2004 Institutional Capabilities Materials Instructions for Users This document is a compilation of materials for use in constructing the Institutional Capabilities section for funding proposals. We expect that users will select portions of this compilation that best fit their requirements and edit as needed. * The following descriptions of various units in the College were created by the Bureau using materials drawn from the website links listed at the beginning of each description, with the addition of other materials where appropriate to make the descriptions more uniform and more complete across departments and more useful for proposal preparation. * Some departments’ descriptions contain a note comparing two figures drawn from the Division of Management Information statistics for the department: “headcount” versus “FTE” (full time equivalent) for faculty. Please choose one or the other depending on the emphasis desired. UIUC and the College of Education Related University website: http://www.publications.uiuc.edu/World.pdf University of Illinois Since its founding in 1867, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been committed to excellence in research, teaching, and public engagement. Among the University's most significant resources is its talented and highly respected faculty. Many are recognized for exceptional scholarship with memberships in the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering; as National Science Foundation Young Investigators and as recipients of the Nobel Prize, Crafoord Prize in Biosciences, Japan Prize, National Medal of Science, and Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers; and by such organizations as the National Endowment for the Humanities, Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, National Academy of Education, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Each year, Illinois students receive some of the world’s most elite scholarships. For the past 13 years, the University has sent at least one student per year to Cambridge for a prestigious post-graduate fellowship. In the last decade, 1 Rhodes, 3 Truman, 5 Marshall, 5 Gates, 9 Goldwater, 7 Churchill, 3 Luce, and 36 Fulbright Scholars have come from Illinois. Another prime indicator of the University’s excellence is the success of its alumni: 11 alumni are Nobel laureates and another 18 have won Pulitzer Prizes. Academic resources on campus are among the finest in the world. The University Library is the largest public university collection in the world, housing more than 22 million items, including 10 million volumes, more than 13 million print and nonprint materials, and over 90,000 periodicals and journals in the main library and in more than 40 departmental libraries and divisions. The library’s computerized cataloging system was the first in the world to serve as the primary access to a large academic library. More than one million users worldwide access the online catalog each week. A world leader in supercomputing design and applications, the University is home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, developer of the hypermedia browser MosaicTM, which revolutionized the use of the World Wide Web. Students have access to thousands of computer terminals in classrooms, residence halls, and campus libraries for use in classroom instruction, study, and research. Students and scholars find the University an ideal place to conduct inter- and multidisciplinary research. The most visible example of the University’s commitment to such study is the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, where 18 research groups from 16 University departments work within and across three broadly defined themes: biological intelligence, human-computer intelligent interaction, and molecular and electronic nanostructures. The University has a fundamental commitment to undergraduate education. Over 28,000 undergraduate students are enrolled in nine undergraduate divisions, which together offer some 4,000 courses in more than 150 fields of study. The divisions are the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; College of Applied Life Studies; College of Business; College of Communications; College of Education; College of Engineering; College of Fine and Applied Arts; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Institute of Aviation. Undergraduate admission is highly selective. In the 2002 freshman class, students in the middle 50% had ACT scores between 25 and 30 and ranked between the 83rd and 96th percentiles of their high school graduating classes; the freshman class contained 25 Merit Scholars as well. The University enrolls over 10,000 graduate and professional students in more than 100 programs. It is among the top five universities in number of earned doctorates awarded annually in the United States. Also integral to the University’s mission is a commitment to public engagement. Each year about 65,000 Illinois residents participate in scores of conferences, institutes, credit and noncredit courses, and workshops presented on campus and statewide. The University’s Cooperative Extension Service comes into contact with nearly two million Illinois residents, providing 4-H, nutrition intervention, and other programs in rural and urban settings. Research and class projects take students and professors outside their classrooms and laboratories to share expertise and technical support with Illinois farmers, manufacturing firms, and businesses. In a typical year, student volunteers log more than 60,000 volunteer hours in blood drives, day care centers, prisons, senior citizen centers, and tutoring programs. A major center for the arts, the campus attracts dozens of nationally and internationally renowned artists each year to its widely acclaimed Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Designed by alumnus Max Abramovitz, an architect of New York City’s Lincoln Center, the facility has four indoor theaters and an outdoor amphitheater. Together, they host more than 350 performances each year. The University also supports two major museums: the Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, second only to the Art Institute of Chicago among Illinois public art museums; and the Spurlock Museum, a museum of world history and culture, which holds in its collections approximately 47,000 artifacts from diverse cultures and varied historical time periods. Other major facilities include the multipurpose Assembly Hall (16,500 seats), which hosts concerts, convocations, theater, and sporting events; Memorial Stadium (70,000 seats), site of Big Ten Conference football games; and the Intramural-Physical Education Building, one of the largest recreational facilities of its kind on a university campus. Located in east central Illinois in the twin