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Bipartisan Leaders Call for Radical Reinvention of Illinois Schools

Posted on: Thursday, 18 June 2009, 12:15 CDT

Advance Illinois report calls for higher bar for students, teachers and principals

NOTE: Recommendations available at www.advanceillinois.org

CHICAGO, June 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Advance Illinois, the education reform group co-chaired by former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and former Secretary of Commerce William Daley, today issued recommendations for radical reform of the state's education system to dramatically raise the bar for Illinois schools and reverse an alarming decline in student performance.

"The need has never been more acute, as our student achievement is slipping dangerously," said Robin Steans, Advance Illinois executive director. "The opportunities have never been greater, as the federal stimulus is pointing us toward aggressive reform. And never before has such a bipartisan group of people come together around comprehensive, student-focused reform."

Advance Illinois today published a report, We Can Do Better: Advancing Public Education in Illinois. The report calls for setting world-class standards, holding school districts and teacher training programs accountable for results, linking teacher and principal evaluations to academic outcomes, and empowering local schools and districts to stimulate innovation.

Data shows Illinois has been falling behind the rest of the country and the world.

"For the first time in history, a generation of young people is at risk to be less educated than that of their parents," said Daley. "It's time to think differently."

For every four students who enter high school in Illinois, one will drop out, two will finish school but be unprepared for work or further education, and only one will graduate ready for whatever comes next.

"We hurt our young people most by low expectations," said Governor Edgar. "We can and must do better. Every student has the right to a diploma that means something. We do children a great injustice by failing to prepare them to succeed in a highly competitive world."

The report focuses its proposed reform in three main areas:

• Recruit, Develop and Empower the Most Effective Educators
• Set World-class Expectations and Provide Essential Supports
• Empower Local Innovation in Exchange for Accountability and Results

The report calls for teaching, arguably the most important job in America, to be treated as a profession. It recommends re-allocating resources away from strategies that don't improve student achievement to those that do. For example, the report notes that, currently, more than $400 million is spent every year to reward teachers for completing graduate coursework and degrees. This despite the fact that, with minimal exceptions, there is no evidence that advanced degrees increase teacher effectiveness in the classroom.

In the same vein, the state should retool how teachers and principals are evaluated and reach career milestones, starting with measuring their impact on student achievement. At the same time, teacher training programs should be evaluated based on the quality of their programs and their graduates.

"Our focus should be on what the evidence shows works for students, and on rewarding strategies and people who help students meet new, tougher standards," said Steans.

The state's standards have slipped. While Illinois Standards Achievement Test scores are rising, Illinois students' scores on national tests have shown little improvement.

To that end, the report recommends adopting internationally benchmarked college- and career-ready standards and raising graduation requirements to match college and career requirements.

"We are failing our students and their families who believe making the grade in Illinois means you are ready to take on college or the workplace," said Edgar. "Sadly, that's often not the case because our standards in Illinois are so low."

School reform in Illinois has often been presented as a choice between local or state control. Advance Illinois calls for breaking free of what is a false choice; there should be more state support but it should be designed to empower local communities with more resources and information to adopt the best available practices that suit their particular circumstances.

"While it may seem self-evident or just plain common sense, many simple steps like tracking student outcomes to determine what works and what doesn't just hasn't been done in Illinois," said Miguel del Valle, Chicago City Clerk, former Chair of the Illinois Senate Education Committee and Advance Illinois board member. "This is just a starting point, but we have to start getting serious before it's too late for Illinois students."

Among the report's recommendations is the creation of a State Innovation Fund, to support districts and schools willing to creatively tackle priority issues.

Advance Illinois recommends tracking progress against aggressive measures to match the achievement of the most successful states. Illinois must lower achievement gaps and raise graduation rates. Now in the middle rank of U.S. performance, Illinois should aim to be in the top 5 states, across a range of measurements, including academic proficiency, student achievement and educational attainment.

The group's proposed reforms correspond to criteria the federal government will use to award additional education stimulus dollars on a competitive basis starting this fall. These sound reform steps should be implemented regardless of the stimulus, but -- taken seriously -- could trigger significant federal dollars for cash-strapped Illinois schools.

"Not all new funding means more money out of the pockets of Illinois taxpayers, and Illinois should actively pursue federal funds," said Edgar. "Education Secretary Arne Duncan has warned us that Illinois may not have implemented enough reforms yet to get some of those federal funds. That is why we must show we are willing and capable of changing our ways when it comes to education."

"While there are some very encouraging initiatives coming out of Washington to help our schools, we have to roll up our sleeves here in Illinois because no one is going to do the hard work for us," said Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and an Advance Illinois Board member.

The recommendations are based on nearly a year of consultation with experts across the nation, research into successful reforms elsewhere and dozens of meetings and public Town Hall sessions with parents, educators, academics and community leaders across Illinois.

Advance Illinois is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, the Grand Victoria Foundation, The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, McCormick Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust and the Boeing Company Charitable Trust.

About Advance Illinois

Advance Illinois is an independent, objective voice to promote a public education system in Illinois that prepares all students to be ready for work, college, and democratic citizenship.

For more information visit www.advanceillinois.org.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

We Can Do Better: Advancing Public Education in Illinois

RECRUIT, DEVELOP AND EMPOWER THE MOST EFFECTIVE EDUCATORS

• Evaluate and accredit teacher training programs based on the quality of their program and their graduates
• Evaluate teachers and principals based on their performance, starting with their impact on student achievement
• Award tenure and certification of principals and teachers based on performance, not coursework or years served
• Give schools and districts serving at-risk children greater control and flexibility to attract and hire effective teachers

SET WORLD-CLASS EXPECTATIONS AND PROVIDE ESSENTIAL SUPPORTS

• Adopt internationally benchmarked college- and career-ready standards
• Revise current assessments, agree on a mechanism for measuring student growth, and develop end-of-course exams to measure mastery of subjects throughout high school
• Raise graduation requirements to match college and career requirements
• Make cutting-edge curricula and formative assessments readily available to teachers
• Provide parents with early, relevant information about student development and progress

EMPOWER LOCAL INNOVATION IN EXCHANGE FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESULTS

• Create a State Innovation Fund, to support districts and schools willing to creatively tackle priority issues
• Build a world-class data system
• Develop the measures, capacity and strategies to constructively intervene in failing schools

The report recommends Illinois commit to meeting the following goals by 2020:

• Increase Illinois' proficiency rate on the Nation's Report Card to 50 percent for reading and math, placing us among the top five states. Illinois currently trails more than half the states with a rate of 30-35 percent.
• Increase graduation rates by 10 percent to 85 percent, and increase the rate of students receiving post-graduate education by 12 percent to 40 percent.
• Raise the number of students receiving a college and career-ready curriculum to 70 percent, from 45 percent today.
• Close the gap in reading and math on the Nation's Report Card between minority and white students and poor/non-poor students to less than 10 percent from 20 to 40 in all areas, among the worst in the nation.

Contacts: Laurent Pernot 773-865-5381 (c) Fuzz Hogan 312-467-5902 (w) 312-315-7221 (c)

SOURCE Advance Illinois

Source: PR Newswire

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