 All right, so we're going to get started here if you again, if you have not signed in, please go ahead and click on that link in the chat and sign in and we'll get started with our presentation today. For our agenda today, we are going to talk about a few different things we're going to we're splitting up the meeting a little bit and so we'll talk a little bit about the purpose of the career pathway user group. Get into some quick announcements and then we'll dive into our 2 main topics, which are the student celebrations along data and discussion on that with some. Practitioners in the field on what they're doing around student celebrations and then we have Dr Rodrigo Lopez, who is going to lead the conversation around dual credit here in the state of Illinois. And so. 2 really interesting conversations that are being had across the state and wanted to just start with those 2 conversations. So. Before we get started, my name is Bill Rose. I'm with the Illinois project. We work in collaboration with Izby. I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Rodrigo to introduce himself as he's going to co-lead this presentation. And then there are members of our team that are here as well. And we're going to just ask each of you kindly to just in the chat. Go ahead and introduce yourselves and tell us where you're from, but Rodrigo, go ahead. Thank you so much, Bill. Good morning, everyone. Rodrigo Lopez, director of P 20 initiatives in Northern Illinois University, and as Bill said, I'm here to kind of share just some thoughts, share some information regarding dual credit and particularly that scope and sequence. And so also part of the Illinois project team. But as you, many of you know, I'm also part of the Illinois P 20 network and helping to leave that work. And we usually have Jason and Heather with us co-leading these presentations. Heather's been out on some leave and Jason is out of town for a little bit on a trip. So for work, work related stuff. So that's where Rodrigo and I are going to be leading this presentation. So just real quick, we're going to talk a little bit about the purpose of the career pathways user group. One of the things that comes up and it actually came up at a presentation I had a week or so ago was the group is really about people who are interested in a particular topic. And for this one, it's around the college and career pathway endorsement. And so one way for you to get engaged in the user group is to use that email the career pathway user group at Google groups.com. Feel free to use that email to ask questions to provide an update maybe or maybe you just have a question for the field around a common practice that is taking place. Along the lines with your career pathway endorsements. And so if you ever, you know, are in need of some information and you're like, Hey, there's a resource out there for you. So feel free to use that email. Just put it into your outlook. Email or whatever email you're using. Put that in it will send it to everyone in the group and my guess is that you're going to get some responses. And so feel free to use that user group. As you see fit. We feel like sometimes that gets underutilized and what the group to know that that's a great tool to go ahead and get some of your answers or questions answered. And also, as a part of this work, the vision of the college and career pathway endorsement is really about that quality component and that quality we know reflects in our in our teaching, but also it gets down to our students. And so in doing that, we believe that it really raises that quality and relevance and also that authenticity in the different skills that we're looking to build in our schools. And so just wanted to have an awareness around that and share that information with you as we go. We do have a few quick announcements as we're moving forward through February. The 1st 1 is the fact that there's a nice presentation coming up February 27 and this 1 is for those culinary programs. But also includes agriculture and natural resources pathways. And so this is 1 that really focuses in on the essential skills and those. In those pathways and so if you have teachers that are teaching in either 1 of those. CTE backgrounds feel free to share this with them. It's a free training and really. It's an opportunity for them to kind of dive into the essential skills and if a team member. I don't know if they already did wants to put that link in the chat. You can go ahead and sign up. Again, it's free and they go from 11 to noon. What we offer these. Trainings so. The other 1 is I think now and correct me if I'm wrong, Rodriguez, this is I think the 4th time we've talked about our new summer calendar and so. This group is a really important group to for professional development. We wanted to share that our summer calendar is out. Something that provides a lot of different professional development over the summer. Some are in person. Some are virtual. But wanted to to share that with the college and career pathway endorsement user group. So that you're aware that those summer dates are out there and you can start planning around some of those dates. If you want to send teachers. Administrators counselors, whoever to attend those different trainings again, all of them are free. And so you just have to access them via the calendar and go ahead and sign up. And then this 1 also is a big announcement are big conference for the summer is available for registration. And so. If you click on the registration, I know Rodrigo has the different links he'll be putting in the chat. There's a registration link, but there's also an is be conference website that is up and so. Checking out that conference website, seeing the registration, seeing any of the specific details you can check out there. So we're going to get right into things into our conversation around celebrating endorsements and. Wanted to talk to you about that conversation that actually took place last year. So what happened last year was. We had a conversation that came up about how are we celebrating the endorsements and celebrating our students who are receiving the endorsements last year. And so essentially what we did as a group. As we put out a survey, we had different schools and school districts who responded to that survey and we were able to collect some information around what is actually happening around the state of Illinois. In regards