cities of Urbana and Champaign (combined population 100,000), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the state’s flagship public university. The College of Education College website is: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ The College of Education at the University of Illinois celebrates its 85th anniversary in 2003-2004. The current enrollment numbers 695 undergraduate students in three curricula leading to a B. S., 250 undergraduates with an education minor, and over 800 in Master’s and Doctoral programs. Serving a mission to improve public education in Illinois, the nation, and the world, the 94 College of Education faculty engage in research, education policy formation, and consultation across the U.S. and several international programs. Over 97% of recent graduates seeking employment have succeeded, with nearly 90% of graduates employed in education fields. Over 185 school districts annually recruit students from the College. Resource and research centers include the Bureau of Educational Research, the Center for the Study of Reading, the Transition Research Institute, the ERIC Clearinghouse in Elementary and Early Childhood Education, the Early Childhood Research Institute on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services, and the National Center for Research in Vocational Education. In fiscal year 2003, the College of Education received almost $9,000,000 in external funding through federal, state, and foundation grants to support research and development projects. In “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004,” published in the US News & World Report, the College of Education was judged the nation’s 27th best graduate school of education. Three of the six departments in the college (Educational Psychology, Curriculum & Instruction and Special Education ) were ranked in the top five, and five of the six (with the addition of Human Resource Education and Educational Policy Studies) were ranked in the top ten. Five major professional journals are published within the College of Education: Early Childhood Research and Practice, Educational Theory, International Journal of Education and the Arts, Journal of Aesthetic Education, and Spectrum, the Journal of the Illinois Science Teachers’ Association. Departments Within the College of Education The College of Education comprises six departments: • Curriculum and Instruction • Educational Organization and Leadership • Educational Policy Studies • Educational Psychology • Human Resource Education • Special Education The Department of Curriculum and Instruction Departmental website is: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ci/ Graduate students and faculty members in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction engage in creating new knowledge, practices, and theories related to the education and learning of children, youth, and adults. The primary purpose of the Department's graduate instruction is to prepare professional teachers, leaders in teacher education, and researcher/scholars. Graduate programs and the 29 faculty in the Department are organized into three divisions: Curriculum and Teacher Education; Language and Literacy; and Mathematics, Science, and Technology. In accordance with the requirements of each division and the College of Education, graduate students work with their faculty advisors to develop individual programs of study. They may draw on the wide range of expertise available from faculty in the Department and in other departments throughout the College of Education and campus. Faculty members are engaged in research on issues that have a broad impact on schooling. Current major projects include a National Science Foundation project for developing a better understanding of the foundations of number and operations sense in early childhood and a US Department of Education project for providing culturally and linguistically relevant instructional strategies for students with learning disabilities. In addition, the US Department of Education funds continuing development of the ERIC Clearinghouse for elementary and early childhood education. Spencer Foundation has funded a grant for improving science education for early childhood in at-risk settings, and the Illinois State Board of Education supports a project for improving mathematics materials for teachers of teachers. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction was ranked fourth in the nation in the report, "America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004" published by the US News & World Report. The Department of Educational Organization and Leadership Departmental website is: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EOL/about.asp The purpose of the Department of Educational Organization and Leadership is to prepare collaborative, proactive educational leaders committed to improving the quality of leadership in a variety of rapidly changing and increasingly diverse organizational contexts. This is achieved by assuming leadership positions within educational organizations, engaging in scholarly inquiry about educational organizations and leadership, and improving policies and practices within educational organizations. The Department program is characterized by an integration of a wide variety of scholarly activities oriented toward the intellectual, moral, and democratic aspects of leadership. These include: formal courses, field experiences, research, informal learning activities, and public and professional service to enhance our understanding of educational organizations and leadership and to improve the quality of leadership in these organizations. The Department offers program specialization in the areas of Educational Administration and Supervision and Higher Education Administration. There are seven tenure-track faculty. A current major research project is a study funded by the State of Illinois which undertakes to improve parents’ skills in reading and mathematics in order to improve the academic performance of their children. The Department of Educational Organization and Leadership was ranked seventeenth in the nation in the report, "America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004" published by the US News & World Report. Department of Educational Policy Studies Departmental website is: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/index.html The Department of Educational Policy Studies (EPS) is primarily a graduate department that offers masters and doctoral degrees in history, philosophy, sociology, and politics of education and policy analysis. Other degrees in aesthetic education and comparative education are offered on a more limited basis. The major mission of EPS is three-fold: (1) to provide a first-rate research and graduate