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Alignment Named Elgin’s Non-Profit of the Year

Alignment Named Elgin’s Non-Profit of the Year
Alignment members accept award at the Elgin Area Chamber “High Five” Award Event on January 30, 2020

The Alignment Collaborative for Education was awarded the Elgin Area Chamber’s Nonprofit Award in recognition of Alignment’s work to measurably improve the Elgin community by creating partnerships between businesses and U-46 schools. Much of the community-wide work has focused on helping businesses offer educational experiences for students to demonstrate the link between their classes and possible career pathways.

Nancy Coleman told the community “The Alignment Collaborative’s purpose is to broaden educational opportunities that encourage our youth to experience academic, career, and personal success. In working together to raise student achievement, we build stronger schools that result in a stronger community.”

U-46 District-Wide Work Based Learning Plan

School District U-46 high school principals gathered on January 9th to collaborate with Alignment on a district-wide plan to implement work based learning opportunities for all students.  The plan will follow guidelines established in the Illinois Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) framework, ensuring students meet career-related benchmarks at each grade level.

A pilot will launch in February 2020 with career panels in all five high schools and the Dream Academy. Throughout the remainder of the semester, the pilot will include industry tours and job shadowing experiences for sophomore students, an expansion of the 40-hour internship pilot for junior students, and a job fair for senior students intending to enter the workforce immediately following graduation.

The district-wide work based learning plan will be a key component to the U-46 Educational Pathways implementation to support U-46 College and Career Academies.

“We are hoping to empower students to explore a field of interest and learn more about themselves in the process,” says Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Lela Majstorovic. “The end goal is not simply graduating from high school; the end goal is for our students to graduate with a plan and multiple options for the next step in their journey.”

Mayor Kaptain Names Alignment as a Priority in 2020

Elgin Mayor David Kaptain

When asked by the Daily Herald to identify the most important thing he hopes the community can accomplish in 2020, Mayor Kaptain responded “Our greatest successes happen when we plan for the long-term needs of our community. A prepared and educated workforce is fundamental to that. The city will continue to be a leader in the Alignment Collaborative for Education, a partnership with Elgin Area School District U-46, with commitments from more than 130 organizations to work together on new ways to improve educational outcomes and better connect our students to local jobs. From our youngest students to those ready for a career, we are all working hard to set up our future generations for success.”

Read the full Daily Herald article here.

Giving Tuesday 2019

Thank you for your support of Alignment on Giving Tuesday

Thank you to the many people who donated to Alignment on Giving Tuesday. Because of your generosity, we were able to raise over $16,000, our best Giving Tuesday campaign to date.  Your investment will support our community-wide collaborations to improve kindergarten readiness, build schools with trauma informed care cultures, and implement educational pathways that link education and workforce.

U-46, Alignment Collaborative for Education to Host 5th Annual Curriculum and Career Expo

Explore 2019 gives 8th graders up-close view of career options.

More than 3,000 U-46 8th graders will get the opportunity next month to talk with local professionals who will share their journey from post-secondary education to the workforce. The District’s annual curriculum and career expo aims to show students the connection between academics and future careers at a time when they are beginning to recognize their interests and, together with their parents, teachers, and guidance counselors, plan for high school and beyond.

As in recent years, the Alignment Collaborative for Education is partnering with U-46 to organize the event, and for the second year, it will be held at the Sears Centre, 5333 Prairie Stone Parkway, Hoffman Estates. Eighth grade students will attend during the school day on Sept. 11 with their teachers. More than 90 local companies and organizations will showcase their careers at the event which will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

New this year, parents and guardians of U-46 8th grade students are invited to attend a special “preview” of Explore 2019 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at the Sears Centre.

“Explore offers students a unique opportunity to learn first hand about various professions and to think about what college or career path they might want to follow,” said U-46 CEO Tony Sanders. “I’m excited that this year we can offer parents a chance to experience our expo as well and to meet some of the inspiring professionals who are volunteering to talk with students and explain how their education and career path led them to their current roles.”