to. Those ideas and so those schools that identified the different ways to recognize students in that survey, but they also looked at how that recognition really met the overarching goal of. The students meeting those skills, but also making sure that the college and career pathway endorsement is a valuable experience. For those students and so really that's the key part of all this work we think that that valuable experience it will eventually lead to some great things for them in the future and so. We wanted to share reshare that information with you in regards to what was collected in that survey, but also kind of rehash those conversations because it's February of course. And people are planning things like end of the year activities and so. In some cases it may be a little late because I know, especially for graduation, some of those details are figured out even before Christmas break. However, just wanted you to be cognizant that as these conversations come up at your school that you have the information you need to share along with any stakeholders that are having these types of conversations. So again, the last year the data was collected. We really looked at four key areas as a part of the data. The 1st 1 was how are we initiating events. In regards to the college and career pathway endorsement. The 2nd 1 really focused in on the communication side of how are we actually communicating with parents communicating with stakeholders and in our business and industry. How are we communicating with different media. The 3rd main idea is what kind of awards are different schools putting forth as a part of this. Initiative, how are we rewarding students in regards to this and everyone knows that the students do get a seal from the state of Illinois. As a part of this work, however, some schools have done a lot more around making sure that those students feel celebrated and getting the endorsement. And then finally, the last question really gets into the idea around the community partners is how are we engaging our community partners in all of this work. And so we just wanted to kind of go through some of those results with you as we're as we're talking about these ideas. Number 1 is that idea of events. You'll, you'll notice as we go through these, the ones that are bold were the ones that received the highest scores or the highest amount of participation from schools. And so you'll notice things like some schools have a signing day or they have a senior award ceremony on an honor ceremony or a dinner. And so when it comes to events, it really seems like that senior award ceremony is 1 that kind of stood out to the different schools on how they can honor students receiving the endorsement. Just something for schools to take into consideration if they do offer a senior award ceremony. If that's not a part of the work right now, maybe thinking about those conversations happening and we have a few people who are going to share a little bit more on that as we go. In regards to student awards, the most common ones that came up as a part of that conversation as a part of the survey were certificates. We saw many schools who talked about the graduation program recognition. So they literally have it written down in their program. We also saw that there was an honor ceremony that was a part of that and then a bunch of schools were actually moving towards a graduation tassel. I know that 1 always brings up some interesting conversations around different traditions that happen at graduations. And so just kind of keeping that in your mindset of as your school is planning these types of events, what works for your area may not work for others. But we did want to give you the information so when those conversations do come up that you have valid information of what's happening around the state. As we talk about the external communications, the top 3 that came up pretty regularly in the survey were that school districts were placing these stories in their school district newsletter. They were regularly updating their social media in regards to these communications. They were placing stories or photos of those students receiving the honors on their website. And then there were a few other ones that that saw participation and some that didn't receive any like the billboard or television. I don't believe there were any that were using that as of yet, but the school district blog did receive a few answers on how they were talking about sharing these stories. So, but again, just some information for different school districts on how to use those external communications. And then as we get through and how we're using and utilizing our community partners in this work. How we're collaborating with them. A majority of districts at this point, we're struggling to get to that to that main idea of most of the recognition that was happening was really only happening through the district and school building. And so some things that keep in mind as we continue on in this work is how are we going to engage our community partners in this. And giving them some stake into this work around both communicating it, but offering some opportunities for them to get involved as a part of this work. And so, again, we're going to have a few people talking about a few of these ideas and hopefully it will spur some more investigation as to how we can get this to the next level because it's it seemed like this was the one that most schools kind of struggled the most with. And so, without further ado, we do have a few speakers that wanted to share a little bit about that work. And, and so I'm going to go ahead and introduce Sue stridle from Naperville Community Unit District Sue. We, we really appreciate you being here and wanted to give you the mic for a little bit on sharing what is happening at Naperville and tell us a little bit more about some of the events and conversations that are taking place around this important topic. Great thanks Bell. Can everybody hear me. Okay, perfect. So, we have six pathways that lead to four different endorsements that we have a couple of pathways that are in the same same endorsement area. But there are two specific events that I wanted to share about one is we, they both take place at the end of the year and then we also have social media posts around that obviously with the events. The two events include students from both of our schools, so it's a what we call it like a