SJ0019LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r SJ0019 LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019 LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
1 SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Policymakers have strongly advocated for efforts
3 to elevate the importance of retaining diverse and inclusive
4 educators in Illinois; and
5 WHEREAS, The Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA),
6 Public Act 96-0861, was signed into law by the governor in
7 January 2010 and required school districts and other covered
8 entities to include student growth as a "significant factor"
9 in evaluating principals, assistant principals, and teachers
10 by certain implementation dates; the law also required that
11 evaluations include a four category rating system and
12 regulated training programs for anyone undertaking such
13 evaluations; PA 97-8, an offshoot of PERA, introduced the use
14 of educators' evaluation rating outcomes into employment
15 decisions in a number of ways, including the standards for
16 certificate/license actions against an educator for
17 incompetency, acquisition of tenure, reductions in
18 force/layoffs, and recall rights; and
19 WHEREAS, PERA also created the Illinois Performance
20 Evaluation Advisory Council, which recommended the Danielson
21 Framework for Teaching to all districts for use in evaluating
22 educators' professional practice in 2011; later, the State's
23 evaluator training materials incorporated the Danielson
SJ0019 LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019- 2 -LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r SJ0019 - 2 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019 - 2 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
1 Framework for Teaching for use as a training tool for all
2 teacher evaluators; and
3 WHEREAS, Teacher diversity has been linked to improved
4 student outcomes, including increased academic achievement,
5 higher rates of gifted assignment, and lower rates of
6 exclusionary discipline; to recognize these benefits, there
7 has been a growing research and policy focus on recruiting and
8 hiring teachers of color; however, studies have shown that
9 teachers of color have high turnover rates, so retention of
10 teachers of color has also become an important part of the
11 conversation; and
12 WHEREAS, Research from Blazar (2024) finds that Black
13 teachers:
14 (1) Have statistically significant positive impacts on
15 Black students' self-efficacy;
16 (2) Enhance students', particularly Black students',
17 engagement in classes;
18 (3) Improve student attendance, reducing absences by
19 47% for Black students and 22% for non-Black students;
20 (4) Improve math test scores of both Black and
21 non-Black students; and
22 (5) Produce long-term benefits in English language
23 arts test scores, particularly for Black students; and
SJ0019 - 2 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019- 3 -LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r SJ0019 - 3 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019 - 3 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
1 WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education began
2 reporting the three-year teacher retention rate disaggregated
3 by race/ethnicity for the first time in 2021; the data showed
4 that Illinois schools retain Black teachers at the lowest rate
5 of all teacher groups, 80.6 percent, compared to an 87.6
6 percent rate for White teachers; and
7 WHEREAS, After a year-long study, the Illinois State Board
8 of Education released the Teacher Evaluation Research Project
9 (2024), a research report that found the State's current
10 evaluation requirements result in the following:
11 (1) A heavy workload, and at times, a burden on both
12 teachers and evaluators, which minimizes opportunities to
13 prioritize actionable feedback and professional growth for
14 all educators;
15 (2) Concerns about the presence of bias in
16 evaluations, particularly regarding student growth
17 measures; and
18 (3) Disparities in rating distributions by educators'
19 race and school district characteristics, with serious and
20 significant negative impacts on Black and Latinx
21 educators; and
22 WHEREAS, Since 2011, when Illinois recommended the
23 Danielson Framework for Teaching as an evaluation tool, there
24 have been lingering questions about potential biases built
SJ0019 - 3 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019- 4 -LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r SJ0019 - 4 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019 - 4 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
1 into Danielson Framework for Teaching itself, which could be
2 contributing to the disparities in rating outcomes that we are
3 seeing in Illinois and go beyond potential individual
4 evaluator bias, and whether or not the tool is fair to Black
5 and Brown educators in their work with all types of students,
6 including students with disabilities, multilingual learners,
7 and early learners; further, there has yet to be a clear body
8 of evidence to demonstrate that the Danielson Framework for
9 Teaching is a robust instrument, which would foster the
10 equity-based teaching practices and reflective conversations
11 that are envisioned in the Illinois Culturally Responsive
12 Teaching and Leading Standards; therefore, be it
13 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL
14 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF
15 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the Illinois
16 State Board of Education to initiate and complete a research
17 study to examine the application and use of the Danielson
18 Framework for Teaching, including ways to confront ideological
19 barriers to socially just teacher performance evaluation; and
20 be it further
21 RESOLVED, That the Illinois State Board of Education is
22 urged to deliver this report to the legislature by June 30,
23 2026; and be it further
SJ0019 - 4 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019- 5 -LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r SJ0019 - 5 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019 - 5 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r
SJ0019 - 5 - LRB104 03459 MST 13482 r