Illinois

Galesburg Community Foundation

Galesburg Community Foundation (GCF) has long supported Rural Schools Collaborative’s (RSC) mission to connect education and community in rural places, and continues to partner with RSC to improve educational outcomes in west central IL. Josh Gibb leads our partnership with Galesburg Community Foundation.

One of the Galesburg Community Foundation’s ongoing projects is its close collaboration with Monmouth College. That spirit of working together to tackle big issues is the foundation of Monmouth College’s Rural Education Initiatives program (REDI). With support from GCF and RSC, REDI was created to capture and focus the burgeoning rural-centric work of the department. Along with housing the TARTANS Rural Teacher Corps, REDI has partnered with Teton Science Schools to designate Place Network schools in the area and continued developing the college’s educational garden and farm spaces. Additionally, RSC and Galesburg Community Foundation have partnered on local initiatives to bolster teacher pathways, including a recent collaboration with the IL Regional Office of Education #33.

Monmouth College

The Educational Studies Department at Monmouth College, a leader in preparing rural, place-informed educators, anchors our Illinois Hub at Monmouth College. Dr. Tammy La Prad, co-chair of Educational Studies at Monmouth College, serves as regional hub contact, in addition to her role as Secretary on the RSC Board of Directors.

Alongside Galesburg Community Foundation, Monmouth College is central to RSC’s long-standing presence in west central Illinois. Under the leadership of Dr. Tammy La Prad and her fellow teachers in the Monmouth College Educational Studies department, Monmouth College has pioneered infusing Place-Based Education principles into their education program. This has been accomplished most successfully within the TARTANS program, Monmouth’s Rural Teacher Corps.

The TARTANS, or Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools, is a program within the educational studies department that offers:

• An annual stipend

• Intentional instruction about rural issues and rural education

• Access to local and national networks and resources for rural teachers

• Experience working in a classroom built on place-based education principles, under the mentorship of practicing teachers

Western Illinois University

With programs dating back to 2019, Western Illinois University (WIU) and RSC share a rich history of supporting new rural educators in the Great River area of western IL. Dr. Jim LaPrad, Director of the School of Education at Western Illinois, coordinates our work with WIU.

Western Illinois University , which began as a normal school preparing students for careers in teaching as early as 1899, has always served the largely rural population in the western and central regions of Illinois. WIU plays a vital role not only in producing teachers and school leaders, but also in building the education ecosystem of the area, bringing together regional offices of education, districts, state-level administrators, community colleges, and communities.

A central program highlighting their dedication to supporting rural education is the Great River Teacher Corps, which launched in 2019 with support from RSC’s Catalyst Initiative. This Rural Teacher Corps aims to recruit and prepare future rural educators in the largely-rural western part of Illinois, addressing a critical shortage of teachers in rural Illinois schools. Moreover, the program provides $12,000 in scholarship funds, and seeks to imbed an asset-based and placed-based lens of education into its participants through rural-focused training and professional development; the program partners with districts, regional offices of education, and communities across 22 counties.

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

• Coordinating a review of statewide Career and Technical Education initiatives in IL