In the Workplace Aurora
Improving economic development is vital to all communities and central to long-term success with Aurora’s efforts to ensure economic prosperity across such a large, diverse community. To further such efforts, Illinois has enacted policies requiring school districts to implement work-based learning. Work-Based Learning requires committed, long-term partnerships with employers across all Career Pathways, and building these relationships and engaging employers in the possibilities and benefits of work-based learning takes significant time.
In the Workplace Aurora will jump start these efforts by leveraging existing community-based, business-focused organizations to bring employers and school districts together for training led by NIU’s Illinois P-20 Network, a statewide leader in work-based learning and career readiness. The In the Workplace Auora effort is supported by the generosity of the Dunham Foundation.
East Aurora School District 131, West Aurora School District 129, and the VALEES EFE leadership have been in close collaboration with the Illinois P-20 Network to implement this exciting project, which seeks to engage employers in the benefits and mechanics of the work-based learning continuum. Employer engagement events are now scheduled, and employers from throughout the Aurora region are encouraged to attend one of the three sessions (with a meal included) to learn more about both why they would want to collaborate with the school districts and how to collaborate on bringing students in to the workplace to apply the skills that they are learning at school and to learn about careers.
Join us at any of the following free sessions:
April 16 – 11.30 AM – Aurora Economic Alliance Office (map) Lunch included at no cost to attendees
April 27 – 11.30 AM – East Aurora School District 131 District Office (map) Lunch included at no cost to attendees
June 11 – 8.00 AM – West Aurora Weisner Center (map) Breakfast included at no cost to attendees
February 2026SkillsUSA Illinois Apprenticeship & Work-Based Learning Landscape Analysis Webinar
Update – 2025-March-07 – We are excited to have publish Constructing a Strong Foundation on which to Build: SkillsUSA Illinois Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning Landscape Analysis.
With the support of SkillsUSA Illinois, throughout the Fall and Winter of the 2024-2025 year, a research team from the NIU P-20 Research and Data Collaborative comprised of the Illinois P-20 Network and the Workforce Policy Lab at the NIU Center for Governmental Studies has conducted a comprehensive overview of apprenticeship programs across Illinois, including their locations, the career fields they cover, and the demographics of current apprentices. This work has also focused on Work-Based Learning more broadly, including paid and unpaid internships. To complete this study, the team brought together existing governmental data sources from the United States Department of Labor and the Illinois State Board of Education as well as seeking input from both educators (school districts and postsecondary) and from business and community partners with two original surveys.
On Thursday, March 13, 2025, we will be hosting a webinar for educators to provide an overview of the results, the key themes, and the report’s recommendations. As a landscape analysis, this report is simply a starting point for future work, though we are both excited to have helped start moving Illinois further down the road of thoughtful data analysis as well as thankful for the support of SkillsUSA Illinois that allowed this work to take place.
March 2025Complete & share SkillsUSA Illinois Apprenticeship Study surveys
This fall, a research team from the Illinois P-20 Network and the Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies Workforce Policy Lab will be working together with the support of SkillsUSA Illinois to conduct a comprehensive statewide landscape analysis of apprenticeships in Illinois.
We have just released two surveys – one focused on educational organizations and one for business and community partners.
Here’s what we’re asking for assistance with from our Illinois P-20 Network partners:
- Please complete the educational organization survey.
- Please share the business and community partners survey with any partners who engage in any type of work-based learning and ask them to complete this survey. (Link: https://niu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bdBpTXJT1gGlsGi)
This study has strong potential to identify significant gaps in work-based learning opportunities that exist either across Career Pathways or geographically. The only way that this study can fulfill its potential is for organizations across Illinois, large and small, to complete it! Thank you for your help in completing it and sharing it with others!
October 2024More Draft Model Programs of Study Guides Released
This week, drafts of four new Model Programs of Study Guides were released in the following areas:
- Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
- Architecture, Construction, and Energy
- Arts and Communication
- Finance and Business Services
Public comments are encouraged and should be made through this Public Comment Form through June 5, 2021. There will also be an introductory webinar held on April 16, 2021 at 11 AM. Click here to register for the webinar.
These Model Programs of Study Guides were developed through a process that was sponsored by the Illinois Community College Board and implemented in collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education. Education Systems Center led this process. The first four Model Programs of Study Guides were published during the Summer of 2020, and they are:
April 2021