program for graduate students; (2) to provide for all of the College's future teachers and school personnel a broad view of the educational enterprise that will enhance their understanding of the social context of their own roles within that enterprise; and (3) to engage in scholarly inquiry about the relationship between schools and society in order to contribute to efforts by local, state, and national agencies to develop educational policies that resolve educational needs and problems. Through the disciplines of history, philosophy, sociology, political science, anthropology, and economics, the Department provides a multidisciplinary focus on the social context of educational policy and practice, paying particular attention to the social context of teaching and learning and the broader relationship between school and society. Current faculty interests center around these areas: African-American education, gender problems in teacher professionalization, ethnic families and their influence on teacher expectations and student differences in higher education, the consequences of desegregated schooling, race and sex differences in higher education, international dimensions of policy research, diversity and multiculturalism, educational technology, and the impact of media and popular culture on educational thought and practice. Current faculty research includes a Spencer Foundation grant to study the relationship between religious instruction and moral education; collaborative research with an Educational Testing Service project to study minority academic achievement, a US Department of Education-funded study of minority trajectories through higher education to professional careers; and a Rand Corporation project looking at educational reform in Qatar. The Department is interested in educational reform in Latin America and the South Pacific. The strengths of the Department are found in the quality of its 16 faculty and 70 graduate students and their productivity in scholarship, teaching, and service. [NOTE: DMI’s headcount for tenure-track faculty is 16.] The Department is recognized on campus and nationally as one of the nation's leading programs in educational foundations. Because of its traditional reputation as one of the top foundations departments in the nation, the EPS Department has been able to attract and graduate exceptional students who impact the field nationally. This continues to be a major strength. The enrollment of graduate students has grown from 45 in 1985-86 to 87 in 2001-2002, and the demand for admission continues to escalate. The Department's outstanding record in placing its Ph.D. graduates in excellent faculty positions and its growing reputation as a program with a diverse faculty and graduate student body have combined to attract first-rate students from traditional and non-traditional networks. The Department of Educational Policy Studies was ranked tenth in the nation in the report, "America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004" published by the US News & World Report. The Department of Educational Psychology Departmental website is: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EDPSY/MAIN/index.html The faculty in the Department of Educational Psychology are widely recognized for expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research areas. The Department offers an intellectually challenging, research-oriented graduate program, with an enrollment of 100 graduate students. Students work closely with faculty in innovative, cutting-edge research projects. Current major research projects include collaborating with UI Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to use integrated modeling and field-based research assessment to support management and outreach programs for the US Department of the Environment; an Illinois State Board of Education-funded external evaluation of the implementation of the Reading Excellence Act in Illinois; and a National Institute of Mental Health project studying the risk and protective factors in early school maladjustment. Additionally, research in user-adapted interfaces for computer learning tools is funded by Yamaha Foundation with Knobbe, Martins, Olsen, and Bear, in conjunction with Beckman Institute. Finally, Spencer Foundation has funded studying the effects of classroom social environment on students’ motivation, self-regulated learning, and achievement in mathematics. A large department, with over 50 faculty members, [NOTE: The DMI Headcount lists 23 tenure-track faculty; the departmental website lists 50, many of them adjunct faculty.] Educational Psychology provides a broad spectrum of specialty areas. The Department is divided into four instructional divisions: Counseling Psychology; Development and Socialization Processes; Cognition, Learning, Language Instruction and Culture; and Quantitative and Evaluative Research Methodologies. This divisional structure encourages interaction among faculty and students with similar professional interests and facilitates the staffing of courses, the admission of students, and the assignment of graduate advisers. The Department of Educational Psychology was ranked fourth in the nation in the report, "America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004" published by the US News & World Report. The Department of Human Resource Education Departmental website is: http://euro.hre.uiuc.edu/ The Department of Human Resource Education is recognized as an international leader in the preparation of human resource development and college professionals. The Department had achieved national recognition, being ranked consistently among the top five departments of its type by U.S News and World Report. In a recent study of academic programs in Education, the Department was ranked second in reputation and third in productivity among all peer departments in the U.S. It has a strong reputation, with high-quality faculty, staff, and students. The 16 faculty are exceptional scholars, instructors, and leaders [Note: the DMI headcount is 8 tenure-system faculty]. The Department has also been awarded the "Outstanding HRD Academic Department Awards" from the Academy of Human Resource Development. The Department has developed a strategy for going beyond tradition and is in a unique position to respond to rapid changes occurring in the fields of Human Resource Development (HRD) and Community College Leadership (CCL). Its long history of leadership and its rich talent pool enable the Department to address emerging issues. Graduates from the Department obtain management, research, faculty and leadership position around the world. The Department of Human Resource Education offers a comprehensive program that places heavy emphasis on individual and organizational performance improvement