Champaign-Ford Regional Office of Education, 893-4921.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Educators from Illinois and other Midwestern states will be in Urbana this Thursday and Friday (April 11-12) to share resources and best practices on how to keep, train and mentor new teachers, and prepare them for state certification.
The third annual "Successful Transitions" conference will be at the Holiday Inn, 1001 Killarney, Urbana.
Participants will have a chance to learn about how to build learning communities among new and experienced teachers, how to organize and evaluate induction programs for new teachers, and how to find resources for their induction and mentoring efforts.
The conference agenda will begin with an opening session at 10 a.m. Thursday, which will include a "state of the state" report on induction and mentoring programs by Frank Llano, manager of teaching and leadership for the Illinois State Board of Education. Following Llano will be a keynote by Tom Ganser, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, addressing the national picture.
Sponsoring the event are the Midwest Association of Teachers Educators (ATE), the Illinois State Board of Education; the Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota ATEs; and the Partnership for Professional Development. The partnership includes the University of Illinois and its Partnership Illinois initiative, the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the regional offices of education in Champaign-Ford, Macon-Piatt and Vermilion counties, and local school districts.