cross count event so everybody is there from both of our high schools. The first one is for entrepreneurship students and that's for the FDS endorsement. And at their end of the year events that the culminating events, these students are working through our incubator and accelerator programs and then they have a final pitch night at the end of the year. Families are in attendance their mentors are in attendance so we have obviously a business partners that are present for that students at the event and to be recognized and receive a certificate there. Our other events that happens at the end of the year is our future educator signing day that it that takes place actually during the day. Students invite their family and their mentor teacher so as incorporated within our coursework students do have 60 hours of work based learning and so their mentor teacher come and attend. If they're able to so it's an investment for us because we do substitute substitute out those teachers so that they can attend across our building. And they attend their family attend students are introduced and their exact major and committed college or university. If known is shared at that event and then we have a reception afterwards and so that takes place in the morning and around 11 noon o'clock noon o'clock I can't even speak at noon. And then then everybody returns back to their buildings to resume their day. One of the things that we are hoping for in the future and have already started having some discussions about and are hoping to implement all be it not this year is a scholarship for our students who are endorsement earners. So we are speaking with our business partners as along with our neighborhood education foundation who doesn't financially support and supports and many other ways. The endeavors that are taking place within our district. The other piece that we're also looking at to is making sure that we're. We're equitably recognizing all of our students who are endorsement earners some of our endorsements have a greater number of students. So it's easier to have some type of reception or acknowledge them at a culminating event. Some of our endorsement pathways currently have fewer students and so trying to figure out how we can. Acknowledge all of those students equitably from all of our from both of our high schools across the board. So that's just a little bit of what we are working on and towards and and making sure that we. Laud these students and the efforts that they took to to investigate and explore these pathways for their future. Thank you Sue for sharing that and I think that call out to that equity piece is that. You know, even when you have a smaller program with a fewer students that when they when they see it or their families see that kind of celebration or that event. I think it really impacts those kids quite a bit, but I also think that the community members probably see it as a. Advantage point in the community, even if it's only a handful of kids who are participating in it so. Really kudos to you for for really having that mindset of equity around making sure that every kid who's in a career pathway. Can can access that so great great job on that by the way you did talk a little bit about the. Scholarship, but was there anything else you wanted to add about that component piece or. Yeah, so we, I don't know how it's going to look at we've just started some of those conversations. I like I said I don't think we're we're going to be able to do anything for this year, but we're hoping it next year that will have. Those conversations and details in place. We do have a workforce committee that includes our business partners. So we're hoping to get them involved. And trying to figure out who what the application process is what the monetary amount is. And then who is going to be. I guess the judges are on that committee or panel to then decide who would win the scholarship. We're also talking about whether or not it's, it's going to be within each endorsement area or if it's going to be among all of the students who who are earning an endorsement so within the entire pool so I think those are some of the conversations that we're having and some of that may depend on. You know that the quantity of students as we continue to scale and what that might look like but then also the investment from our Naperville Education Foundation and our business partners to continually fund the scholarship as well. If those are if that's the source of the scholarship to so just trying to think through all of those pieces to make sure that we are celebrating all the students and celebrating them equity equitably and giving them an equitable opportunity to earn a scholarship as well. The numbers vary from endorsement. Pathways and everything as well so we want to make sure that if, if we do it by a particular endorsement area, if you have a 50 50 chance of winning or versus they wanted 200 chance of winning a scholarship that that we keep all those pieces in mind and we know that it fluctuates from year to year who's going to do the quantity of students that may be awarded the endorsement so keeping all of those pieces in mind as well. Sue, thank you so much for sharing on that and I think that really brings up that idea that even when those conversations start if you can't accomplish it for this year and you and you realize it's a little late in the year to have that conversation that those conversations can still be had. And you just, you know, start planning them for the following year and so I know that that's something that's on the minds of different people who who might say well it's a little too late for graduation or it's a little too late to do this this year but we can still start that work and accomplish so much for the beginning of next year and and and following year so thank you for sharing that I think that's really important for the field to to really understand so our next speaker is going to be Blythe Massura Blythe is working at Grant Community High School and so the floor is yours Blythe. Thanks. Hi guys. Um, yeah, I am the college and career counselor over at Grant so because of that I work a lot with the counselors, and I know the counselors are always thinking how can we promote things what can we do to do a little something extra for these students. So I know in our conversations we've talked about how we'll be honoring them at the honors senior award