in a variety of settings. The program is consistently ranked among the top five programs of its kind in the nation. The graduate program provides learning opportunities within several major areas of study. Students who pursue the master's or doctoral program have the option of gaining insights into the theories and practices of community colleges, corporate education, and international vocational education. Within these areas of study students choose to specialize in a variety of concentrations including learning theories, instructional practices, learning technologies, individual and organizational leadership, and program evaluation. This comprehensive curriculum prepares graduates for leadership positions in higher education and the corporate world. Beyond the instructional program there are a variety of initiatives that support research and public service efforts. The Department continues to be a primary partner in the US Department of Education-funded National Center for Research in Career and Technical Education. Additionally, the Office for Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) and the Tech Prep Evaluation System for Illinois are funded by the Illinois State Board of Education to carry out research and tailor specialized graduate programs for current and aspiring leaders. The Department is also a leader in the development and delivery of online instructional programs. Relationships with other educational institutions and corporations provide close interaction with educational practitioners. Finally, the Department is involved in extensive international development activities in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. The Department of Human Resource Education was ranked sixth in the nation in the report, "America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004" published by the US News & World Report. The Department of Special Education Departmental website is: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/sped/department.html A survey of faculty members at doctoral-granting institutions in special education has consistently ranked the department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign among the top ten in the nation. The department is internationally known as well, and faculty members have acted as consultants in nations around the globe. The faculty embraces a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service. Within this mission, faculty members address issues that face special and regular education as rapidly changing world cultures and commerce continue to challenge schooling in America. From its inception, the department has emphasized the interdependence between research and teacher education. Federal and state funding supports graduate research in infancy and early childhood special education, the education of learners with mild disabilities, the education and training of persons with severe disabilities, administration, and the transition from secondary special education to the workplace and community. The department has a long and distinguished professional tradition. Many of the department's alumni hold key research and teaching positions in major universities. Graduates of the program also hold key government and teaching positions in many foreign countries. The Department is committed to the production and dissemination of new knowledge in the area of special education and developmental disabilities. We accomplish this purpose through our many research and demonstration projects and through our program of graduate studies. Explicit in this mission is the conduct of high quality research which is focused on issues related to disabilities. These issues encompass applied and basic research questions and issues of social policy. The research and demonstration focus spans life events from birth through adulthood for individuals with disabilities and their families. The research mission of the university is well integrated into the scholarship and academic pursuits of the faculty. The research often parallels the departments' teaching and service activities which focus on the integration of special education with regular education and with the community through models of collaborative consultation, supportive employment, integrated classrooms, multi-disciplinary teaming, and family centered interventions. A number of US Department of Education-funded projects parallel the department’s teaching and service activities, which focus on the integration of special education with regular education and with the community through models of collaborative consultation, supportive employment, integrated classrooms, multi-disciplinary teaming, and family centered interventions. In addition, the Department of Health and Human Services funds the Disability Services Quality Improvement Center, as well as the Center on Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning. Finally, National Science Foundation funds the planning for a national data collection center for interdisciplinary educational research on disabilities. We have two priorities in our teaching: Doctoral training and the preparation of special education teachers and related professionals at the master's degree level. Preparation of doctor students focuses on: 1. Leadership training for university faculty positions with primary emphasis on research and teaching. 2. The development and evaluation of model personnel preparation programs. 3. Leadership training for policy development and evaluation at the state and national levels. At the master's level, the development of state of the art training programs and the preparation of highly qualified special education teachers or related professionals (e.g., early interventionists, job coaches) is a priority. These training programs have been supported extensively by federal training grants, with the intent that the training program models, or components of the models, might be adopted by other institutions. Our service mission within the College of Education is one of providing courses for certification of teachers in special education as well as one of collaboration with other units. A major focus is the integration of special and regular education through and infusion of information about special education methods into courses taken by all students who are preparing to become professionals in education. The Department is internationally known, and faculty members have acted as consultants in nations around the globe. The faculty of 15 embrace a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service. Within this mission, faculty members address issues that face special and regular education as rapidly changing world cultures and commerce continue to challenge schooling in America. Many of the Department's alumni hold