Education Commons^™

Leadership Lessons For The 21st Century: Superintendents' Perspectives, José M. Torres

Keynotes, Speeches, and Lectures

Celebrating 50 years in the educational leadership business, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) asked practitioners from around the country, including dozens of Superintendents, to share their leadership lessons. The responses culminated in ten leadership lessons. We invited two former Superintendents, Dr. Clifford B. Janey and Dr. José M. Torres, to share their reflections of how IEL's leadership lessons connected to their own practice. What they told us is important for all school leaders to know.

IEL Leadership Lesson: Leaders dream of a better world. They ground a shared vision in audacious possibility and practicality.

Personal Reflections / 12.15.14, José M. Torres

Personal Reflections

We are nearing the completion of IMSA’s fall semester and, as the upcoming holidays approach and 2014 nears its end, I am moved to reflect on my accomplishments and share them with you.

Since I’m expanding the reach of my reflections to our students, parents and alumni I’d like to first welcome our newest readers—and also express my gratitude for everyone’s dedication and hard work. We’ve had a good year.

My previous Personal Reflections capture my thoughts from my first 90 days and after reading a recent email message exclaiming, “we can’t wait for day 91!,” I decided that on …

Recipient Of The 2014 Alumni Titan Award, Melvin R. Bacani '90

Alumni Titan Award

Melvin has been an active and engaged volunteer with IMSA and the IMSA Alumni Association since 2009, when he first joined the IMSA Alumni Association Cabinet and took the lead role in planning his 20-year reunion for his class. His volunteer efforts have increased every year since, and he has had a triple role as an IMSA alumnus, an IMSA parent, and an IMSA employee. Melvin has played a critical role in advancing the work of the IMSA Alumni Association, enhancing the tools and support needed for the Cabinet leaders to truly lead and execute programs.

Melvin has brought his …

Recipient Of The 2014 Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award, Steve Crutchfield '93

Alumni Distinguished Leadership Award

In August 2012 Steve Crutchfield was appointed the Executive Vice President and Head of U.S. Options at NYSE Euronextin order to create a “more integrated and efficient operation”, and became CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of NYSE Amex Options LLC; all accomplished before he turned 40. He serves as the sole leader of the NYSE Euronext system. Steve manages relationships for all strategic NYSE Euronext clients, leads key business development initiatives, leads all media and industry engagement activities and provides strategic counsel to NYSE global executive management. Steve is a regular speaker at various U.S. and …

Personal Reflections / 11.25.14, José M. Torres

Personal Reflections

In this season of giving thanks and family celebrations, I want to take a moment to personally thank you for your dedication and continued commitment—and to express my gratitude to each of you for helping IMSA to accomplish so much this year.

It’s been a few weeks since my last personal reflection and I think today is a perfect day—at the start of this season of gratitude—to share my thoughts with you.

First, it has been an honor and a joy to serve as your President these past two months, ten weeks to be exact! During this time my Listening …

Personal Reflections / 10.24.14, José M. Torres

Personal Reflections

As I write my third Personal Reflection as President of IMSA, I am mindful of how privileged I am to serve as your president. Last week, I attended the LULAC (League of United Latina American Citizens) Banquet and Scholarship Dinner in Aurora. An administrator from a school district said to me, "Some of us [other administrators who know of my move from the superintendence of School District U-46 to the presidency of IMSA] wonder why you would go to IMSA." I replied, "You just don't understand. IMSA exists to 'ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that ' advance the …

Field Trip Partnerships: Student-To-Student Mentoring, Aziza Darwish, Robyn Lee-Diaz

Publications & Research

Children running wild enjoying a day of freedom, exhausted chaperones, budget-conscious, hand-wringing administrators back at school -- all of these conjure troubling images for educators about field trips. These are far from the enjoyable, state-of-the-art, educational experiences that field trips could be for today's teachers and students.

For several years, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy® (IMSA) has had longstanding partnerships with school districts throughout the state which have involved designing STEM field trip experiences that serve middle school educators and students. These field trips to the Academy are led by IMSA high school students who are enrolled in the …

Personal Reflections / 10.2.14, José M. Torres

Personal Reflections

I want to begin by thanking all of you again for welcoming me into the IMSA family. This week marks my third official week as president of this fine institution, and I’m beginning to feel more at home. I’m very happy to report that I don’t get nearly as lost as I did those first few days on campus.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve met with faculty at large meetings, in small groups, and individually. I had my first office hours for faculty, too!

I have also met with groups of students including URP (Underrepresented Population), Student Council, and …

Watts Cooking: Using A Microwave To Prepare Bacterial Media For Inquiry-Based Experiments, Judith A. Scheppler

Staff Publications & Research

Microbiology provides an excellent opportunity to capture student interest, encourage exploration, and to begin the development of research skills. With a low power microwave, similar to the type found in homes, and a short list of materials easily obtainable and/or found in many biology laboratories, you can begin to open this exciting world to your life science and biology classes. Microwaves are available at very reasonable prices, and can substitute for a much more expensive laboratory autoclave. Your students can choose and design inquiry investigations as well as learn basic laboratory techniques.

