In 2015, educators and researchers from the University of Chicago joined teams from University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University to create the Elementary Mathematics Specialist in Illinois Project. This project, funded first by the Chicago Community Trust and later by the CME Group Foundation, explored an elementary math specialist model as a way to improve PreK-Grade 5 mathematics education. The cross-University team developed and piloted a series of courses to prepare Elementary Mathematics Specialists in Chicago and various suburbs in Cook County. University of Chicago piloted the series of courses with two different cohorts of teachers (2017-2019 and 2019-2021).
In addition, the cross-University team met with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and worked with a variety of stakeholders to advocate for an EMS endorsement in Illinois. In 2019, with encouragement from ISBE and additional funding from the CME Group Foundation, the team worked with researchers to conduct a landscape study of Illinois school districts and higher education institutions to evaluate and document the need for and interest in this endorsement across the state. You can download the full landscape report, as well as a study brief, below. There is also a link to the Appendix of the report, which includes the instruments used in the landscape study and some additional data and analyses.
In 2023, ISBE established an Elementary Mathematics Specialist endorsement, which can be added to a Professional Educator’s License for Grades 1-6.
