Engagement Opportunities and Listening Sessions

We want to hear your thoughts and recommendations on the transition. Your experiences and ideas will help make Illinois a better place for all children and families.

• Feedback Form (English)
• Feedback Form (Spanish)

Sign up here to receive updates and learn about opportunities to engage in the Early Childhood Transition process.

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Bimonthly virtual sessions designed to:

• Provide updates on the transition process
• Undertand the opportunities for the new agency based on the lived experiences of diverse voices and perspectives
• Create a transparent space for stakeholders to hear and learn from each other

Any member of the public, especially early childhood parents, educators, and providers, are welcome to join and participate.

The TAC will seek and help the state make meaning of stakeholder input and ensure the needs of families and providers inform the transition in a meaningful way. 

As the Early Childhood Transition begins the work of system integration and redesign, we will establish ad hoc workgroups on specific focus areas or topics and engage stakeholders from across the state and early childhood education and care ecosystem to ensure that this process is grounded in the recommendations of those most impacted by the system. These recommendations will be used to inform future policy and system changes in the new Department of Early Childhood.

Workgroups will be launched beginning Spring 2024 and continue over the next two years. Please continue to check back for additional information or new workgroups or sign up here to receive updates on upcoming engagement opportunities. 

Illinois is bringing all early childhood programs under one roof under one new state agency --- the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC). We are looking for parents, families, providers, and other stakeholders to participate on workgroups to hear how to make the system work better for you!  Our goal is a simpler, better and fairer early childhood system in Illinois.

Members of workgroups will be expected to attend regular meetings (typically monthly) as well as 1-2 hours of pre-work or discussion in between meetings. Workgroups will start later this fall/early winter.

Please fill out this form to let us know if you are interested in serving on a workgroup:

• Interest Form (English)
• Formulario de Interés (Español)

In collaboration with and in support of the development of the new agency, this workgroup will develop specific recommendations to align and improve early childhood services, programs, and supports for children with special needs, their families, and the practitioners who support them.

This workgroup will have an intentional focus on

• Promoting inclusion of children with special needs in their natural environment/least restrictive environments
• Improving social-emotional skills and knowledge (outcomes)
• Creating seamless transitions from services under IDEA Part C/Early Intervention to IDEA Part B 619/ECSE, and then onto IDEA Part B 611/K-12
• Identifying opportunities for structural program alignment between Part C and Part B 619 (e.g., determine connections under one agency or multiple agencies)
• Identifying professional development opportunities for early childhood practitioners (e.g., child care, etc.)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Supporting Children with Special Needs Workgroup: English, Spanish

In collaboration with an in support of the development of the new agency, this workgroup will develop specific recommendations to align and improve early childhood services, programs, and supports for mutilingual learners, their families, and the practitioners who support them. 

This workgroup will have an intentional focus on

• Identifying multilingual learners consistently across programs,
• Providing appropriate linguistic and cultural supports for children in early childhood programs (e.g., professional development), and
• Creating seamless transitions from early childhood to K-12 for multilingual learners and their families.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Supporting Multilingual Learner Workgroup: English, Spanish

This workgroup will help develop recommendations related to data and learning to inform the redesign of the states' EC programs and services. The Data and Learning Workgroup will begin by discussing the following topics:

• Informing the strategic 'building blocks' for the Data, Analytics and Insights functions in the new agency. This includes the new agency's Commitment Statement and Guiding Principles. 
• Building a shared knowledge base for best practices in data, analytics and insights. Building off of the initial three part 'Learning Series', the workgroup will elevate other topics and experts to build peer knowledge and identify shared interest informing the FY25 and FY26 data,
• Informing the Data, Analytics and Insights implementation plan. In order to have this new agency up and ready to administer funds by July 1, 2026, the technology and data systems need to be in place in advance, with the prerequisite recommendations required beginning in FY25. This includes prioritizing the launch of new data and learning offerings (e.g. annual EC report card, parent portal, etc.)

Meeting materials will be posted here. Please reach out to ILEC@isbe.net if you have any questions or interest in presenting at this workgroup. 

The Funding Design Workgroup will advise on the design and use of ECEC funding to promote equitable and inclusive access to quality services that meet the needs of children and families, with a particular focus on investment prioritization and system sustainability. ​

Specifically, the Funding Design Workgroup will:​

• Provide insight on tradeoffs and how to order funding priorities​
• Recommend opportunities to improve existing challenges and build on successes​
• Raise concerns about implementation and potential unintended consequences