career & academic readiness system (cars) todd w. jorns illinois community college board

Career & Academic Readiness System (CARS)

Todd W. JornsIllinois Community College Board

Background

• Three year project

• Steering Committee formed – Fall 2008

• Curriculum Subcommittees formed – Spring 2009

• Curriculum Development – Spring/Fall 2009

Curriculum Planning

• Formed curriculum subcommittees

• Faculty & teachers from community colleges, adult education and high schools were selected

• They identified content to be borrowed from the BST-Prep, GED-i and PTP Online systems

• Determined timelines, roles and responsibilities (content developers & editors)

Curriculum Development

• Three separate classes were developed: Math, Reading and Writing

• Designed by WIU/CAIT

• Delivered via Moodle (LMS) – open source

• Each institution has an administrator, teachers and students

• Free for Illinois institutions

CARS Pilot

• Six institutions piloted the CARS curriculum – Spring 2010

– Four community colleges/adult education

– Two high schools

• Incorporated pilot feedback – Summer/Fall 2010

CARS Training

• Spring 2011 – Provided training for community colleges and their adult education departments

• Spring 2012 – Provide training for other adult education providers & community colleges

• Fall 2012 – Provide CARS to high schools (work with ISBE to determine best options)

CARS Curriculum

• Institutions create their courses from the CARS Master Courses.

• Institutions can create multiple sections of courses for each instructor.

• Institutions may allow their teachers to edit their courses (add content, rearrange units & lessons, etc.).

• Keep track of changes so they can be added to the updated “master” courses from ICCB.

CARS Math Expansion - Part I

• Linear Inequalities in One Variable

• Linear Functions

• Polynomials and Factoring

• Rational Expressions

CARS Math Expansion - Part II

• Functions

• Systems of Linear Equations

• Exponents and Radicals

• Quadratic Functions and Equations

Future CARS Expansion

• Contextualizing CARS curriculum– Healthcare (Spring 2012)

– Manufacturing

– Others

• Allow other states to license and use CARS

Access CARS Curriculum

• http://iolr.iccb.org• Guest Access– Username: iccb-guest– Password: guest2011

• Check out the Math, Reading & Writing content.

• Use as a supplement to your existing classes.

Contact Information

Todd W. JornsSenior Director for Education Technology

Illinois Community College Board(217) 785-0144

Todd.Jorns@illinois.gov