NIU has a long-standing tradition of working in partnerships with schools across the northern Illinois region. Nearly 500 schools provide sites for NIU's teacher candidates to do their clinical observations and student teaching.
NIU is expanding its most successful partnership model -- professional development schools (PDS). These partnerships result in higher student achievement in the schools and better preparation for new teachers graduating from NIU.
Each PDS partnership focuses on different issues; for instance, integration of arts and technology across the curriculum, bilingualism and Response to Intervention. As a result, the school-university partnerships are unique, sharing common goals of improving teaching and learning in both the schools and NIU’s colleges.
By Grade LevelPartnership programs start with pre-schools and extend up the education continuum to colleges and universities.
By LocationNIU students and faculty are learning, teaching and collaborating in hundreds of Illinois schools. NIU also maintains ongoing partnerships based on mutual interests in a number of local districts.
By Subject AreaNIU’s partnership activities range across all the academic areas, plus career exploration, technology, test preparation and other topics.