night, and then also we have a decision day that we do every year and that's a national decision day. That was something that Michelle Obama had kind of made a big deal of for students to kind of say May 1 is the date when you have to let colleges know I'm going to be enrolling. And so let's do something fun to honor that well last year we decided that we were going to not only honor like the college side the career side, what are you guys going to do after high school and so we were thinking about incorporating, incorporating everything and making it bigger to kind of have everyone participate and celebrate what their plans are post high school so not only am I working with the counselors but we have a CCRI committee here that I'm also involved in so those conversations are also had in those meetings as far as what we're going to do so. Thanks bill for including me and then I just wanted to really hear what other schools were doing and get ideas so I can bring it back to both teams and we can kind of figure it out together. And that's it. Thanks. Thanks flight around that decision day tell us a little bit on on kind of maybe the planning side of what goes into that maybe a little bit but also, you know, is this something that's brand new or is this something that you did you've done in past years. So this is something that they've done in past years, which was really, I think just college focused as far as putting in what college you're going to and then just making a big deal about that last year I made little like flyers I guess with just a graduation cap and then congrats class of 2023 and they wrote down like what their future plans were so it could be a college it could be whatever they're doing after high school it could be like some kiddos said I want to be a dentist or doctor and they put that on there. And we just kind of celebrated it and had them do it we had our big backdrop and the kids kind of took a picture holding their signs to honor that and so that's definitely something that if they have that endorsement or anything else you know maybe it's a special picture that we give them and they hold that up and we take that picture and then we promote it on social media and then we post those like the flyers that they signed and put their names on post that around the school so other kiddos can see that. Yeah, and I imagine that those just types of little details, even as little as a sound, in some cases they have big wins for your kids right is that you're you're putting those things around the school the kids are seeing them they're asking questions around them. Like, to me that that's something that I think gets kind of that conversation going in the school and with parents who are saying hey my my son or daughter was talking about this today what what is this right and reaching out to staff around that so I think that's just something that really can be a game changer in school so that's the great story of life for sharing that and you know continue to keep us updated as to some of those developments that are happening at your school because I think it's something that even even though some of those seem very little. They're actually a big deal for for your kids and for parents that are in your area. Yeah, and something like that is really some like easy to incorporate and do throughout the day it's through lunch periods it's a simple like getting on to Canva and creating something simple that the kids can fill out, and then just being outside the cafeteria during the lunch periods and having them do that and grabbing them. Nice work so. And then we had just one last person who we're going to have share door lot. I ran into door lot of Peyton down at the acting conference and she was sharing that. They were doing some interesting stuff with their graduation celebrations door lot up. Did you want to share a little bit on that. Hi, how are you. Good good. How are you. I am great. Do you hear an echo. No, we can hear you just fine. Okay, great. I am really a partner of our CT director Tammy Khan, who's in an observation right now. And I work very closely with her, especially when we're talking about the pathway endorsements. So what we decided to do at Valley view. And before I talk about that, let me just give a little bit of context for Valley view. We are in a district where we have over 60% free and reduced lunch students over 60% black and brown students, many blue collar families. And so, while we do have between 60 and 70% of our students deciding to go on to college after high school. We do have a significant population that do not. And we have really tried to change our culture from just talking about college to also talking about other options post secondary. So the pathways endorsement. I think is an important part of that, both for those who choose to go on to college after high school and those that do not. So, in speaking about what we do for our students who do complete the pathway endorsement, we wanted to make sure that we did something that was recognized, along with the kinds of academic acknowledgments that our students get at graduation. So we chose to do the graduation castles for our students that receive the pathways endorsement. And then of course it's also included in the graduation program. We felt that it was important to acknowledge the accomplishment and for people to understand that this is an academic and a workplace the work based learning accomplishment that our students have achieved. I think that's a great idea on using the tassels as a way to celebrate those students that are receiving the endorsement. I will share as part of part of those conversations in my district. I've had people ask, well, you know, is there a color or is there a certain, you know, tassel that we should be using and things like that. And I will just share from my experience that, you know, those those celebrations in each district are based around traditions, right. And so the different traditions around the state and what each school uses as a color is really important to them. It's important to have those conversations with your stakeholders to determine what's best for your area. I know someone had put in that, you know, purple is the considered tassel color that is often used in CTE. We have to recognize that they are receiving the college and career pathway endorsement. And so while that is connected to CTE, it doesn't always translate