The P-20 Network – Who we are collectively – June 2020

At the historic and unusual end of the 2019-2020 academic year, the P-20 Network decided to collect a small amount of demographic data and analyze the make-up of the Network based on who its students are as reported publicly via the Illinois Report Card and Illinois Postsecondary Profiles websites. This data is based on the numbers reported on those websites on June 30, 2020, which, to a large degree, is data from the previous school year (a year old). Nevertheless, it paints a relatively accurate picture of who makes up the P-20 Network. For this analysis, only data from school districts and postsecondary institutions from across the Network was studied as including the state agencies or other statewide organizations would naturally include all students and organizations across Illinois.

Overall, the P-20 Network currently includes organizations that serve over 700,000 students, and approximately half of them are served in school districts and half of them are served in postsecondary institutions.

Elementary & Secondary Students

Across the school districts that are engaged with the P-20 Network, there are 366,810 students. In general, the demographics of the P-20 Network mirror the State of Illinois with a few key differences.

Student DemographicP-20 Network (%)State (%)
Low Income 3849
Students with IEPs1516
Homeless Students22
Students learning English1312
White Students49.447.6
Black Students8.416.7
Hispanic Students28.426.4
Asian Students9.45.1
American Indian Students0.30.3
Pacific Islander Students0.10.1
Students of 2 or more races4.03.8

The school districts that participate in the P-20 Network have an overall lower percentage of low income students (38%) than Illinois does statewide (49%) and a lower percentage of students whose families identify as Black (8.4%) than does Illinois (16.7%). There is also a higher percentage of students whose families identify as Asian across the P-20 Network school districts (9.4%) than there is across the entire state (5.1%). Not represented by this data is the fact that the school districts that currently make up the P-20 Network also represent a wide variety of communities, from smaller (in population), rural farming communities to urban centers to a wide range of suburban communities featuring many different types of housing and commercial areas. The range of careers that make up the communities represented across the P-20 Network is arguably as diverse as anywhere in the United States.

Despite these differences, the general diversity of students across Illinois is represented by the school districts across the P-20 Network, and regardless of comparisons, the students being served across these school districts represent a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Postsecondary Students

As a result of the efforts of the Illinois Community College Board, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, the Illinois Postsecondary Profiles website offers a wealth of data about students in higher education in Illinois. This data is not aggregated statewide like it is in the Illinois Report Card, and there is not data included about how old students are or what their pathways to their current postsecondary experiences are. (For example, the question how many current community college students already have a Bachelor’s Degree? is not answered by this data.) Nevertheless, there are some important data points we can begin to track across the P-20 Network.

Student DemographicP-20 Network (%)
Full-Time Students41
Part-Time Students59
White Students48
Black Students11
Hispanic Students25
Asian Students7

From even this brief data set, there are a number of important points for analysis. First, the percentages of full-time versus part-time students has significant implications for instruction, schooling, and supports. Most of the postsecondary institutions in the P-20 Network are community colleges (20 of the 25 postsecondary institutions), and the high number of part-time students is not new or uncommon in community colleges. Nevertheless, it is important information for programming and supports and ensuring advancement and degree completion. With regards to the race/ethnicity data points, the enrollment of postsecondary students across P-20 Network institutions closely reflects the demographic characteristics of the population of elementary and secondary students with Black students being underrepresented in postsecondary institutions in comparison to the percentage of the current K-12 student population statewide and with Asian students being represented at a higher percentage in postsecondary institutions than they are in the current K-12 student population statewide.

Overall, the P-20 Network is very diverse, and educational successes across the P-20 Network are successes that can likely be replicated across Illinois, the United States, and beyond.

Thank you to P-20 Network Graduate Research Assistant Sadia Qamar for the data collection and methodology work done that served as the foundation for this analysis.

June 2020

Transitional English – Learn more and provide feedback

Over the course of the 2018-2019 school year, in collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Community College Board, and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, Education Systems Center led a committee of educators from school districts and postsecondary institutions in the development of the draft Course Parameters and Competencies for Transitional English. During this same period, the Illinois Community College Board awarded grants to support community colleges and school districts in beginning to develop and launch their Transitional English programs locally that would based their work on this statewide framework. The ICCB Transitional English Grant awardees represent a variety of institutions, geographic regions, and demographics throughout Illinois.

On June 2, 2020, Education Systems Center, the state agencies, and representatives of the Competency Development Group presented a statewide Transitional English webinar to provide background and explanation regarding Transitional English.

Educators and the public can provide feedback on the draft framework using this Transitional English Public Comment Survey through July 31, 2020.

The image below provides an outline of the process of moving from where it is today to full implementation.

At the time of the publication, the State of Illinois is in the left-most circle. Based on the feedback, there may be adjustments to the draft framework. Then, during Fall 2020, it is anticipated that the state agencies will review the course parameters and competencies and then adopt them. At that point, the work will shift to implementing the statewide portability panel in order to ensure that all students who are successful in Transitional English can be placed in the appropriate college English class across Illinois.

For more information, visit the Illinois Community College Board’s official Transitional English website.

June 2020

Learn about Competency-Based Education

Join Education Systems Center for a webinar that highlights Competency-Based Education
June 23rd from 9 to 10.30 AM 

Competency-Based Education can provide a stronger foundation for providing deep, authentic learning opportunities for all students and for most appropriately challenge students as well as meeting individual academic and social-emotional needs. Competency-Based Education offers flexibility that can also support very strong implementations of Career Pathway Endorsements and a wide range of Dual Credit offerings.  

Over the past four years, dozens of Illinois school district have been implementing Competency-Based Education. As one of these superintendents recently said when referring to the shift to remote learning in March, 2020, “Being a Competency-Based district made the move to remote learning so much easier, and we were so much more effective with students as a result of the work we’d been doing.” The benefits of Competency-Based Education extend far beyond remote learning. The realities of remote learning have caused professionals across all kinds of fields to consider changes to their work. In the case of educators, one result of these reflective questions is a heightened awareness of and desire to learn more about Competency-Based Education. 

On June 23, 2020, our partners at Education Systems Center invite policymakers and practitioners to a webinar that will explore the opportunities remote learning provides to shift from traditional teaching and learning to more systemic personalized and competency-based approaches. Led by national experts, this session will provide a framework with entry points and next steps for pivoting to personalized instructional systems that meet students “where they are” and support them in moving forward as they are ready. Participants will also examine the challenges they have addressed implementing remote learning and consider how shifting to personalized, competency-based approaches can provide a useful framework for next school year and beyond. 

This session will be led by three national experts in personalized and competency-based approaches who are authors of the new book Deeper Competency-Based Learning: Making Equitable, Student-Centered, Sustainable Shifts: Rose Colby, Karin Hess, Ed. D, and Daniel Joseph. In addition, participants will hear directly from Illinois districts at the leading edge of implementing competency-based approaches through the state’s competency-based pilot. 

Following registration, participants will receive excerpts from Deeper Competency-Based Learning: Making Equitable, Student-Centered, Sustainable Shifts along with reflection questions to respond to in advance of the session. 

Register for the June 23, 2020 Shifts Happen: COVID-19 “disruptions” can offer new opportunities for moving toward personalization and competency-based approaches webinar 

June 2020