2025 ISBE Career Connections Conference

Join us for a session on GPEAK, an initiative developed by Illinois Central College in collaboration with key stakeholders including Peoria’s CEO Council, Regional Workforce Development Alliance, Greater Peoria Economic Development Council, and the Illinois Community College Board. The GPEAK system aims to develop and validate Illinois’ ten essential employability skills through a system of curricular resources, assessments, and badges. GPEAK students can earn badges by demonstrating mastery of the key performance indicators aligned to the essential skills. Discover how these resources have been transformed into an educator facing training site with easily digestible modules to empower instructors to cultivate college and career readiness by nurturing the development of essential employability skills. This session will be interactive with time to explore how you can incorporate GPEAK into your courses and programs to prepare students for college and career.

How do you make career exploration and development fun? Well…you dress up for your career, put up a wheel, and create a GIANT-sized Game of Life! Our CTE team will share our experiences engaging with high school students and captivating audiences through student-focused events. Utilizing key concepts from The Game of Life, students enter the game, pick a career card, spin the wheel, and answer questions to further their knowledge about what their future could look like. Keeping the spirit of the game alive, but making conversations real is the true key to our success. Resources as well as tips for modification in various settings and audiences will be shared with the group.

During this session, we will explore how SkillsUSA is the solution provider to support you in guiding students from middle school through early adulthood as they explore, engage with, and prepare for careers. From career discovery through transition to employment, SkillsUSA supports each stage with activities, outcomes, and community impact.

Learn how Illinois Community Colleges utilized State of Illinois Trades School Grant Program funding to prepare in-school youth for opportunities in trades programs in some of the following sectors: Architecture and Construction, Energy, Healthcare, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, and Transportation, Distribution & Logistics. Through grant funding, programs were designed to serve students enrolled in high school, particularly those in their junior and senior years intending to transition to additional training and employment in the trades following graduation. Programs also created partnerships and pathways with middle schools for career awareness and exploration activities for middle school-age students.

Claim Your Future (CYF) is a proven, engaging educational game that encourages students to explore career pathways, financial decision making, and the future return on investment of postsecondary education and training. The game can be played online or in-person with elementary, middle, and high school students. Join this session for a live demonstration of the newly enhanced CYF game and learn how you can get access to your FREE kit today!

This session is designed to guide participants through the process of applying for and implementing College and Career Pathway Endorsements. Participants will gain an understanding of the essential guidelines and theoretical foundations behind these endorsements.
In addition, the steps in the application process will be broken down and application experiences and tips will be shared. The session will also address common challenges faced by schools in obtaining and implementing endorsements.
By the end of the session, attendees will be better equipped to support the development of college and career pathways in their districts. Attendees will also be provided with resources and templates to assist in the process.

Portfolio-Based Internships will present an in-depth exploration of a collaboration between Round Lake Area School District 116 and Lake County Tech Campus, as the organizations developed a pilot program for HBS students to complete a portfolio-based internship in the Human and Public Service Pathway, specifically Law Enforcement and School Safety. The internship was built through a portfolio of School Safety and Law Enforcement experiences facilitated by Round Lake District Safety personnel, who acted as the employer and team of industry experts. Students developed HBS Technical Competencies and Essential Employability Skills through their experiences with diverse facets of School Safety and its role in supporting a positive school and community climate. The experiences collectively  totaled 60 hours. Issues around transportation equity were addressed with students completing the internship in their home district. The Portfolio-Based Internship is a valuable model for districts and CCR Stakeholders to potentially customize and scale across all seven Career Pathways.

The purpose of Alumni Career Connections is multi-faceted. The site connects students with alumni in career fields of interest. It allows the district to celebrate success and heritage, and allows alumni to create connections. The site introduces parents and students to emerging career fields and opportunities to help them find their pathway. The site allows businesses to locate alumni to recruit for employment.

Learn how District 128 (Libertyville & Vernon Hills High Schools) is building district-wide college and career readiness systems and programs for its students. Our collaborative work includes weaving together College & Career Pathway Endorsements, a dual credit strategy, a career exploration framework, workplace internships, the PaCE Framework, and more. We'll touch on using the digital platform SchooLinks and how it is critical to ensure our systems and efforts align.

The path to peak performance for students is to pace themselves and run a race designed by them with tools provided by us as educators. The goal to empower students and strengthen our workforce system and economy is one of these reasons why the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s Career Information System created the Work-Based Learning Tracker. Our work-based learning tracker provides guidance for students as they record and maintain data from their own real-world experiences, networking opportunities and employer engagement. The WBL benefits for students is increased readiness needed for the professional world, industry relevance, and increased potential of securing the job they want. As a work-based learning continuum activity, the Tracker meets the guidelines for the Postsecondary and Career Expectations framework and supports ISBE career readiness indicators. Attend this session and learn more about how you can help your students over their own personal finish lines.