Western Illinois University Joins RSC’s Regional Hub Network

Western Illinois University (WIU) has long been in various forms of partnership with Rural Schools Collaborative, and we are thrilled to announce the formalization of our partnership with WIU officially joining the Hub Network. Historically, RSC and WIU have supported each other through the founding of the Great River Teacher Corps in 2019, the Great Rivers Grow Your Own Consortium, and a long relationship of thought partnership. Dr. Jim LaPrad, Professor of Social Foundations of Education and Director of the School of Education, will serve as the hub lead for RSC’s third Illinois hub.

Western Illinois University, of Macomb, IL, is and has been a regional leader in teacher preparation: founded in 1899, WIU is a former normal school. “For more than 125 years we’ve been preparing teachers and educational leaders to serve in our communities. This type of partnership is exactly what our institution needs because it’s a way for us to help contribute, build up the communities around us, and serve the region of west central Illinois” describes Jim. He continues, “85% of our school districts that we serve will be considered rural by most educators. We prepare the teachers, and we prepare the educational leaders, in our region. That’s why being a hub partner is so important to our region and our institution.”

The Great River Teacher Corps (GRTC) is a Rural Teacher Corps focused on recruiting and preparing future rural educators in the largely-rural western part of Illinois, and was an early recipient of the Catalyst Grant Initiative, which provided planning grants to institutions eager to launch their own Rural Teacher Corps. The program aims to address a critical shortage of teachers in rural Illinois schools, and seeks to imbed asset-based and placed-based lenses of education into its participants. With an eye towards strengthening the regional education ecosystem, the program partners with districts, regional offices of education, and communities across 22 counties.

In addition to receiving $12,000 in scholarships from the GRTC fund and the gift from the Arlington and Arlene Seymour Estate, students in the program benefit from rural-focused professional development and hands-on experiences that bring the benefits of a cohort-model to WIU. Moreover, this spring, WIU and nearby Monmouth College, another RSC Illinois Hub, will bring their future teachers together to engage in Place-Based Education activities and workshops at an outdoor learning center operated by WIU. This collaborative approach is part of what makes WIU such a natural fit to join the RSC Hub Network.

In 2023, WIU further codified their longtime support for rural education through the founding of The Arlington and Arlene Seymour Center for Rural Education. The center is housed within the School of Education in the College of Education and Human Services, and focuses on:

• Developing a system to expand the teacher applicant pool for rural school districts in the region

• Policy and research activities

• Developing a network for rural educators to partner with school districts

• Advocating for rural education at the local, state and national levels

Another core initiative of the Seymour Center is to consider the important role that career and technical education play in the rural communities. In partnership with the Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools (AIRSS), WIU received a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education to coordinate a state-wide review of career and technical education programs in Illinois rural schools. As part of this review, WIU and AIRSS conduct focus groups, offer recommendations, and help shape the future of CTE in Illinois.

As RSC’s Hub Network continues to grow, we are thrilled to bring in partners like WIU and Dr. LaPrad, deepening our commitment to collaborative partnerships and work. With RSC’s announcement of the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies Grant to strengthen our Rural Teacher Corps Network, partnerships like these are foundational to fostering authentic, place-focused work to recruit, prepare, and support teachers in rural settings.

Thank you to Dr. Jim LaPrad for leading WIU’s efforts to join RSC’s Hub Network.