Since 1972, the Illinois Resource Center (IRC) has provided assistance to teachers and administrators serving our linguistically and culturally diverse communities.
Our work as a non-profit organization has helped thousands of educators in Illinois and beyond to develop effective learning environments with a focus on students who have been identified as English learners.
Mission: We live in a multicultural, multilingual world. By providing professional learning opportunities and sharing inclusive and relevant tools, the IRC empowers teachers, leaders and educational providers to create equitable school systems, policies, and instructional practices that champion multilingual learners and their families.
Vision: Envisioning a world in which every child’s languages and cultures are affirmed, every teacher’s practice is reflective and responsive, every school’s systems and policies are inclusive and equitable.
We fulfill our Mission by:
- Providing high quality support and professional learning opportunities and guidance for educational practice and decision-making that center the students who are minoritized on the basis of their language and cultural background.
- Addressing the teaching and learning that is specific and valuable for multilingual learners but that monolingually-oriented structures and practices omit to represent or reflect.
- Striving to support and advocate for policies that result in more equitable educational environments for all learners.
“I have been fortunate to have worked with the IRC for more than 10 years! I started as a student taking my ESL/Bilingual endorsement courses and attending critical professional development sessions to support my Dual Language teaching career. Now, as the Director of English Language Learners for School District U-46, I have been able to gain a more global perspective on how this organization positively impacts school districts and the field of education as a whole.”
