Junior deaf and hard of hearing major Jill Tezak is not afraid to go the distance for educational opportunities. Traveling across the world to Cambodia
with a group of unfamiliar college-age students might frighten away most, but it is just the type of leadership experience that excites her.
The Washington Post and Niche.com ranked University High School (U-High) 56th and 55th in the nation, respectively, during 2014.
For the past 13 years, Tom Bertrand has served as the superintendent of Rochester Community Unit District 3A (RCUD), and in 2014, he was recognized with Illinois’ highest award for the position by the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA).
In an effort to better serve Illinois’ infants and toddlers with low vision, blindness, or deafblindness, Illinois State implemented an early intervention vision program in 2015 titled Early Learning Visual Impairment Services, Training and Advancement (EL VISTA). The grant program represents one of precious few programs of its kind in the nation and is funded by a five-year $1.23 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education.
The off-campus cohort model enables students to commute to a Waukegan University Center where the bilingual paraprofessionals take coursework to complete their four-year bachelor’s degree in elementary education with bilingual and ESL endorsements.
The Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline (CTEP) was awarded a $10 million grant last fall to expand its model in urban, high-need communities in Chicago, including Pilsen and East Garfield Park, as well as in other major cities in Illinois, including Decatur and Peoria.
