Illinois
Information Technology
Vision
In the Accelerated Model Pathways for Information Technology (AMP-IT), students gain access to the skills and credentials needed to build confidence and be accelerated towards living wage careers.
Overview
The Illinois design team is working to engage three leading Illinois school districts and their postsecondary partners to design and launch an accelerated version of the existing IT Model Programs of Study. The process will accelerate and deepen aspects of various pathway designs to further opportunities for high school students to earn up to 30 hours of early college credit that seamlessly stacks into college certificate, associate, and bachelor's degree programs. Through AMP-IT, the school district and postsecondary partners will then ensure that students graduating high school with at least 6 hours of career-focused early college credit will be able to advance in IT degree programs in year 13 that directly lead to high-quality employment opportunities or further education.
Organizations / Entities Represented on Design Team
Education Systems Center (EdSystems) at Northern Illinois University
Chicago Public Schools
Belvidere District 100
Township High School District 214
City Colleges of Chicago
Rock Valley College
Discovery Partners Institute
Code Nation
P33
Student Voice
I liked the dual credit and dual enrollment courses I took... I liked that it gave me an idea of what a college course would be like. The workload was structured differently and I had a lot more autonomy, as far as being independent and advocating for myself. It gave me more insight about how university classes would be, how to navigate a course like that, which was different than how my high school courses were.
- CPS Graduate, Class of 2020
Highlights
The Illinois design team has built a two-phased plan to jumpstart accelerated delivery of IT pathways to meet regional employer needs. Phase one focuses on 19 schools across three districts in Chicago and the surrounding area; as funding allows, the team plans to recruit up to five additional new regional collaboratives with at least two high schools each to enable scale in phase two.
EdSystems, the Illinois design team lead, will establish a network of community colleges who actively seek out and reward high school student pathway progression to support transitions and use that as a model to inform IT pathways.
In Spring 2022, legislation altered the IL Dual Credit Quality Act, permitting mixed student eligibility in dual credit courses. This allows more students to access content and schools to scale courses. EdSystems will seek integration of best practices for these classrooms into the IL Dual Credit Model Partnership Agreement starting in spring 2023.
Illinois: Accelerate ED Blueprint Presentation
The Illinois design team's presentation at the Nov. 2022 Accelerate ED convening.