The life of the Institute for Innovative Community Learning (ICL) began in 1996 when the state of Florida created six regional area state centers. Our center was funded in partnership with the Panhandle Educational Area Consortium (PAEC) to provide professional development services to 17 counties located in the panhandle of Florida. Six regional centers were funded by the state for six years to educate Florida teachers and leaders on the new Sunshine State Standards. Because of the initial success of our center providing innovative professional development and training solutions for educators, we received federal funding to take our efforts to a national level. As we moved into the 21st Century, we focused our mission and vision on preparing teachers to enter the teaching profession through alternative pathways to becoming certified to teach.
Today, we offer a one stop online learning place for new teachers where they can gather resources and learn more about how to improve their daily practices. As part of TeacherReady®, ICL is proud to offer a premier transition to teaching program. The TeacherReady® program is state of Florida approved and is reviewed along with the University of West Florida Professional Education Unit accredited by NCATE. We also offer a very popular free instructional design tool to teachers, the Lesson Architect®. About 40,000 educators all over the world have free access to the Lesson Architect®. By visiting teacherready.net, you will see many valuable resources teachers can connect to each day.
History