Section 312.60  Selection

a)         The Office of Education and Transition Services shall coordinate the Scholarship Awards Selection Committee (SASC). SASC shall include senior leadership of the Department, including, but not limited to, persons who oversee the offices of guardian, legal services, clinical and operations, and key representatives from Department advisory groups, including the Child Welfare Advisory Committee, Child Care Association of Illinois, Illinois Foster Parent Association, Statewide Foster Care Advisory Council and Council on Adoptable Children.

b)         The SASC shall meet in April to evaluate the applications.

1)         Each application will be reviewed by 3 randomly selected SASC members, who will rate it according to the criteria in this subsection (b)(1).  The reviewers will receive detailed scoring rubrics regarding subsections (b)(1)(B) through (D) to maximize consistency among reviewers.

            A)        Test Scores/GPA (40 points total)

The highest two scores of the following shall be counted at 20 points each:

i)          High School GPA, on a 4-point scale (weighted if possible; otherwise unweighted is acceptable):

ii)         College GPA (if applicable), on a 4-point scale (weighted if possible; otherwise unweighted is acceptable):

iii)        ACT Score (if the applicant is submitting an SAT Score instead, it is converted to the corresponding ACT Score using the ACT-SAT Concordance available at http://www.act.org/aap/concordance):

iv)        GED Test Score (if applicable):

B)        Activities/Jobs/Awards/Other (10 points total)

Applicants will be awarded the sum of the following scores. No

applicant may receive more than 10 points total:

i)          Interests/Activities: (8 points possible)

Interests and activities may include, but are not limited to, participation in athletics or clubs through school or in the community, personal interests such as reading or swimming, etc.

ii)         Employment Experience: (8 points possible)

iii)        Volunteer Experience: (8 points possible)

Volunteer experience may include, but is not limited to, Boys and Girls Club, community food drives, church daycare, assisting the elderly with daily tasks, etc.

iv)        Leadership Experience: (8 points possible)

Leadership experience may include, but is not limited to, organizing/leading a community event, serving as an officer for a school class or organization, speaking at a local event or school assembly, captain/co-captain of an athletic team, etc.

v)         Awards/Honors/Recognition: (8 points possible)

This category may include, but is not limited to, earning Honor or High Honor Roll status, membership in various academic honor societies, recognition for athletics, Dean's list recognition, etc.

C)        Letters of Recommendation (10 points total)

Each of the 3 required letters will be scored on a 10 point scale.  The score for this category is the average of the 3.

i)          How well does the writer know the applicant?  (3 points possible)

ii)         How objective is the reference?  (3 points possible)

iii)        How strong is the recommendation?  (4 points possible)

D)        Student Statement (40 points total)

Student statements will be evaluated according to the following framework (childhood trauma, multiple moves in foster care, academic challenges):

i)          Grammar, Organization, Clarity:  (15 points possible)

ii)         College Plan:  (5 points possible)

iii)        Sincerity of Desire to Attend College:  (10 points possible)

iv)        Circumstances the Applicant has Overcome (examples may include but are not limited to, multiple foster care moves, extreme childhood trauma, education deficiencies, etc.): (10 points possible)

2)         Score sheets are collected and tabulated. Each application will be assigned a final score, which is the average of the three scores received from the SASC reviewers. The applicants with the highest composite scores shall be awarded a Department Scholarship.  Applicants will be notified no later than May 1 of their award status.

3)         In case of a tie for the lowest-placed scholarship recipient, two reviewers will be randomly selected to score both of the tied applications. The additional scores will be included in each tied applicant's average, and the applicant with the higher average will be awarded the scholarship. If the scores are still tied, the process is repeated until a recipient can be selected.

(Source:  Amended at 39 Ill. Reg. 349, effective December 31, 2014)