Resources

Innovation & Improvement

Academic Development Institute

Academic Development Institute (ADI) has been working with families, schools and communities since 1984.  ADI has many tools and resources for school district and family to use.  They have had contracts with Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and with the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and have worked with other states assisting families, schools and communities.

Be sure to check out the The School Community Journal (ISSN 1059-308X) which includes research and field reports related to the school as a community of teachers, students, parents, and staff. Parent involvement, family-school relations, site-based management, sociology of education, systems theory, the classroom community, and other topics are covered. The school can function as a thriving community!  The School Community Journal is an online only open access journal.

They also have created an Illinois Parents website  www.illinoisparents.org which provides additional resources for parent involvement.

Family Engagement Tool


ADI has created a tool for ISBE which schools in Illinois have access to do an analysis of their parent involvement policies and compact. This tool is available to all Illinois schools with access using their RCDTS code. ISBE wants all of their Title I school to use this analysis for their school improvement plan. If a school uses Rising Star, access to Family Engagement Tool is on their dashboard and does not require an additional login.

This link will open the login page. To login to this tool, the Principal will use the school’s RCDTS code.  This will be used for both the login and password the first time you login into the system.  This will prompt a screen where you can create your own 6 character (minimum) password. Once the password has been changed, you will be directed to the Family Engagement Tool main menu web page. As the team completes each step in the process, the principal and District Title I Director, if identified, receives an email after each step is completed with an attached PDF copy of the report submitted for that step.