Imsa360: Fall 2014, Imsa Fund

IMSA Fund Reports

Excellence and Equity

As I write this letter I have now been at IMSA for nine days, though by the time you are reading this I will have been here for almost 90 days. I am excited about what I feel I can offer, and of course a bit anxious about the many things I have yet to learn. But leadership and risk taking are necessary at every great organization and I am confident that the fine people of the IMSA community will work with me to achieve continued excellence for our students and programs on the Aurora campus, across …

Learning Opportunities 2014/2015, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Course Catalogs

The graduation requirements of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy are in concert with those maintained by the State of Illinois with additional requirements as established by the IMSA Board of Trustees. Each semester students must take a minimum of 5 academic courses (2.5 credits) for a grade (not Pass/Fail). Fine Arts, Wellness, and Independent Study courses, or any course taken on a Pass/Fail basis do not count towards the 5 course (2.5 credits) minimum. Most students will take between 5 (2.5 credits) and 7 (3.5 credits) academic courses per semester. Only courses taken for a letter grade will count …

Personal Reflections / 9.18.14, José M. Torres

Personal Reflections

As I complete my first official week as President of IMSA, I want to inform you of some ways that I intend to create channels of communication with faculty and staff. This "Personal Reflection" is designed to allow me to share my thinking and reflections with you and may evolve to include updates and announcements from the President's Office. From time to time, I will also solicit your input as a way to foster two-way communication, and will most likely distribute these messages more broadly to our IMSA community. This is in an effort to inform and engage them as …

Experiential Learning At The Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Michelle Kolar, Dora Phillips, Christopher G. Kolar

Publications & Research

“Am I ever going to use this in the real world?” is a common question in science and math middle school and high school classrooms. Students taught using experiential learning techniques, however, already know the answer. They learn content by solving real world problems through hands-on activities. In other words, they learn science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) the same way professionals do every day—by doing, sharing, and improving. Experiential learning provides the promise that the U.S. can reverse the trend of students losing interest in STEM subjects during middle school and create life-long learners who apply the scientific thought …

Scientists In The Classroom, Kent Schielke, Kathy Schmidt, Judith A. Scheppler

Publications & Research

Being an educator in the twenty-first century is exciting, stimulating, fun, challenging, and dynamic - with a great emphasis on the challenging and dynamic. The scope and depth of the materials we teach, or can teach, to our students is overwhelming and increasing exponentially every year. The list of challenges for science educators is formidable. We have found that one logical piece of the puzzle to help address these challenges is for educators to invite practicing and real-world researchers, engineers, doctors, business owners, and other STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) professionals into the classroom, or take students on field trips …

Commencement Of The Class Of 2014, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Ceremony

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of The Factors That Motivate Gifted And Talented Black Males To Engage In Science, Technology, Engineering And Mathematics In A Gifted, Residential Community, Adrienne L. Coleman

Publications & Research

This study was an exploration of the factors that motivated gifted and talented Black males to engage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The specific problem addressed was the lack of motivation among Black males to become gifted and talented learners engaged in STEM. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the factors that motivate gifted and talented Black males to engage in STEM at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), a residential academy for gifted/talented students. Qualitative methodology was used to interview focus groups of 20 gifted and talented Black males who currently attended IMSA …

Imsa360: Spring 2014, Imsa Fund

IMSA Fund Reports

Pay It Forward

The Greek playwrights wrote of the beautiful selfless concept of "paying it forward" as early as approximately 300 B.C. Later, Ben Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson also wrote of its honor. The actual phrase "pay it forward" likely was first penned by the author Lily Hardy Hammond in 1916.

Saying "thank you" to someone who gave you a gift of money or kindness, but who does not expect or even wish to be repaid, by returning the favor to someone else...thus "paying it forward"...is alive and well at IMSA. This issue of 360 showcases several acts of …

Case Study Of A Successful Educational Partnership: University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign And The Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Dave Devol

Faculty Publications & Research

This article describes partnerships between an NCSSSMST member institution and a research university and the use of student-generated survey data as a means of both professional self-reflection and asking further questions. As a chemist, I have been trained to write in the style of scientists, and in fact I teach a course at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy on the methods of science and scientific writing. This article is intentionally not written in a scientific style; rather is written to convey a story of how a partnership between institutions naturally progressed into my current area of research into motivational …

Understanding The Neuronal Controls Behind Heart Rate And Respiration, Sowmya Anjur

Faculty Publications & Research

Students in the course Physiology and Disease at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy learn physiology by designing, executing and evaluating their own experiments based on evidence. This semester, students designed laboratory experiments that involved the use of the same type of exercise to increase both heart rate and respiration rate. Students will collect quantitative data from these experiments to make conclusions regarding the correlation of heart rate and respiration rate. This will be followed by student research into the neuronal controls in the brain that were responsible for these correlations.

