College of Education Center for Education in Small Urban Communities

Center for Education in Small Urban Communities

 

OVERVIEW

Aligned with the mission of the University of Illinois as a land grant institution and with the goals of the College of Education, the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities serves as a vital resource to local school districts and educators.  The Center works collaboratively with local education agencies to create sustainable improvement in education.  The core focus of the Center is to collaboratively plan and sustain long-term, job-embedded professional learning experiences for teachers. The Center partners with local schools to conduct research on these collaborative efforts in order to further understanding of what works and to explore ways to grow such efforts. The importance of the research, service, and outreach that the Center provides is based on the critical need to support the success of our schools and its students.  To date, our collaborative work has resulted in expanding the capacity of local schools to deliver quality instruction as well as the establishment of other meaningful partnerships supporting literacy, mathematics, and second-language learning.  

 

FEATURED PROGRAMS
The Teacher Collaborator Project (TCP) provides research-based professional development partnerships with Urbana and Champaign teachers. The Center staffs several expert and highly respected Teacher Collaborators who ground their work in effective instructional practices in literacy and mathematics at both the elementary and secondary level.

 
The Youth Literature Festival is a biennial event that celebrates the value of literature in the lives of youth by bringing together local and national authors, illustrators, and storytellers with schoolchildren in 97 schools in 7 counties in east central Illinois.

 
The TEACH Academy is a concentrated, week-long, school-team-oriented professional development program planned and implemented by the Teacher Collaborators at the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities in partnership with teacher and district leaders in Champaign and Urbana public schools.  The Academy engages over 100 local teachers and administrators each year.

 

OUR MISSION

  • Build capacity through supporting teacher professional learning embedded in schools to affect change in student performance.
  • Assist in the generation of research-based understandings of our collaborative engagement in educational improvements.
  • Provide a point of entry for schools and the community to connect with faculty, researchers, and students at the University and in the College of Education.
  • Support the efforts of collaborating educators and schools in addressing their identified needs and aspirations through enabling them to access College of Education and University resources.

 

 

News
College of Education Center for Education in Small Urban Communities
1310 S. Sixth St.
Champaign, IL 61820-6925
Phone: 217-333-0960