Education Systems Center at NIU

Shaping and strengthening education and workforce systems to advance racial equity and prepare more learners for productive careers and lives in a global economy.

Education Systems Center (EdSystems) is a mission-driven policy development and program implementation center based at Northern Illinois University.

Our primary focus is Illinois, while also working with national and international partners. Through our State university home, we forge longstanding leadership roles with State agencies and interagency boards and commissions. We work at the state level to create ecosystem and policy change while simultaneously working at the local level to create organizational change. This bi-directional approach allows us to align local efforts to state policy while elevating local experiences and learnings to state tables. Through strategic partnership building, we articulate a shared vision for enabling more Black and Latinx learners to achieve educational and career success.

We focus on three substantive priority areas: College and Career Pathways, Bridges to Postsecondary, and Data Impact and Leadership.