Illinois State's Pipeline Partnership Receives NNER Award

The College of Education at Illinois State University has recently been informed that their Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline's Little Village Education Partnership has been selected to receive the 2008 Nicholas Michelli Award for Promoting Social Justice from the National Network for Educational Renewal (NNER).

Robert Lee, director of the Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline Programs and Partnerships, and Molly Munson-Dryer, associate director of the Cecilia J. Lauby Teacher Education Center, will accept the award at the 2008 NNER conference in late September on behalf of the College of Education.

The Little Village Education Partnership was cited as using collaborative efforts grounded in theory and practiced in classrooms.  Lee said the partnership helped build bridges to guide interns “as they actualize social justice for social change in their philosophy as teachers and citizens in a democratic society,” and that the University “reaches for the democratic ideal by nurturing future teachers to aspire to teach everyone, especially those on the margins, those who have been or are in danger of being excluded.”

NNER delivers leadership development and support to institutions of higher education, local education agencies and communities. At the heart of their mission is the goal of promoting social justice, and they recognized the Little Village Education Partnership as exemplifying the collaborative efforts necessary to make a significant and long-term difference.  NNER believes that education is the bridge allowing underserved groups and the oppressed an opportunity to improve their quality of life.

Illinois State is building partnerships today that address Chicago’s need for well-trained urban educators. The Little Village Education Partnership and other programs born through Illinois State and the College of Education’s bridge-building Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline are working to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority populations who enter teacher education programs and return to Chicago Public Schools to teach as well as to increase the number of current Illinois State students who consider Chicago Public Schools as a viable option for their clinical experiences and subsequent teaching careers.