directly to CTE and I think we just have to be cognizant of that. And I also think it's important that, you know, some schools have purple as their school color, so they might already have a, you know, tassel color that's used for that for another honor. And so you just have to determine, you know, what works best for your school district and how those tassels might be utilized depending on the colors that you're using. So just wanted to kind of put that out there. I've been a part of those conversations. They sometimes can get really interesting when it comes to traditions and why we're doing the things we're doing, but just wanted people to be aware of those and keep in mind that knowing those traditions are key as a part of graduation ceremonies as well. And there were a lot of things. Thank you for sharing. So that's an important part of this work. Thank you for allowing me to share. All right, so we are finished with our stories around the different ways that we are celebrating the college and career pathway endorsement. And so we're going to kind of pivot a little bit into our second topic. We do have a little bit of time. Set aside for a conversation around identifying early college and credit coursework. And so, without further ado, I'm going to just go ahead and pass this over to Dr. Rodrigo Lopez. Thank you, Bill. And thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about not only early college credit, but specifically dual credit. So a little while ago, I was asked to put together a short presentation 15 minutes to as Bill said, get the conversation going on a few topics and or challenges that we've all experienced. And as far as it may not know a little bit about my background, I work both in secondary and post secondary, mainly post secondary, and then the community college sector before I arrived at NIU. As part of Elgin Community College's team, I helped oversee and manage the dual credit and concurrent enrollment programs there. And so I share that because I just want to make sure that I can acknowledge that I understand not only directly but indirectly to the work that you are all doing how challenging this is. And all the system barriers giving all the logistics and obviously the lack of resources that obviously dual credit and partnerships do not have at this current time. So with that being said, I know that as we're talking about endorsements and really identifying the six credit hours, mainly through dual credit that oftentimes we're just looking to be able to go ahead and give our students the best opportunity possible to get started with their post secondary education. I recognize that it is I receive a critical part of the endorsement. I understand that there's a lot of opportunities for students to be able to go ahead and ensure that they're getting the level of knowledge and scale development through dual credit. But oftentimes the ideal set of classes for one reason or another, unfortunately cannot come through into our buildings that is the high schools and so one piece that I am going to be focusing on today. And I'm kind of giving you a little bit of a hit what's what's coming here ahead is just kind of thinking about how forces move across institutions so I've got a lot of questions about the transferring of classes and ultimately, you know, finding the most value or highest value class. And I think for the most part, you know that that is that is left to a local community to decide, especially giving again is bill reference again this morning. The purpose, the intent, the value of the endorsements, having worked in higher education and coming out of student services and academic advisor academic advisors just like school counselors were very technical obviously in building an academic plan. But more so I think in the post secondary side of things, we're looking to make sure that we minimize students times and financials, meaning how much money they're paying towards that degree to complete it as soon as possible. And so we can be very little and very direct, allowing very little room for exploration and and and for students to be able to find themselves and make that the best as possible. I don't think that that's necessarily the case here though with dual credit in terms of the endorsements, however I do know that there is a balance that we may be able to go ahead and achieve. And so again, and thinking about dual credit and thinking about classes that may be available to us in our region. I wanted to kind of just give you a couple of examples and a couple of things to ponder today. Again, we hope that this is going to be a part of a larger conversation maybe a second, a second discussion next month. I don't know if it's going to be a CPAC or another spaces. I ever see welcome any questions you may have today I'll try and get to as many as possible. But as you all know, obviously through the element between our work side, we're always, you know, open and available to engage. So if we can go to the seconds. Next slide please, Bill. And I recognize is a little bit small to read on your screens. I hope that you can follow along on the slide deck and or when you have it available and not looking through zoom. I hope that it's, it's easier to read and I really wanted to go ahead and put this information out there. I think the idea behind this is that you know as we're thinking about early college credit as we're thinking about dual credit courses. Many of us have thought about this and used an approach of a backwards design model. And so, for an example, and just to kind of samples one specific occupation that of a registered nurse. Many of us know that the route to become a registered or cannot can go through a baccalaureate program of study or an associates level education. And so as you continue to backtrack, you know, a lot of the questions that I get oftentimes. Again, you know, what is that what is not only the. The logistics and our processes are technically technicals that go into making sure that that student ultimately gains admission and progresses and achieves the credential. And in something like a registered to become a registered nurse and in a program like a badges of nursing or an associates apply science and nursing. Given that the profession that is held profession, it is very technical is oftentimes competitive. And it's, it's, it's sometimes can be a little foggy and determining, you know, differences