What is Transitional English?
The 2016 State of Illinois’s Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness (PWR) Act includes a set of strategies to support Illinois students in their transition from high school to postsecondary education, workforce training and careers. One of the central initiatives of the PWR Act was to define competencies needed for high school students to avoid placement into remedial reading and communications courses in college (110 ILCS 148/70). Pursuant to this charge, a combined effort of high school and college instructors, school administrators and state officials developed a high school course called Transitional English.
Transitional English is a year-long course for high school seniors that aims to develop reading, critical thinking and analysis skills for success in college-level courses. A Transitional English course is developed through a partnership between a local school district and Lincoln Land Community College.
An overview of the Transitional English initiative and the course parameters, competencies and policies is provided in the .
Partnership deadline
The deadline for Transitional English course submissions to the Local Advisory Panel (LAP) is Oct. 15 for the fall semester or March 15 for the spring semester. The required documentation must be submitted by the deadline for the course to be considered at the LAP’s fall or spring meeting.
The LAP requires the following documents for review:
- TELA Syllabus
- TELA Content Competencies Spreadsheet
- TELA MOU
Partnership high schools
- Springfield School District 186
- Rochester High School
More information
For more information about the Transitional English initiative, contact Laurenn York, ÂÌñÉç’s Transitional English course coordinator and instructor of English.