• Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program: The Gateways to Opportunity Scholarship Program is an individual-based scholarship opportunity for practitioners working in the field of Early Care and Education (ECE). Practitioners working in Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) licensed centers and homes can apply for a Gateways Scholarship. The Gateways Scholarship Program will pay a percentage of the cost of tuition and fees based on an eligible participant’s child care position income. The Gateways Scholarship Program is administered through the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies and funded by the Illinois Department of Human Services.
• General Education: The goal of a general education is to develop individuals with sensitivity to and a comprehensive understanding of the world in which they live. A general education helps students develop moral values, habits of critical thinking and introspection, intellectual sophistication, and an orientation to learning and investigation that will become life long. Generally educated individuals are conversant with scientific inquiry, appreciate the insights into the human character and culture provided by literature and the arts, understand human behavior and social institutions, are aware of history, respect human diversity, and act both ethically and responsibly as members of society.
  
  The general education curriculum constitutes that part of an undergraduate education that develops breadth of knowledge and the expressive skills essential to more complex and in-depth learning throughout life. To develop a breadth of knowledge, general education courses acquaint students with the methods of inquiry of the various academic disciplines and the different ways these disciplines view the world. The academic disciplines comprising the general education curriculum are the physical and life sciences, the humanities and fine arts, the social and behavioral sciences, and interdisciplinary combinations of these as well as communication and mathematics. To develop expressive skills, the general education curriculum requires courses that enhance written and oral communication and quantitative reasoning skills.
• Great START: Great START (Strategy to Attract and Retain Teachers) is a wage supplement program designed to improve the developmental outcomes of children through the professional development of early childhood practitioners. It is available to assistant teachers, teachers, and directors employed by licensed child care centers, family group homes, and family child care homes. The program is funded through the Illinois Department of Human Services and administered by the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
• Goals: The purpose of an act or group of actions
• Group home: A licensed child care home which provides care for 3 to 16 children for fewer than 24 hours per day.
• Group size: The total number of children assigned to a teacher or teaching team, and grouped in an individual classroom or well-defined physical space within a child care center.
• Guidelines: A description of suggested elements aimed to accomplish a defined activity.