between general education classes. And those career focused courses that go into the degree, not only as part of the program the curriculum, once a student is admitted but also some particularly the classes that they must complete. They're ahead of the application process right so nursing is actually want a perfect example where we could take a look and identify. Typically, what are the prerequisites well what are the set classes that a student must complete ahead of applying for admission into any of these programs so again as an example if you take a look at the top. You know, I guess the top part of the flowchart students are looking to enter a batches of nursing program study, you know, would apply to that baccalaureate institution and come in as a pre nursing student. Ultimately, you know, as they're completing their general education classes and completing that or those prerequisites to gain it to apply and ultimately gain admission. They're typically distinguished between science classes some programs maybe throw in a math course. But definitely all of them require a specific set of general education classes in those composition psychology sociology and other institutions that does vary from institution to institution. However, you can see though that ultimately as you get back down to the first part on the left hand side of the screen of the flowchart that there are opportunities where even if a student is looking to access. You know, go through a baccalaureate program study first recognition of certain science classes or at least in introduction to some science classes could come about into a credit, but it's not necessary in regards to the endorsement. Obviously that though is because obviously if you look down at the bottom of the flowchart and we think about, you know, kind of again working backwards from the associates of apply science and nursing. Similar process, right, you still have a set of prerequisites or requirements that you have to complete before you can apply to gain admission. But one of the courses that is very, is very popular for obvious reasons is the basic nursing assistant program that typically is a one semester class in college. We all we all we know that this this program is also very much accessible in many high schools across across the state of Illinois. And it becomes a great opportunity to be able to do two things one allows us to gain exposure recognition awareness into the profession but obviously gain a very specific set of skills. To ultimately become a certified nursing assistant. In many spaces, meaning many programs of study at the at the two year level across the state of Illinois, the program and the certification itself are part of the admissions process right so again, one thing that I do want to just kind of go ahead and say here is that unfortunately. There is inconsistency in terms of ultimately, what are the exact prerequisites what the application process looks for students are looking to gain access to either of these two programs of study again either the baccalaureate program or the associates degree route. But again, I know that in case in the case of the endorsement, the basic nursing assistant program and therefore the course itself provides and brings a lot of value. Again, it's not to say that other courses may not be a possible opportunity to be able to gain students additional leverage or help them accelerate. But oftentimes again, as I noted before, there's a lot of challenges in place already system and other local institutional challenges with agreements that prohibit bringing in other sets of classes. For example, you know the the review and approval of instructors to be able to move forward and teach that other types of classes in that in this area of study. The second example I wanted to kind of give real quick a revolves around accountancy, not to become an accountant, but accountancy. And again, one that specifically you know kind of centers on on the business on business and so again, following the same type of logic here. When we think about endorsements or we think about exposing students to do a credit courses within this field. There's actually a lot of opportunities to be able to select many variants of classes. Again, depending on exactly what's your career pathway what your endorsements can be focusing on. I've seen many that have talked about specifically honing in on accountancy and so again, kind of dividing this to into two different routes leading to the program of study. You have students that may pursue and start their education at the local community college, or you may be looking for or students are looking to go ahead and start that education at a baccalaureate institution. Either way, though, business as a whole, whether you're looking to major in accountancy, administration, management, finance, marketing, they all typically more or less function the same way. Right. So if you think back to the nursing example in business, specifically at the four year level, they do go ahead and also require that students once admitted into this program, complete a set. Set of courses often regards regarded as to the business core. And so, again, if you're looking at it from your standpoint of helping to identify and select and implement courses that can not only bring the most value to your student long term, but also allow them to be able to experience and really dissect their interest and ultimately identify their long term plan. You may be looking to do a couple of things. And in this case, there are a few classes that schools have been able to take from this business core to pull into dual credit as part of their endorsement. Now, I think here is kind of where I want to go ahead and, you know, kind of start this part of the conversation. I hope to continue next. In higher education courses, and this is more typically done at community colleges, courses are designated to transfer or designated not to transfer. And oftentimes that terminology is made available publicly or sometimes it's just kind of kept in records and developing these types of transitional programs. And so, what I want to say with that is that if you don't know, but in the state of Illinois, we have a West statewide agreement that has been recently legislated as well that allows for a certain set of classes across the general education core curriculum. So again, and I'll show you what that means in a second, but