key research and teaching positions in major universities. Graduates of the program also hold key government and teaching positions in many foreign countries. The Department of Special Education was ranked fifth in the nation in the report, "America’s Best Graduate Schools 2004" published by the US News & World Report. Other Units and Projects • The Bureau of Educational Research • Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation (CIRCE) • Center for the Study of Reading • Early Childhood Research Institute on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) • ERIC Clearinghouse and Education Journals • National Centers for Career and Technical Education (NCCTE) Consortium Member • Novice Teacher Support Project (NTSP) • Office of Educational Technology (OET) • Skills Promoted Through Arts, Reading, and Knowledge (SPARK) • Technology Initiatives — Apple Education Grant — AT&T Faculty Fellows Program — Ed-Online (CTER Online and HRE Online) — TALENT: Technology Across Learning Environments for New Teachers — Technology Studies Program — Teacher.training@microsoft • The Transition Research Institute The Bureau of Educational Research http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ber/ The Bureau of Educational Research fulfills a broad mission of enriching the research culture at the College of Education by supporting interdepartmental or interdisciplinary collaboration; nurturing faculty research, especially for those who are at critical passages in their careers; and providing support for proposal writing and liaisons with funding agencies. The Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation (CIRCE) http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/CIRCE/ The Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation was created in 1964. Staffed minimally as a budget line research unit, CIRCE draws together outstanding researchers within the college and from around the world. CIRCE' s programmatic focus (educational evaluation) is shared with over a hundred centers at universities, schools, government centers, and for-profit research corporations; yet, despite its size, it shares a worldwide reputation for high quality work, integrity and innovative design. CIRCE is currently part of the Bureau of Educational Research. Center for the Study of Reading http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ber/csr/csr.htm The Center for the Study of Reading was established at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1976 by the National Institute of Education in response to the growing concern about the quality of reading instruction in American schools. "Reading is a basic life skill. It is a cornerstone for a child's success in school, and, indeed, throughout life. Without the ability to read well, opportunities for personal fulfillment and job success inevitably will be lost." http://wenling.crc.uiuc.edu/crc/descrip.html Learning to Read Chinese: Effects of Metalinguistic Knowledge and Volume of Reading on the Acquisition of Literacy in a Non-Alphabetic Writing System The Project explores factors that affect Chinese children's progress in learning to read, and ways in which the nature of the Chinese writing system shapes the acquisition of literacy. In order to establish the causal relationships among variables associated with literacy in Chinese, two key factors—morphological awareness and volume of exposure to written language—are being experimentally manipulated through instructional treatments to be developed and implemented in first- and fourth-grade classrooms in Beijing. The Project’s guiding theory is that the particular facets of metalinguistic awareness that are critical for learning to read depend upon the writing system. Most research on early literacy has been done in English and other alphabetic languages. This research has established that children's awareness of phonemes, the units of sound represented by elements in an alphabetic writing system, bears a strong relationship to their success in learning to read. The Chinese writing system represent morphemes, linguistic units defined in terms of both sound and meaning. The working hypothesis is, therefore, that Chinese children's awareness of the morphological structure of Chinese words will be a particularly important determinant of their progress in literacy. To evaluate this hypothesis, in collaboration with Chinese teachers The Project will develop instructional activities to increase students' awareness of morphemes, and the mapping between morphemes and characters. Instructional activities require students to segment words into component morphemes, and to recognize the relationships among words which share a common morpheme (and hence, a common character). Students who receive instruction in morphology, which is not now emphasized in the Chinese language curriculum, are expected to make substantially better progress in learning to read than students who do not. A second instructional innovation will aim to increase students' volume of exposure to rich, natural written Chinese, through reading aloud by adults for premier school students. Students who experience a greater volume of written language are expected to become more competent and interested readers than students who receive only the standard curriculum, which stresses intensive reading of a limited number of texts. These instructional innovations are first and foremost research tools to test competing hypotheses about how students' awareness of different aspects of language structure, and their volume of exposure to written language, contribute to their progress in literacy. But it is also worth noting that if the innovations are associated with greater success in learning to read, the project will be of direct, practical importance to Chinese teachers. Early Childhood Research Institute on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) http://www.clas.uiuc.edu/ The Early Childhood Research Institute on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) is a federally-funded collaborative effort of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The Council for Exceptional Children, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, and the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. The CLAS Institute was started with funding from the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. The CLAS Institute identifies, evaluates, and promotes effective and appropriate early intervention practices and preschool practices that are sensitive and respectful to children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The information gathered by the CLAS team has been compiled into a database available on the World Wide Web. Education Journals Five journals are edited or co-edited by faculty within the