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Page 42
2017 EDUCATION MAGAZINE
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MARCH 1, 2017
Founded as a nonprofit in
1984 by Lincoln citizen Dr.
Sam Redding, the Academic
Development Institute’s mission
has been to “assist families,
schools, and communities with
children’s academic and personal
development.”
ADI began this work simply
with a summer program for
middle school students and
parent education programs for
schools. Since that time, ADI
has expanded its reach to include
every level of the education
system.
In 1983, Sam was a dean at
Lincoln College in Lincoln,
Illinois. Attracted by the name
Lincoln and the college’s
reputation for serving
underprepared students
(polishing the “diamond in the
rough”), and enabled by new
financial aid programs, minority
students enrolled in ever larger
numbers through the 1970s and
early ‘80s. By 1983, more than
a third of the college’s students
were African American, mostly
from Chicago. These students
were typically the first in their
families to go to college, and
the college built strong student
support programs to enhance
their opportunity for success.
Still, many did not succeed.
Concerned about students who
arrived at college full of hope but
not prepared for the challenges,
Dr. Redding formed ADI as a
non-profit.
In that same year, the Joyce
Foundation provided ADI with
a $27,000 grant to develop a
family engagement program
in three Chicago elementary
schools. The emphasis on family
engagement stemmed from Dr.
Redding’s observation that many
underprivileged students arrived
at college without the academic
background and personal
competencies that college
requires and that engaging
families early was one strategy
that was underutilized.
ADI formed a research council
that included eminent Chicagoans
Herbert J. Walberg, Benjamin
Bloom, Ralph Tyler, and James
Coleman to guide its work.
Over the next decade, 30
foundations and corporations
contributed to ADI’s work, and
its family engagement programs
leadership in education
From Academic Development
Institute, Vice President
for Institutional Advancement
Mark Williams
N
estled, almost hidden, above the Prairie Years Gift Shop in downtown
Lincoln is an influential and dynamic force for good in the national education
scene.
Continued
u