the last person instead of classes to transfer from institution to institution, all public institutions in this Illinois participate in this Illinois Articulation Initiative, but there's also several private institutions that are also part of this initiative. And so we like more information if this is first time you're learning about the Illinois Articulation Initiative from the secondary side. I strongly urge you to go ahead and take some time to look into it, maybe ask a couple questions and figure out ultimately how does this impact the work that you're doing or how does this bring value to the work that you're doing with the endorsements. In this next slide, though, I did want to go ahead and just kind of give you just a little bit more information about the initiative itself. So, the best way to think about it is in terms of two sections or two packages. You have general education courses across the general education core curriculum, as you see, they're bulleted out. And so there are classes in each of these categories that all have an identifier and I identify a code. That guarantees that a course that is taking at a local community college is the equivalent of that specific course at a four year institution or for that matter, any public institution in Illinois, along with those other participating institutions. Right. So as students are learning about that transition about that program of study when students are thinking about that academic plan. And really, honestly, I really, this is, I think, where parents need to be involved and brought into the conversation as best as possible and also with students age appropriately to allow them to start getting some level of recognition there because I know that having done this work on both sides. This is very technical is very dense. Why would people know it unless this is literally what you do on a day to day basis. But we do always get the questions of making sure that, you know, students understand the transferability of classes. And so the same thing can be said about courses in certain majors and so I just listed some of them here on the screen that's not full list the full list can be access through the website. But just to kind of give you some some ideas that obviously technical or specific biology and engineering psychology classes that do trash transfer transfer from institution to institution as the equivalent course, not just as an elective. Last thing I want to be able to kind of go ahead and show you real quick here though is is the following. Again, thinking specifically about classes in all honesty and I think most of us know this not all classes are created equal right so again, in terms of identifying classes recognizing classes and the differences that bring in terms of that students progression ultimately their ability to be able to go ahead and truly gain the leverage and acceleration through dual credit is you know looking at 1.1 courses versus 1.2 courses. As I said before, 1.1 courses, they're designed to transfer right and that either and that comes either through the Illinois articulation initiative or through institution to institution agreements. 1.2 courses though, not intended to transfer they're not designed to do so, however, some of them very limited number of these classes do transfer through institution to institution agreements and so, again, this is not an exhaustive list but just kind of using a couple of the career pathways or occupations that I put on the screen before is going to give you a sense of a sense of what that means and so if you look at the left side of this this table. If you look that obviously you know the the English composition one and two, which is part of the communications of the general education core curriculum. Those are the I codes. If you think about, you know, a specialty course or career focus class of this class that not only high school students may be able to get into, but definitely students are looking to gain access into those nursing programs will have to complete that human anatomy is also noted as an eye actually is a course the same thing can be said about managerial accounting and financial accounting. Not easy courses, but definitely critical courses that ultimately you know some institution may be able to complete as part of a capstone. The one thing I will say that I have not said is that you know, some of the challenges and barriers that we know we have currently would do a credit is the existing prerequisites or minimum competencies require for students to gain eligibility access so again I'm not trying to, you know, I'm not coming I don't want to be idealist in terms of how easy or simple this can be but I just wanted to kind of think about more about how courses do change and vary across not only programs. And opportunities to make sure that as we're communicating this to families that we do the best we can with preparing them with that information. So obviously here with the 1.2 courses, basic nursing assistant program is not a course that is intended to transfer. However, as I just said, the course itself leads to the certification that's very, very important with that soon to be able to go and continue to foster that not only relationship and recognition and hopefully gain that motivation to pursue a higher credential in that field. And in terms of business, there's several business courses that although they don't carry with them and I code, they do transfer, but I will say this again, it does vary unfortunately it does vary from institution to institution across the state of Illinois. And so that's why it's very critical that as you're doing this work with your post academic partners that you bring into the full this information about being able to as best as possible organize classes, you know, across 1.1 and 1.2. So the last thing I want to leave you with before we close out is just kind of a set of questions. Yeah, and if we can go to the next slide please. So this is just some questions that I think I've always had not only for myself in the practice, but with others that I do this work with across full secondary and secondary and secondary. Most recently, if you've been a part of our work with the dual credit think tank and the owner between network, we've been asking this not only locally and regionally but across the state. I think it does help us to set some sort of vision or direction in terms of ultimately