Teachers unions don’t want teachers evaluated on how well students are learning
Democrats in the Illinois Senate filed a bill to remove student academic growth data as a measure for teacher evaluations. The Illinois Federation of Teachers backs the bill – another effort by the union to obstruct accountability.
A bill filed in the Illinois Senate seeks to remove student academic growth as a factor for teacher evaluations.
Senate Bill 28 amends the Illinois School Code by removing the requirement for school districts to evaluate teachers, in part, based on student growth.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association have both filed their support for this bill, which threatens to lower accountability in Illinois public schools. They don’t want teachers judged by how well their students are learning.
The school code defines student growth as “a demonstrable change in a student’s or group of students’ knowledge or skills, as evidenced by gain and/or attainment on two or more assessments, between two or more points in time.”
Current Illinois statute requires school districts to incorporate student growth data and indicators as a significant factor in rating a teacher’s performance, which means at least 30% of a teacher’s performance evaluation must currently depend upon student growth. If enacted, the bill would still allow school districts to use student growth in teacher evaluations, but it would no longer require districts to use student growth data.
The National Council on Teacher Quality found 30 states require student growth data to be included in teacher evaluations, as of 2022. If Illinois passes this bill, it will join a minority of states which have removed student growth as a required measure of a teacher’s performance.
Student growth is important as it represents an objective measure upon which to evaluate teachers and hold schools accountable for student outcomes. Teachers union opposition to accountability is not surprising, but it is troubling in a state where just 1 in 3 students at the critical fourth-grade milestone met or exceeded reading standards in 2022.
This isn’t the first time IFT has supported efforts which threaten to lower school accountability. IFT joined other education professionals in calling for a reduction in student testing in 2022, with IFT President Dan Montgomery saying Illinois has “a testing regime that has gone too far, and is not helping children learn.”
But removing student testing would have removed any real measure of evaluating student performance in public schools. This is yet another example of IFT seeking to lower accountability for student outcomes.
School districts need to understand how teachers are doing in the classroom. The teacher quality council identified reasons why school districts need effective methods to evaluate teachers’ skills, including to ensure strong teachers are assigned to students who need them most and to provide more intensive support for struggling teachers.
The council found it is important for school districts to use multiple measures to evaluate teacher performance. In a study, it found most school districts analyzed use more than one component for a teacher evaluation, with one-quarter incorporating at least three components. Three quarters of the districts analyzed included measures of student achievement or student growth as one of the components.
Student growth is an important measure to include for a school district to have a full picture of the abilities of a teacher. It is a basic measure of whether a teacher can best serve the students who rely on them.
Parents and lawmakers should be wary of any actions supported by teachers unions which threaten to lower accountability for schools. With most Illinois students struggling to meet grade-level proficiency in core subjects, schools need more accountability, not less, to ensure students are given the tools to succeed in life.