About the project: The project grew from the belief that at-risk students are more likely to succeed in a college curriculum if they have basic information literacy skills. In 2003, NILRC , the Network of Illinois Learning Resources in Community Colleges, received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to address that need.
Teams from five Illinois community colleges and five high schools throughout Illinois participated. Each team consisted of a community college faculty member and a community college librarian, along with a teacher and a librarian from one of the feeder high schools in the college district. A separate team worked to develop the information literacy needs assessment instrument.
In the fall of 2005, the teams administered the information literacy needs assessment to approximately 50 students at each school. The participating students were all enrolled in classes taught by the high school or community college faculty team member. The teams then used the results of the assessment to develop learning resources to address the information literacy weaknesses of the class as a whole. See the Teaching Resources page for more information.
At-risk criteria
For the purposes of this project, participating students were identified as being at risk if they met one or more of the following criteria:
- Scores on COMPASS or other assessment tools indicate below college competency levels in reading, English or math
- Total family income is below 125% of federal poverty level for family size
- Highest educational level completed by either parent is high school diploma or less
- Proportion of high school student body who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 25% or more
Project participants
Participating schools:
Triton College and East Leyden High School – Near west suburbs of Chicago
Moraine Valley Community College and Andrew High School – South suburbs of Chicago
College of DuPage and Addison Trail High School – Far west suburbs of Chicago
Lincoln Land Community College and Lanphier High School– Central Illinois
John A. Logan College and Marion High School – Southern Illinois
Assessment development team:
David Deitemyer, Director of Academic Assessment, Moraine Valley Community College
Norma Grassini-Komara, Instructional Designer, Moraine Valley Community College
Jan Hill-Matula, Professor, Reading, Moraine Valley Community College
Troy Swanson, Teaching and Learning Librarian, Moraine Valley Community College
Leslie A. Warren, Information Literacy Librarian, Moraine Valley Community College
Ed Bara, English Teacher, Andrew High School
Kathy Brown, Media and Technology Division Chairperson, Andrew High School
Ross Trout, Media Specialist, Andrew High School
Management team:
John W. Berry, Project Director
Laura Dare, Project Manager
Lisa Sikora, Project Business Manager
Advisory group:
Karen Brown, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, Dominican University
Jo Ann Carr, Director, Center for Instructional Materials and Computing, School of Education, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Mary Ellen Davis, Executive Director, Association of College and Research Libraries
Debra Gilchrist, Director of Library and Media Services, Pierce College, Lakewood, Washington
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction, University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