how do we think or what do we think we think about do credit courses and how do they fit into our larger early college credit program curriculum. And how do we communicate that out. How do we identify how do we place value in this for students and families specifically how are they advised. I think more than anything and we do this very much intentionally. Every second we get in higher education is especially in the community college space. It is very critical that students understand whether or not that course that they're taking will gain them either equivalent, elective, or no credit at all. They move from one solution to the next that by far, obviously, I think it's something that we owe not only students and families, but we owe it to ourselves to be as clear and transparent to families about that. Given this is very technical, this is very complex. Again, like I said, ultimately, I think it's also thinking about how dual credit in of itself can help that students further develop their interest and understanding strains and opportunities. As they decide potentially on pursuing their education right after high school through a program of study at a community college or at a back lower institution. So, I think, again, finding the value beyond the credit definitely has to be integrated into the world we do. With that being said, thank you bill for the time. I know that was very short and fast, but I do look forward to continuing this conversation. And, and more than anything, I think those that are here with us for the conversations we have had. And as always, if you have any questions that we'd like to engage with this, you know, this topic further, please do not hesitate to reach out. So, Rodrigo, thank you for sharing all of this valuable information. I did want to address a few questions in the chat before we go. One was by Patrick Enright, which he said a lot of colleges and universities do not have direct admission to a college program such as nursing or accounting. Are universities moving towards accepting CCPE as credit or at least using it toward direct admission into a college program. Now, that's a really good question. So again, I think in terms of dual credit, right? If you're thinking about the dual credit, which is a college course and if it's, you know, comes with that transferability through either the I or some sort of agreement that that credit should follow the student, right? So that should be admitted credit. But I think the question is much larger than I think to your point is, you know, the currency and I know a lot of people have been working on the currency in terms of what the recognition and value is for universities to be able to go ahead and provide students with greater opportunities. I know that that is being discussed and so I think I would say without saying too much more to come on that. There's a lot of work being done and that I think in from my personal opinion, this is Rodrigo and as I share with a colleague just recently. Someone I think said in the chat, the importance and how critical it is to get employers to recognize the work of the endorsements but really be able to hold in on the value of it. I think post-secondary obviously not only has to do that but needs to be able to go ahead and come with that as well. And so a lot of work to be done there. I think there is very good intentions on the post-secondary side. And there's a lot of great opportunities that I think are still untapped. Thanks for, thanks for answering that. Due to time what we're going to do is we're going to get towards the end of our presentation and then if people have individual questions they want to share or ask Rodrigo after the presentation, I think that would be a good use of some time. So I'm just looking at the chat just to see if there were any other ones that we would head on. All right, thank you Rodrigo for sharing that important information on dual credit. We made it through the agenda for today. And all we're going to ask you for the rest of your time is to take some time to fill out that evaluation. If someone from our team can put that in the chat as we move forward please take that evaluation because it helps us offer, you know, it gives us feedback on how we're offering this time for you. A few additional items to just bring up before we go. There are some additional resources on the ISB webpage around the ISB college and career pathway endorsement. So if there are things that you're looking at please refer to that webpage. They have a whole slew of resources around academic readiness, the coordinators. We also know that Heather offers those office hours where she is regularly meeting with individuals from the state on her own time answering questions going through the application process with people. And so we just always share that utilize that time if you have questions that you need answered from the state. Heather does a fantastic job of offering her her time to individuals in the field. Next, next meeting we're going to touch a little bit more on the course sequence orientation application and capstone courses on the 15th. That sounds like it's far away. It's actually about 3 weeks away. So, and for some of you, you'll be getting ready for spring break. So we wanted to put that out there as our next topic for discussion. So when we get to the 19th and April, we're going to be talking a little bit more about the individual student plan. So if anyone is interested and has questions around those or maybe has an experience around either one of those that they would like to share to feel free to reach out to us. We're always open opening to having that conversation with individuals and how your story can actually can share that experience with the rest of the field. So again, take that evaluation before you go. It provides us valuable feedback. Like I said, our next meeting is Friday, March 15th at 9am. And again, if you do have general questions for the field, use that email. Put that career pathways user group at Google groups in your email, send out a question. It will go to everyone as a part of our user group. You might be surprised at how you get a lot of responses from people in the field. We want this to be an experience that is beneficial to everyone. And sometimes that part of this work gets underutilized and we just want you to be aware that you can use that as a tool to get some questions answered from the field.