Illinois students should be graduating high school ready with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in life after high school—college and career. Today all high school graduates need some postsecondary education and/or training if they are to have options and opportunities in the job market. In Illinois, 8 of 10 employers say they need employees with some postsecondary education. Currently only 54.4% of Illinois residents have a high-quality post-secondary college or career credential. These realities in Illinois have driven communities to look for broader solutions to what are increasingly seen as systemic problems in the education-to-employment continuum.
The Illinois 60 by 2025 Network is an ever-emerging network of communities in Illinois that are committed to the goal of ensuring that 60% of all adults have a college or career credential by 2025.
The 60 by 25 Network
Today, the majority of employers say they need employees with some post-secondary education. However, data shows that just over half of Illinois residents have a high-quality college degree or postsecondary credential (according to the Lumina Foundation’s Stronger Nation report).
To address this disconnect, in 2009 the Illinois P-20 Council established a goal for Illinois to increase the number of adults with high-quality college degrees and postsecondary credentials to 60% by the year 2025. While the P-20 Council and State agencies monitor this goal and focus on State policy to support it, State policy alone will not drive the local efforts needed to ensure students seamlessly progress to and through postsecondary education and into the workforce.
Recognizing the emergence of local initiatives across Illinois to increase postsecondary attainment and the lack of a statewide support infrastructure, the Illinois 60 by 25 Network was launched in 2013 by three Network Organizers: Advance Illinois, Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University (EdSystems), and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC). The goal of the Network is to support communities to increase meaningful and equitable postsecondary attainment. Network Organizers support the Network by:
- Hosting an Annual Convening
- Providing Technical Assistance
- Sharing Best Practices
- Connecting Local Community Efforts to State Policy to advance the 60 by 25 Goal
- Building Local Capacity to Develop and Scale Their Efforts Through:
- Providing funds to communities through mini-grants
- Providing a Cradle to Career Dashboard to help communities analyze regional data on education and workforce system characteristics