College of Education: Early Childhood Research and Practice (online journal) http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/ Early Childhood Research and Practice (ECRP), a peer-reviewed electronic journal sponsored by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, covers topics related to the development, care, and education of children from birth to approximately age 8. ECRP emphasizes articles reporting on practice-related research and development, and on issues related to practice, parent participation, and policy. ECRP also includes articles and essays that present opinions and reflections, and letters to the editor. Educational Theory http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/Educational-Theory/index.html Educational Theory is a quarterly publication published by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with support from the Philosophy of Education Society and the John Dewey Society. The general purposes of the journal are to foster the continuing development of educational theory and to encourage wide and effective discussion of theoretical problems within the educational profession. In order to achieve these purposes, the journal will be devoted to publishing scholarly articles and studies in the foundations of education, and in related disciplines outside the field of education, which contribute to the advancement of educational theory. It is the policy of the sponsoring organizations to maintain the journal as an open channel of communication and as an open forum for discussion. The Journal of Aesthetic Education http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/jae.html The major purpose of the Journal of Aesthetic Education is to clarify the issues of aesthetic education understood in its most extensive meaning, including not only the problems of formal instruction in the arts and the humanities at all levels of education, but also the aesthetic problems of and responses to the issues of the larger society. Issued quarterly. The International Journal of Education & the Arts http://ijea.asu.edu IJEA publishes articles pertaining to issues in any of the various fields of aesthetics and arts education. These fields include, among others, aesthetics, art theory, music education, visual arts education, drama education, dance education, education in literature and narrative. Holistic, integrated studies that cross or transcend these fields are also welcomed. A Book Review section contains thoughtful essays on current, recent, and classic works in arts education. Because IJEA is published electronically, a wider array of representational forms and formats are possible than in print journals. These include musical, pictorial, and videographic, as well as verbal/print. Multi-media formats are especially welcome. Whatever the mode employed, articles (as examples of good art) should provide important insights into, or suggest provocative questions about, the phenomena of arts education. The originality, educational significance, and technical quality of submissions are important criteria in the review and selection processes. Manuscripts employing a verbal/print format may use interpretive, narrative, arts-based, contextualized quantitative and critical approaches to studying education in the arts. Spectrum, The Journal of the Illinois Science Teachers Association http://www.ista-il.org/publications.asp Spectrum, Journal of the Illinois Science Teachers Association, is published three times per year, in Spring (April), Fall (August), and Winter (December) by the Illinois Science Teachers Association, University of Illinois, College of Education, 1310 S. Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820. ERIC Clearinghouse http://ericeece.org/ The ERIC Clearinghouse on Early Childhood and Elementary Education (ERIC/EECE) within the College of Education provides educators and parents across the nation with current information on every aspect of schooling at the early childhood and elementary levels. With the expansion of the World Wide Web, ERIC now provides a vast array of research reports and summaries through a highly accessible and much-visited website. Notable is an Internet journal, Early Childhood Research & Practice (ECRP), available at http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/. The Educational Resources Information Center is a national information system designed to provide users with resources and information on education. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE) is one of 16 clearinghouses in the ERIC system, which is part of the National Library of Education, funded by the Office of Educational Research and Information (OERI), U.S. Department of Education. ERIC clearinghouses select documents and journal articles for the ERIC database, the world's most frequently used collection of information on education. Clearinghouses also publish Digests and books, answer questions, and disseminate information on the Internet. ERIC/EECE is located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Since 1967, ERIC/EECE has provided information for educators, parents and families, and individuals interested in the development, education, and care of children from birth through early adolescence. ERIC/EECE provides information and resources related to: 1) the physical, cognitive, social, educational, and cultural development of children from birth through early adolescence; 2) prenatal factors; 3) parents, parenting, and family relationships that relate to education; 4) learning theory research and practice related to the development of young children, including the preparation of teachers for this educational level; 5) interdisciplinary curriculum and mixed-age teaching and learning; 6) educational, social, and cultural programs and services for children; 7) the child in the context of the family and the family in the context of society; and 8) theoretical and philosophical issues pertaining to children's development and education. National Centers for Career and Technical Education (NCCTE) http://www.nccte.com Career and technical education programs are an integral part of public education and are designed to educate about, through, and for careers. The National Research and Dissemination Centers for Career and Technical Education, known together as the National Centers, are primary sources of research-based information. These will significantly affect the quality of knowledge and understanding necessary to advance career and technical education in the United States. