Below are upcoming opportunities to explore.

Education Students and Diversity: A Review of New Evidence Webinar One of the most striking findings of AACTE’s signature report, Colleges of Education: A National Portrait, is the lack of diversity among education students, particularly at the bachelor’s and master’s degree levels. Education Students and Diversity: A Review of New Evidence takes advantage of a recently released U.S. Department of Education survey to examine the characteristics of students working toward bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, to compare these students to the general student population, and to identify key differences by race/ethnicity.  The issue brief’s findings suggest that African American and Hispanic education students face significant financial and personal hurdles as they work to become professional educators. The findings also challenge schools, colleges, and departments of education to carefully consider how to support students as they pursue both academic and clinical preparation.  On March 7 at 1:00 p.m. EST, author Dr. Jacqueline E. King will present a webinar summarizing the findings of this important new research.

Engaging Boards and Trustees and Strategic Learning Effecting social change in a rapidly changing political environment and an increasingly interconnected world requires a learning orientation. Without continuous learning, organizations—and thus boards and trustees—are unaware about what is working where, with whom, and why, as well as what changes or refinements are needed in order to achieve desired results.  Engaging Boards and Trustees and Strategic Learning provides a fresh set of resources for CEOs, evaluation staff, and senior leaders to use in conversations with board members about strategic learning. Join a webinar on March 7, 2019, at 2 p.m. ET.

2019 College Changes Everything® Conference  Call for Session Proposals  The Illinois Student Assistance Commission will host their ninth annual College Changes Everything® (CCE) Conference on July 18, 2019. The Conference Planning Committee is making a call for interest session proposals for the 2019 conference – Expanding Success for All Students – Every Community’s Responsibility.  The Planning Committee welcomes proposals that cover a wide range of topics related to college access and completion and career readiness. Priority consideration will be given to completed session proposal forms submitted by Friday, March 8, 2019. More information about the event and interest sessions, and to access the online session proposal, please go to the conference website.

Legislator Forum 2019  Elevating and Modernizing the Teaching Profession  Tuesday, March 26, 2019  6:00 – 8:00pm  Advance Illinois invites you for dinner and a discussion about how Illinois law makers, education experts and advocates, and communities can help ensure that all students have access to the teachers they need to prepare them for college and career.

Teach to Lead will be hosting the 17th Teacher Leadership Summit in Philadelphia, March 29-31, 2019. As with previous “open topic” summits, the Philadelphia Teacher Leadership Summit will bring teacher leaders and other stakeholders together to collaborate, problem solve, and develop action plans to benefit students and schools. Teams must include at least one practicing classroom teacher, and idea submissions can address any perceived area of need in schools, as long as the plan leverages teacher leadership as a key strategy for meeting that need.

Education Innovation and Research (EIR) New Funding Opportunity for K-12 InnovationAlso Seeking Peer Reviewers  The U.S. Department of Education’s EIR program provides funding to create or take to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve the achievement and attainment of high-need K-12 students.   There are three types of grants available: Early-phase, Mid-phase, and Expansion.  This unique three-tiered grant structure links the amount of funding that an applicant may receive to the quality of evidence that supports the efficacy of the proposed project.  $125 million is available for awards, and 25% of these funds will be reserved for rural applicants serving predominantly rural students.  In addition, EIR aims to award at least $60 million for STEM education projects.  In both of these cases, this funding will be contingent on the receipt of a sufficient number of applications of sufficient quality.  Applications are due April 2, 2019.

Illinois Teacher Leadership Summit…an ECET2 and Powered by Teach to Lead Event April 5-6, 2019, Decatur Conference Center and Hotel, Decatur, Illinois.  We are excited to announce the Illinois Teacher Leadership Summit. The summit is a great opportunity for teachers to develop concrete plans to solve local problems in their districts and network with other teachers in the state. Educators from across the state will work to collaborate, problem solve, and develop action plans to put their own expertise into action. Our hope is to attract exceptional educators from across the state to use teacher leadership as a vehicle to change the face of education.

GRANT OPPORTUNITY  The P-20 Council Teacher and Leadership Effectiveness (TLE) Committee and the College and Career Readiness Committee are collaborating to launch a joint RFP to fund pilot grants that integrate the concepts of the Diverse Learning Exchange within Education Pathways.  Please review the RFP if you are interested in applying.