Larry and Barbara Efaw Center for Educator Excellence

The Larry and Barbara Efaw Center for Educator Excellence supports education students and alums in their development as excellent educators across the educator lifespan. The Efaw Center provides individualized attention, focused learning communities, and special event programming for all education students. The Efaw Center acknowledges that barriers to academic success can be addressed by proactively offering a holistic approach to support services. Further, the Efaw Center embraces ISU values related to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and is involved with promoting these campus and college initiatives in the center and through our collaborations. Efaw staff work collaboratively with faculty, staff, and students across campus who interact with education students.

Services

To connect with the Efaw Center and access services, the Efaw Center Connection Form must be completed by faculty, staff, or students.

Efaw Center Connection Form

The student who has been referred will receive an outreach email within 2-3 business days within normal university operating hours of submitting this form.

If you are experiencing a crisis click this link to view Student Counseling Services "What to do in a Crisis" information.

The following services are available to students:

Advocacy
Conflict resolution
Content test preparation
Culturally responsive pedagogy
Graduate writing support
Organization
Referrals with follow-up to existing campus resources
Responding to incidents of bias and microaggressions
Scholarship preparation
Study skills
Time management

Undergraduate Student Support

Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS) Content Test Preparation

We offer online tutorials, practice test vouchers, learning communities, and one: one support. Please complete the Efaw Center Connection Form to learn how you can access these resources.

Tutoring

Tutoring in coursework and content test preparation are offered online and in person and requires 24 hours in advance appointment bookings. Please complete the Connection Form to get the Bookings link to sign up for an appointment with one of our tutors. Meetings are held in the Efaw Center and online.

Monday 5-7pm ELEM; 6-7pm *ECE

Tuesday 12-1:45 ELEM; 12:20-2:30pm ML

Wednesday 3-6pm ECE; 5-8pm ELEM; 2-7pm *SED

Thursday 12-1:45pm ELEM; 12:30-3:30pm ML; 3-7pm *SED

Friday: 10-11am ECE, 11-12pm ML, ELEM, and *SED (some weeks 10-11am)

*Note, ECE and SED are only for class work through sophomore year, and not ILTS/ content test prep. Ask about asynchronous support for ILTS/ content test prep.

Efaw Peer Mentor

We offer case management, campus resource referral, and follow-up meetings. We can work with you have received a disposition concerns assessment. Please complete the form above to get connected with an Efaw Peer Mentor. Meetings are held in the Efaw Center and online.

Graduate Student Support

Writing Fellows

As a graduate student, you can make an appointment for yourself with one of the writing fellows. Please click the Efaw Connection Form above to schedule an appointment with a Writing Fellow and access Efaw Center Peer Mentor services. Writing appointments are available throughout the semester; we hold evening and weekend hours. Our internationally and linguistically diverse cohort of writing fellows have a broad range of writing, editing, presentation, and publication experience that they are delighted to share with their peers.

Location: Efaw Center, online, and Milner Library in the study pods on the east side of Floor 5. Please stop by the front desk at Milner to ask for the location of the writing fellows!

The writing fellows can support you with:

proper citation,
developing your writing style,
organizing your writing,
literature reviews, and more!

Upcoming Events

Weekly Schedule

Monday : ILTS/ Content test workshop series 5-6 pm (online) .

Graduate Writing: 12-3 pm (Milner Library & virtual)

Tuesday : Graduate Writing: 10-3 pm (Milner Library & virtual).

Community Circles: 3-4 pm (Efaw Center)

Wednesday: Graduate Writing: 12-4 pm (Milner Library & virtual)

Wellness Wednesday: 1:30-2 pm-will resume after Spring Break (Efaw Center)

ILTS/Content test workshop series 5-6 pm-starting (Efaw Center)

Thursday: Stress Management 3-4 pm .

Graduate Writing 2-6 pm (Milner Library & virtual)

Friday: Graduate Writing: 11-4 pm (Milner Library & virtual)

Saturday: Graduate Writing: 9-12 pm & 1-6 pm (Milner Library & virtual)

Events

Spring into Success! April 3rd.

Kick off your spring ILTS/ Content Exam studying season with this practice test event. Gather with your teacher education peers for refreshments, participate in a test anxiety exercise, and then take your practice test in a computer lab on campus. This event is meant to support your preparation journey in solidarity with your peers. This event parallels the Spring ILTS/ Content test Spring workshop series.

If you need an accommodation to fully participate in a program/event, please contact Dr. Becky Beucher, Director of the Efaw Center at rlbeuch@ilstu.edu . Please allow sufficient time to arrange the accommodation .

Director

Dr. Becky Beucher, Director:
rlbeuch@ilstu.edu | 309-438-2041 | DeGarmo 341

The Efaw Family

Barbara ’59 and Larry Efaw ’56, M.S. ’59 supported Redbird educators for many years. In 2021, Barbara and her family generously gifted the College of Education $500,000 to establish the Larry and Barbara Efaw Center for Educator Excellence.

Barbara and Larry met at ISU and were both active students while on campus. Passionate about literacy, education, and family, Barbara became an elementary educator, mother, and grandmother and Larry, a father and grandfather, served as the Executive Director for the Library Book Selection Service in Bloomington, Illinois. The Efaws credit their experiences at Illinois State for their success in education.

The Efaw family poses for a photo