Grants to allow SIUE to study redesign of principal-preparedness programs
The Illinois Education Research Council at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has been awarded a two-year, $500,000 grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and a two-year $50,000 grant from the Wallace Foundation.
The McCormick Foundation grant will allow the IERC to examine the initial implementation of Illinois’ new policy for redesigning principal preparation programs from the university and pre-K through 12th grade perspectives.
“We are excited to work with the McCormick and Wallace Foundations, and statewide stakeholders to undertake this research study, which will inform the next stages of the continuous improvement process for Illinois’ principal preparation programs,” said Janet Holt, IERC executive director.
Holt, Brenda Klostermann, IERC associate director and assistant research professor, and Brad White, IERC senior researcher, will collaborate with the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research on these projects.
This evaluation study is the next stage in the refinement of Illinois’ redesigned principal preparation programs. The original statewide redesign of the preparation programs was spearheaded by the Center of the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University.
The IERC is an independent research organization at SIUE that conducts education policy research on issues of import to the state of Illinois. Since 2009, the IERC has been the legislated research arm of the Illinois P-20 Council. IERC policy research follows important educational trends in Illinois and is disseminated through research reports, presentations to the Illinois P-20 Council and its subcommittees, and through conference presentations.
The Robert R. McCormick Foundation – Investing in early education since 1993 – is committed to fostering communities of educated, informed and engaged citizens. Through philanthropic programs, Cantigny Park and museums, the Foundation helps develop citizen leaders and works to make life better in communities. The Foundation was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The Foundation is one of the nation’s largest, with more than $1 billion in assets.
The Wallace Foundation is a national philanthropy that seeks to improve education and enrichment for disadvantaged children. The foundation funds projects to test innovative ideas for solving important social problems, conducts research to find out what works, what doesn’t and to fill key knowledge gaps, and then communicates the results to help others.