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the five primary partners that form the Centers’ Consortium, which represent some of this nation's premier providers of career and technical instructor, administrator, and counselor education—both initial and continuing preparation. The Consortium also draws upon the experience of a high-profile national Advisory Council of leading experts; a number of leading internationally recognized consultants; and a number of collaborating institutions, agencies, and organizations. Novice Teacher Support Project (NTSP) http://ntsp.ed.uiuc.edu/ The Novice Teacher Support Project (NTSP) is in its fourth year of providing professional development and support for beginning teachers in Central Illinois. The project serves Champaign, Ford, Macon, Piatt, and Vermilion Counties and focuses on the needs of first, second, and third year teachers. The project’s activities comprise a series of Saturday workshops, a set of summer institutes, a website, and electronic mentoring. Since 1997, more than 300 teachers have participated in the NTSP. Skills Promoted Through Arts, Reading, and Knowledge (SPARK) http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/sped/SPARK/ The SPARK Curriculum is a literacy-based, culturally sensitive classroom curriculum that provides opportunities for preschool children to achieve developmental and school readiness skills by actively attending to stories and by participating in activities based on the arts. The SPARK Curriculum uses story and arts activities to enable teachers to (1) introduce general early childhood concepts and skills and (2) address children's individual goals. The SPARK Model has 3 components: the SPARK Curriculum, Inservice Training, and Family Involvement. Technology Initiatives http://w3.ed.uiuc.edu/ed-online/geninfo.htm College faculty members have a rich history of innovation and leadership in technology. Over 37 courses offered by the College of Education are using the World Wide Web for delivery. This, combined with the fact that the College of Education delivers 28% of the University’s off-campus instructional units, situates the College particularly well for leadership in on-line instruction and outreach. Apple Education Grant http://w4.ed.uiuc.edu/cio/AGRANT/Apple_Grant/index.htm The College of Education, in collaboration with Urbana Middle School, has received one of ten 1998 Apple Education grants awarded nationally to university-school partnerships. This project, Unity in the Community, involves the integration of service learning and technology into middle level education. The Apple Education Grants program seeks to support schools that demonstrate innovative ways to use technology in the classroom, and who would have limited or no access to technology. In addition, the program requires collaboration between K-12 schools and institutions that deliver ongoing teacher professional development. "Unity in Community" is a collaborative project between Urbana Middle School and the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The goal is to use service learning and computer technology to create a student-centered, project-based curriculum. Students, teachers, and pre-service teachers will: (a) move the nexus of learning from the classroom to the community; (b) act as agents of positive change in the community; (c) use technology as the integral connection between all phases of the program; and (d) create a web-based clearinghouse of service opportunities in the community. The AT&T Faculty Fellows Program http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/cio/at-t/fellows2000/index.html. The mission of the AT & T Technology Fellows Program is increase the rate at which faculty at the University of Illinois College of Education integrate technology into their instruction and daily activities. Now in its second round of funding, this program has helped about one-third of the college faculty use technology effectively in their research and teaching. These faculty are instrumental in the professional preparation of P-12 teachers and administrators. This initiative is based on a generous grant from the AT&T Foundation.   This year, the AT & T Technology Fellows Program was able to grant 10 awards to 17 faculty working individually or in teams, including two partnerships with local area schools. Through competitive RFPs, the faculty could apply for one of three types of grants:   1) integration model in which faculty focus on ways in which technology may enhance one or more of the courses they will be teaching within the next two years; 2) impact model in which individual faculty members or teams of no more than four faculty members submit research proposals to investigate the impact of instructional technology on teaching and learning. Included in this model is a plan for disseminating the findings; 3) P-12 partnership model in which faculty, individually or in teams of no more than four, have the opportunity to develop partnerships with P-12 teachers or administrators with instructional technology endeavors. Faculty and their P-12 partners submit proposals that outline a cooperative project they plan to design or accomplish. Involvement with P-12 partners enables the College to impact professional development in the schools. Faculty participating in the AT & T Technology Fellows Program meet in one-on-one or small group consulting sessions with the administrator of this program, Evangeline S. Pianfetti, or consult with the College's Office of Educational Technology In addition, faculty meet as a whole group once per month during which time they listen to a guest speaker and have hands-on and/or demonstrations of educational technology. Ed-Online (CTER Online and HRE Online) CTER Online: http://www.cter.ed.uiuc.edu/index.html HRE Online: http://www.hre.uiuc.edu/hrewebsite/hreonline/ In 1998 the College of Education initiated Ed-Online, a college-wide structure that supports two separate on-line Master’s degree specializations. The first on-line specialization is in Curriculum, Technology, and Education Reform (CTER Online), which is geared to practicing K-12 teachers and administrators. The second online specialization is in Human Resource Development (HRE Online), aimed at instructional technology in the private sector. Both allow students who are not resident at the College to earn Master’s degrees, largely through network-based interaction. One example of the potential impact of Ed-Online lies with its relevance for professional development. Ed-Online is particularly timely, as the Illinois Education Reform Act, passed in the override session of November 1997, requires a five-year renewal of teacher and administrative certification through professional development. Ed-Online makes it more feasible for the University of Illinois to have a greater impact on the field of K-12 teachers and administrators. http://w3.ed.uiuc.edu/ed-online/cter.htm The College of Education is offering an Online Masters of Education degree for practicing pre-college teachers and