Sauk receives grant to help future educators

DIXON – Sauk Valley Community College recently received a $249,000 state grant to help more students become teachers.

Sauk Valley Community College, in partnership with ROE 47, was awarded a grant to fund educational pathways for local high school students.

The grant from the Illinois State Board of Education is phase one of a four phase grant cycle, totaling $747,000, that will allow the college to better aid area students who are interested in careers in the education field. SVCC will work with Ashton-Franklin Center High School, Amboy High School, Prophetstown-Lyndon-Tampico High School, Sterling High School, Forreston High School, Center for Change Alternative High School, ROE47, and the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce.

“SVCC truly is the community’s college, working with local organizations to better our community. The college greatly values the relationship it has with Sauk Valley area businesses, organizations, and industries,” according to a Sauk news release. “This relationship allows the college to listen to the needs of our area. One of the greatest needs that the college frequently hears of is the shortage of teachers nationwide, and specifically in the Sauk Valley area.”

This grant work will attempt to prepare students to be educators in the hopes that they will return to the area after college graduation.

The education pathway has been initiated by the State of Illinois and gives students a path to follow starting in high school that will allow them to earn an education endorsement on their diploma.

To receive the endorsement, students will complete education focused coursework, including Dual Credit courses in education and have completed a minimum of 60 hours of hands-on experience working directly with students.

Several area postsecondary institutions are building incentives into their education programs that will benefit students who enroll with a pathway endorsement.

The funding will enable the group to identify students interested in an education career as early as middle school and align their coursework and experiences to have a focus on education. It is the goal of the grant for the schools in the partnership to be self-sufficient at the end of the four-phase cycle and encourage additional schools in the Sauk Valley area to participate and invest in pathways for local students.