The Citizens’ Advisory Council helped the District launch the first expo. The Alignment Collaborative for Education, a non-profit local organization that brings together community resources and initiatives to support District priorities, has since helped expand the expo in the past four years, first as a weekend event at Elgin Community College and starting in 2018, as a weekday event at the Sears Centre. The new location was necessary to accommodate both the growing exhibitor demonstrations and equipment and 8th grade students from all eight U-46 middle schools. U-46 buses will be used to transport the students to the event.

“We are thrilled to see so many local businesses invest in our future workforce,” said Nancy Coleman, executive director of Alignment. “We look forward to hosting parents on the 10th and giving them the opportunity to experience the expo and become better equipped to discuss the event as well as future college and career options with their children.”

Explore 2019 supports the District’s ongoing efforts to improve college and career readiness. The first aspiration outlined in the District’s Strategic Plan focuses on student achievement and educating the whole student by providing an enriched, high-quality experience that empowers graduates to be competitive members of the global society.

Another part of that effort is Naviance, a web-based college and career readiness platform that helps middle and high school students explore their strengths and interests. Before Explore 2019, school counselors will visit 8th grade classrooms, helping students use the Naviance tool to determine the career cluster they want to focus on at the event. Also before the event, students and parents will be provided with tips about how they can discuss the student’s career interests at home, as well as an expo map so that students can plan their route.

At both the school-day Explore 2019 and the parent preview the night before, U-46 faculty and staff will be present to explain core classes, electives, and popular course sequences that are based on students’ career interests, such as courses in automotive, welding, healthcare science, and manufacturing, as well as additional college and career preparatory curriculum. Representatives from the District’s five magnet academies, which require an application process, will be present at both events as well. Children can attend the preview night with their parents.

Exhibitors, which include businesses, hospitals, local governmental organizations, industry partners, universities, and non-profits, in total representing about a dozen career clusters, will be provided with suggestions for how to best interact with students.

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School District U-46 serves families in 11 communities: Bartlett, Elgin, Hanover Park, South Elgin, Streamwood and Wayne, as well as portions of Carol Stream, Hoffman Estates, St. Charles, Schaumburg, and West Chicago. In total, the District encompasses 90 square miles within the Fox River Valley, approximately 45 minutes west of downtown Chicago, and includes communities within Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. More than 38,000 pre-K through twelfth graders attend the 57 District schools and programs. To learn more, Visit the U-46 website,or like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

 

U-46 to Recognize May 15 as Trauma-Informed Awareness Day

Trauma Informed Care Day - May 15, 2019
26 Schools Plan to Raise Awareness of Trauma-Informed Care.

School District U-46 is inviting local organizations to join the District in recognizing Wednesday, May 15 as Trauma-Informed Awareness Day. The approach supports an informed response to students experiencing adverse situations, both past and present, and it is gaining momentum in the state’s second-largest district and across the nation.

“Trauma-informed care is a vital component of U-46’s multi-tiered system of support,” said U-46 Director of School Safety and Culture John Heiderscheidt. “It provides social-emotional supports to students who need it the most, and helps them reach academic success as they overcome adverse experiences.”

The Illinois State Senate passed a resolution in March 2019 declaring May 15 as Trauma-Informed Awareness Day, and U-46 schools will be recognizing the day by raising awareness about the importance of trauma-informed care and how it provides social and emotional support for students who have experienced any adverse childhood experiences.

Trauma-informed care prepares educators and others to better respond to students with adverse childhood experiences. It is an approach that recognizes how these experiences may affect a child in the classroom, and it gives educators tools they can implement to support students who have experienced trauma. The Adverse Childhood Experiences study performed by the Center for Disease Control found that traumatic experiences during childhood have a tremendous impact on future social and health problems.

To support U-46 schools in providing trauma-informed care, the Alignment Collaborative for Education created a team focused on providing training to teams within U-46 schools, called resiliency teams. Since 2017, 26 schools in U-46 have formed resiliency teams.

On May 15, school resiliency team staff will tie a purple ribbon around the flagpole at their school and wear Trauma-Informed Care Awareness Day stickers in an effort to raise awareness and start conversations about trauma-informed care.

Local organizations are invited to join U-46 in recognizing May 15 as Trauma-Informed Awareness Day. Packets containing stickers and a purple ribbon will be available for pickup at the District’s Educational Service Center, 355 E. Chicago Street. More information about trauma-informed care can be found on the U-46 website.