Brenda Pessin
Project Director

Brenda directs the Department of Migrant Education Services for the Illinois Migrant Council. She provides programmatic and fiscal management for the multi-faceted programs directed towards the education of migrant children, youth and families.

Some of the projects that Brenda oversees are:

ESTRELLA, a multi-state project funded through the U.S. Department of Education. This project applies laptop computers and telecommunications technology to the education of migrant secondary students. Illinois Migrant Education Resource Project (IMERP), a statewide resource project for migrant education funded by the Illinois State Board of Education. This project provides services to roughly fourteen local operating agencies in the fields of secondary education, records transfer, dropout retrieval, student assessment, program evaluation, distance learning and technology applications. Migrant Education Even Start (Project MAX and Bright Beginnings), family literacy projects funded through the U.S. Department of Education. Project SMART (Illinois component), a national distance learning program for migrant students from pre-kindergarten to high school. Project ARTE, an arts-in-education program funded by the Illinois Arts Council that brings academic performances and workshops to Illinois migrant students throughout the summer.

Brenda has a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish/Latin American Studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Governors State University, Illinois. Brenda also received an advanced Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology of Education and Bilingual/Bicultural Education from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.