessionals working in high need Lake County school districts the opportunity to become highly qualified elementary education teachers with bilingual endorsements.  The result of that program was the addition of approximately 50 highly qualified bilingual elementary education teachers to Lake County schools.

At the request of several superintendents in Lake County, the Educators’ Center worked with Northern Illinois University, Roosevelt University, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale to offer the pairs of courses necessary for a middle school endorsement available to Lake County teachers in the summer of 2004 in several locations and via several formats.

For the most recent survey results, click “Survey Data from Local School Districts” at the left.