The Center for the Study of Education Policy (CSEP) participated in the Annual Statewide ESSA Conference in Chicago on February 13–15, 2017.

Thousands of educators gathered to share up-to-date information about innovative classroom and district practices, as well as national and state educational policies and programs. As the state is developing plan for the implementation from NCLB to ESSA, the conference theme was “Turning Point.”

Ashley Long and Pam Riley, the co-directors of the Illinois Birth-to-Third (B3) Grade Continuity Project, presented about B-3 work happening throughout the state. The Illinois B-3 Project was created to strengthen communities’ ability to develop a high quality, intentionally aligned education system from birth through third grade. This is accomplished through one or more B-3 approaches led by a team of community stakeholders. This workshop informed participants about the B-3 strategies and highlighted why it’s important to ESSA implementation. The workshop presentation is included here.