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Alignment Collaborative for Education - ACE

What’s New

Alignment Partners with EPEL and Gail Borden Public Library to Provide Trauma Informed Care Training to Early Education Professionals

Over 80 early education professionals and community advocates participated in Alignment’s first ZOOM broadcast of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Interface Training through a partnership with the Elgin Partnership for Early Learning and Gail Borden Public Library.  The goal was to attract as many early education providers currently in a stay at home status.  Through a generous grant provided by Grand Victoria Foundation, early education providers that were currently in a furloughed status from their centers received a $50 stipend for completing the 2.5 hour training. The training conducted on May 12th was scheduled to help promote Trauma Informed Care Day across the community celebrated on May 15th. 

 In preparation for the school year to begin in the fall,  Alignment is committed to training staff from community organizations that provide services to early learners, elementary, middle and high school students.  When asked why this is an important piece of Alignment’s mission, Nancy Coleman, executive director, responded “Given the trauma associated with COVID 19, our entire community will be better equipped to help our community’s children and youth by activating a trauma informed care culture.” 

Celebrate Trauma Informed Care Awareness Day

Trauma Informed Care Day 2020

May 15, 2020 is Illinois’ second annual Trauma-Informed Awareness Day. Established by Illinois House and Senate resolutions in 2019, Trauma-Informed Awareness Day recognizes the impact of childhood adversity and highlights the importance of prevention, community resilience, and trauma-informed care.

In addition to establishing Trauma-Informed Awareness Day, the resolutions promote two other important strategies:

1) that policy decisions enacted by the state legislature should take into account early childhood brain development and the concepts of toxic stress, early adversity, and buffering relationships, and

2) that officers, agencies, and employees of the State of Illinois whose responsibilities impact children and adults should learn about ACEs, toxic stress, and structural violence, as well as about trauma-informed care practices that promote healing and resiliency.

Trauma-Informed Awareness Day comes at a critical time for us as we experience the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this uncertain time, it is more important than ever to support each other and work together for a trauma-informed future.

Trauma-Informed Care Resources

How Childhood Trauma Effects Health Across A Lifetime TED Talk by Dr. Nadine Burke (16 mins)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Adverse Childhood Experiences

NEA Today, Trauma the effect on children and learning

Why Do We Lose Control of Our Emotions? – great for kids

SAMHSA Trauma-Informed Approaches

Resume Workshop Prepares STEM Academy Students for Summer Internships

Resume Workshop Prepares STEM Academy Students for Summer Internships
Junior Achievement and Alignment work with students one on one to build resumes for summer internship program

Alignment, working with Junior Achievement, provided all junior STEM Academy students with assistance in developing resumes and cover letters in preparation for summer internship opportunities. Over 60 students completed resumes and cover letters along with making decisions about possible internship placements with the following companies and municipalities:  Advocate Sherman Hospital, Elgin Sweeper, Harting, HLR, Nicor, and Village of Bartlett.

Work-Based Learning Initiated in all U-46 High Schools

Work-Based Learning Initiated in all U-46 High Schools
Streamwood Academy students participate in entrepreneurial and international business career panel

Alignment in partnership with School District U-46 is launching U-46’s system wide work based learning plan.  Working with each high school principal, Alignment is providing career panels in each of the five high schools and the Dream Academy partnering with industry professionals representing various industry clusters. Alignment will also provide industry and professional tours for specific student audiences to include such programs as automotive, early education, engineering, health care and manufacturing.  Career panels to date have served over 1,100 students. 

Thank you to our panelists representing the following companies and organizations:  Advocate Sherman Hospital, AVID CNA, City of Elgin Police Department, Elgin Community College, Elgin Sweeper, HLR, ITW Shakeproof, Junior Achievement, Nokia, PNC Bank, SGS, School District U-46, Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System, Taylor Family YMCA, The Overture Group, and Village of Streamwood.

Alignment Named Elgin’s Non-Profit of the Year

Alignment Named Elgin’s Non-Profit of the Year
Alignment members accept award at the Elgin Area Chamber “High Five” Award Event on January 30, 2020

The Alignment Collaborative for Education was awarded the Elgin Area Chamber’s Nonprofit Award in recognition of Alignment’s work to measurably improve the Elgin community by creating partnerships between businesses and U-46 schools. Much of the community-wide work has focused on helping businesses offer educational experiences for students to demonstrate the link between their classes and possible career pathways.

Nancy Coleman told the community “The Alignment Collaborative’s purpose is to broaden educational opportunities that encourage our youth to experience academic, career, and personal success. In working together to raise student achievement, we build stronger schools that result in a stronger community.”

U-46 District-Wide Work Based Learning Plan

School District U-46 high school principals gathered on January 9th to collaborate with Alignment on a district-wide plan to implement work based learning opportunities for all students.  The plan will follow guidelines established in the Illinois Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) framework, ensuring students meet career-related benchmarks at each grade level. 

A pilot will launch in February 2020 with career panels in all five high schools and the Dream Academy. Throughout the remainder of the semester, the pilot will include industry tours and job shadowing experiences for sophomore students, an expansion of the 40-hour internship pilot for junior students, and a job fair for senior students intending to enter the workforce immediately following graduation.

The district-wide work based learning plan will be a key component to the U-46 Educational Pathways implementation to support U-46 College and Career Academies.

“We are hoping to empower students to explore a field of interest and learn more about themselves in the process,” says Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Lela Majstorovic. “The end goal is not simply graduating from high school; the end goal is for our students to graduate with a plan and multiple options for the next step in their journey.”