MARCH 12, 2025

It is a priority for our office to meet young people where they are in life and help them find pathways to success. That includes working with them to navigate obstacles in their personal lives as well as in their education. Last week, our team had the pleasure of joining hundreds of like-minded individuals for the 2025 ICEARY Conference.

ICEARY, the Illinois Coalition for Educating At-Risk Youth, is designed to advocate for students, train educators, enlighten communities, and unify programming to provide opportunities for at-risk youth and community partners. While providing wonderful networking and professional development opportunities, this event saw students from across the state be recognized for overcoming remarkable challenges and difficult experiences to progress academically and find stable footing for themselves and loved ones.

Students and staff from DREAM Academy at District U-46 also gave a wonderful presentation on how student voice and a sense of belonging have helped shape the school's culture. It's a reminder of what our own team is working toward every time they connect with a student or staff member.

Patricia Dal Santo, Regional Superintendent

We're hiring!

Are you interested in serving students and educators across Kane County with the ROE? There are multiple openings with our team to explore.

Juvenile Justice Center Principal

The Kane County Juvenile Justice Center is hiring a School Program Principal to begin July 1, 2025.

The ROE manages the education program at the Juvenile Justice Center, and this position ensures that all students residing there have access to consistent, high-quality education. The role also works with other leadership staff at the center to oversee a safe and equitable learning environment.

Professional Learning Coordinator

Our growing Professional Learning team is looking for a Coordinator to present, lead, schedule, create, and facilitate a variety of professional learning activities both online and in-person. This position will also provide individualized support to Kane County schools under the guidance of our Director of Innovative Professional Learning.

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the mental health decline of adolescents since the early 2010s. This book illustrates how play and independent exploration help children grow into thriving adults, the societal factors that have led to a decline in the "play-based childhood", and the impact of social media, among others.

The Kane County ROE is offering an online Administrator Academy to meet the needs of school leaders interested in developing professionally through the context of a book study. Over the course of four weeks, participants will learn about the research behind banning cellphones in schools as well as the benefits of increasing free time, in-person interactions, and independence among students.

Cost: $175

PD Credit: 10

Admin. Academy Credit: 11.5

*Participants must attend all four sessions

We are pleased to share that we have received 46 nominations spanning all nine public school districts in Kane County for the 49th Kane County Educator of the Year Awards! We send a heartfelt thanks to the colleagues, students, families, and community members who packed nomination books with personality, memories, and stories of how these individuals have impacted those they serve.

We look forward to sitting down with each nominee in the coming weeks as we prepare for our banquet on Friday, May 2, 2025 at the Q Center in St. Charles. As a reminder, banquet tickets will be available at district offices beginning Monday, March 24.

Is media taking up most of your phone's storage space? It can be easy to do if you enjoy capturing photos and videos, but that could prevent your device from completing software or app updates.

Phil Morris guides you through some quick ways to cut down on your files, including merging or remove duplicate photos to give you a little breathing room.

Looking for previous tips? Click here to browse the full playlist.

All Administrator Academies and Evaluator Trainings through the Kane County ROE are scheduled out through September 2025. The first four are coming in April, with both online and in-person options. Click to see dates and pricing.

The Illinois Online Academy has also expanded its catalog of fully online courses.

Below is a sample of educator course offerings that can be completed online within 60 days. 

Social & Emotional Learning: Optimizing Learning Environments with Life Skills

PD Credit: 45

Cost: $200

Educational Technology:

Effective Use of Technology

in the Classroom

PD Credit: 45

Cost: $200

See our full list of courses and asynchronous academies here.

Some of the highest-trending topics in professional development for 2025 include:

• mental health and educator self-care
• SEL integration
• AI-enhanced learning technologies
• digital citizenship and cybersecurity
• evidence-based research instruction
• ELL training and ELD strategies
• assessment and evaluation strategies

You can engage with each of these topics through microlearning activities via P.L.A.Y (Professional Learning and You). Every 15 minutes you spend completing your chosen activities can equal .25 PD hours.

Take control of your professional learning by engaging with the content that matters to you, on your schedule. Click below to find resources to help you get started.

Check out the latest episodes of our weekly classroom strategy series, Branching Out, for quick tips from our Professional Learning team!

Mystery Box

Who doesn't love opening a mystery box? This strategy from Faye Licari has students examine a selection of objects and predict how they are relevant to the lesson. It's a fun, interactive activity that sparks curiosity in your classroom!

Tableau

Students can create "living pictures" with this strategy from Jordan Eggleson. By acting out what they learn through poses and expressions rather than words, your students can think differently and work together to understand the concepts of most lessons!

New episodes of Branching Out are released every Thursday across our social media platforms and our website. You can also browse our full catalog below. With over 100 episodes and counting, there's a video for every educator looking to branch out!

Have a question? Want to connect?

hello@kaneroe.org l kaneroe.org