administrators with a focus on Curriculum, Technology, and Education Reform (CTER). This online set of eight courses offers an opportunity to earn a coherent, high-quality master’s degree online, with most of the interactions through personal computers and Internet connections at home or at local schools. http://www.hre.uiuc.edu/online/welcome.htm HRE Online is an innovative instructional program that uses the Internet and a variety of online technologies to provide quality learning in a collaborative environment. Through this program you can complete a Masters degree from home or work, thus saving the time and expense normally associated with traveling to and from class. Each course is designed to encourage extensive interaction between the instructor and students. Based on the results of several research studies we have conducted, the online program is very effective and receives high praise from our students. HRE Online provides a variety of learning opportunities within several areas of study. Students can enroll in either the Global HRD master's degree program or the Community College Teaching and Learning certificate program. The Global HRD graduate program is designed for individuals currently working in or aspiring to HRD positions in either the private or public sector. This program focuses on employee training and development, organization development, and the use of information and technology to improve individual and organizational performance. Emphasis is placed on HRD leadership in both domestic and international settings. The Community College Teaching and Learning certificate program is designed to increase the teaching effectiveness of community college faculty and to build instructional leadership capabilities of supervisory personnel. The curriculum emphasizes the effective design of instruction, the application of technologies to instruction, and the use of innovations such as peer-based collaboration and active learning. The Office of Educational Technology http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/cio/ The mission of the Office of Educational Technology (OET) is to promote faculty and staff technology development within the College of Education. OET-sponsored workshops, one-on-one consulting, a college-wide network infrastructure, and troubleshooting support this effort. In addition, OET works with a number of K-12 school districts with a variety of technology outreach activities. The Office of Educational Technology (OET) provides a central coordinating framework for the College’s online master’s degree structure. OET staff facilitates regular meetings of the developmental teams from each of the programs to enable sharing of ideas, discussion of technical problems, and ongoing evaluation, experimentation, and development. TALENT: Technology Across Learning Environments for New Teachers http://talent.ed.uiuc.edu TALENT is an initiative headed by the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It will investigate the most effective means for integrating technology in the preparation and practice of new teachers. In the College of Education, the TALENT project crosses the Office of the Dean, the Special Education and Curriculum and Instruction departments, the Council on Teacher Education, and the Office of Educational Technology. TALENT also collaborates with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as three area school districts – Champaign, Urbana, and Danville – and the Regional Office of Education. TALENT aims to improve the preparation of new teachers for technology use by focusing on three areas: 1) strengthening the “stranding” approach to technology integration across the methods curriculum by increasing staffing, support and facilities, as well as planning an additional undergraduate course focusing on the use of computers in education; 2) increasing faculty development in technology integration by providing additional support, incentives, and facilities for faculty as well as for supervisors; and 3) strengthening field placements for students in three area cooperating school districts by providing a Tech To Go technology resource library, by working in collaboration with mentor teachers from the K-12 schools, and by providing laptops for supervisors and student teachers to use during the student teaching experience. TALENT is funded as part of the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) program. It is an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education that supports innovative programs to develop technology-proficient educators. Technology Studies in Education http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/tse/index.html Graduate study in the Technology Studies in Education specialization (TSE) at the University of Illinois is designed to prepare leaders for educational positions in a wide range of settings, including public schools, community colleges, universities, and private sector enterprises. The TSE graduate specialization promotes the production of new knowledge in the field of educational technology through the creation and study of technology solutions to educational problems. It prepares individuals to conduct research and scholarly inquiry through the design, development, and assessment of instructional systems and materials. The Technology Studies in Education specialization is flexible enough to meet individual student needs and goals. Technology-focused courses, activities, and experiences enable students to develop an in-depth understanding of the complexities, challenges, and opportunities that new technologies bring to any educational context. Students have the opportunity to conduct research, attend conferences and seminars, and interact with national leaders in the field. This specialization is available to students at either the Masters or Doctoral level of study, and includes a set of core courses as well as advanced courses in four areas of emphasis. teacher.training@microsoft http://w3.ed.uiuc.edu/coewebapp/default.asp?URL=/cio/structure teacher.training@microsoft is a consortium of twenty-nine sites around Illinois training teachers to use Microsoft productivity and reference software. The Transition Research Institute http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/SPED/tri/abouttri.html The Transition Research Institute at the University of Illinois (TRI), established in 1985, identifies effective practices, conducts intervention and evaluation research, and provides technical assistance activities that promote the successful transition of youth with disabilities from school to adult life. TRI also serves as an information resource for teachers, service providers and researchers statewide, nationally and internationally. ?? ?? ?? ?? FY 02 Institutional Capabilities Boilerplate