McLean County Historical Society

Purpose: Serving as Centers of Community Engagement The McLean County Museum of History will serve as a center for community engagement by hiring a program coordinator (PC) to develop a new initiative to deliver museum education services directly to schools and to better incorporate museum resources into local curricula. The PC will train teachers and educate students in McLean, Livingston, and DeWitt counties, extending the museum's outreach to the entire tri-county region, which includes 95 schools in 26 public school districts, six educational agencies, 15 parochial and nonpublic schools, a variety of professional educator associations, and targeted civic groups. The PC will expand the use of 12 educational loan kits already available for outreach by conducting teacher workshops for Continuing Professional Development credits according to Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. The PC will also visit classrooms and targeted groups to present students with educational activities that conform to Illinois State Learning Standards. In addition to these collections-related presentations, the PC will develop Web services, including interactive lessons and outcome-based evaluations.