LM Nov-Dec 2025

Illinois Consortium to Advance English Learner Program Effectiveness

The Illinois consortium to advance English learner program effectiveness is a grassroots effort of over 100 school districts across Illinois. The goal of the Consortium is to better understand the impact of EL programming on English proficiency, improve program quality, and to advocate for changes to state policy. IASA recently sat down with Dr. Jean Barbanente, Superintendent of DuPage High School District 88 and the lead representative for the Consortium, to answer a few questions.

What are the objectives of the Consortium?

The Consortium has three main objectives. One, to quantify the impact that various EL/Bilingual program models are having on English proficiency growth within local school districts. Two, to aggregate data across school districts to scientifically document what program models are most effective. We believe that local control of our EL programming is necessary to build high quality programs and the data from the EL Consortium could assist in those advocacy efforts. Three, to cultivate a professional learning community among EL professionals to share practices in the spirit of continuous quality improvement. Are there any specific state policies that you hope to influence through the work of the consortium? Absolutely. It is our hope that this study may provide valuable insights to guide future advocacy efforts around policies that would be aligned with positive student outcomes for English learners.

What motivated school leaders to come together around EL programming?

For years, school leaders have expressed concern about inconsistent and inequitable outcomes for EL students in Illinois. Districts have been required to provide costly services without clear evidence of their effectiveness. The Consortium was created to provide a structure to study the effectiveness of the Illinois endorsed EL/Bilingual program models to ensure English learners receive equitable and high quality services.

10 LM Nov–Dec 2025