Increasing Interest Of Young Women In Engineering, Diane Hinterlong, Branson Lawrence, Purva Devol

Publications & Research

The internationally recognized Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) develops creative, ethical leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a teaching and learning laboratory created by the State of Illinois, IMSA enrolls academically talented Illinois students in grades 10 through 12 in its advanced, residential college preparatory program. IMSA also serves thousands of educators and students in Illinois and beyond through innovative instructional programs that foster imagination and inquiry. IMSA also advances education through research, groundbreaking ventures and strategic partnerships.

The Value Of Creating An Innovation Talent Pipeline, Britta Mckenna

Publications & Research

Investing in the innovation pipeline today translates to Illinois business tomorrow. Somewhere between the rise of “STEM” and “staying globally competitive” in a time after Millennials is Generation Z. Gen Z digital natives are now making their way to and through primary and secondary education and we need to be ready to nurture the emerging talents of these and other future innovators. This is particularly important in Illinois where developing – and retaining – top talent will be a key driver of the state’s knowledge-based economy. There is hard work ahead reimagining what education should look like to support this …

Reformers, Batting Averages, And Malpractice: The Case For Caution In Value-Added Use, Dan Gleason

Faculty Publications & Research

The essay considers two analogies that help to reveal the limitations of value-added modeling: the first, a comparison with batting averages, shows that the model’s reliability is quite limited even though year-to-year correlation figures may seem impressive; the second, a comparison between medical malpractice and so-called educational malpractice, suggests that strict accountability measures within education are out of line with legal precedent.

Developing Transfer Skills In A Biochemistry Class, Jeong V. Choe

Faculty Publications & Research

Students seem to struggle with transferring prior knowledge if the new problem they are given is in a different form from the way they learned the material. The process of transfer can be identified by four components: 1) recognizing the similarity between the old and new contexts; 2) identifying the potential of a certain skill or concept that has worked in the past, to give solutions to new problematic situations; 3) mental testing of the application of the potential solution; and 4) an attempt to apply the skill or concept to a new context (Georghiades 2000). These four components are …

The Imsa© Promise: Diverse Perspectives Do Enrich Understanding!, Barb J. Miller, Adrienne Coleman

Publications & Research

For years we have grappled with the effects of the Achievement Gap, which has been defined by: (a) the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2011) as the “observed, persistent disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity and gender; (b) The National Education Association (2013) as differences between the scores of students with different backgrounds (ethnic, racial, gender, disability, and income) are evident on large-scale standardized tests, adding that test score gaps often lead to longer-term gaps, including high school and college completion and the kinds of jobs students …

The Imsa© Promise: Igniting And Nurturing Diverse Stem Talent, Adrienne Coleman, Barb J. Miller

Publications & Research

“Your PROMISE Program has been the life-line to extend and enhance the knowledge base for these students…by providing them with the time to develop seemingly outlandish ideas or tease their brains with the “what if” possibilities…you are making such a huge difference in the lives of these inner city youth who, otherwise, would not be privy to this level of academic exposure until much later on in their academic pursuits” (McNeal, 2013).

What educator writes such impassioned comments about an enrichment program designed to ignite and nurture talented underrepresented and underserved students?

2014 Intersession Catalog, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Intersession Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Diversity Plan, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Resources

The Multicultural Committee was formed during the 2013-2014 Academic Year and charged with the task of updating the Diversity/Multicultural Development Plan, initiated in 2003 and last updated in 2011. The committee consists of 23 faculty and staff from the following departments: President’s Office, Principal’s Office, Student Life, Residential Life, Science Department, Wellness Department, Foreign Languages, Human Resources, Maintenance, Information Resource Center, Development Office, Enrollment Management and Academic Opportunities, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Professional Field Services, IT, Marketing and Communications and the Business Office. With direction from the Multicultural Education Specialist, this committee is responsible for overseeing the implementation of this plan.

Teaching Information Fluency: How To Teach Students To Be Efficient, Ethical, And Critical Information Consumers, Carl Heine, Dennis O'Connor

Publications & Research

Searching is becoming easier than thinking. Enter a query in a search engine, and the searcher is instantly flooded with results. Information has never been easier to retrieve and consume. At the same time, determining the quality of the results remains a daunting task. Despite the attempts to make search tools "brain dead easy"¹ to use, searching that reduces the need to think invites problems. Machines cannot reliably predict what each individual is hunting for, machines cannot determine what is credible, yet that is the direction search engine development is headed.

Pbl Take To The Air: Airline Development, Pbl Network

Teacher Resources

In this sample Problem Based Learning (PBL) unit, students are faced with the problem of a new airline being developed in the Chicago area. Students investigate the economic and community impact along with marketing and aircraft considerations. This sample unit is intended for educators learning to use PBL methods in their classroom.

Pbl Forensics: Crime Scene Investigations, Elizabeth Martinez, Dora Phillips, Brian Grublesky, Lindsey Herlehy

Teacher Resources

In this sample Problem Based Learning (PBL) unit, middle school students investigate a hypothetical crime scene. Students focus on gathering data, interpreting results and drawing conclusions. This unit is designed as a sample problem for educators learning the PBL process.