Statement of Robin Steans, Advance Illinois Executive Director:

Illinois should be proud it produced such a strong Race to the Top application, which earned national recognition for its ‘groundbreaking’ supporting legislation, ’standout’ support from stakeholders and a thorough plan. The team that represented Illinois during the interview process performed admirably and deserve our thanks. Congratulations to Delaware and Tennessee for clearing the Department of Education’s “very, very high bar.”

So, how does Illinois, clear that bar for Phase 2? Our 5th place finish means we have a strong shot at winning Phase 2, but we have work to do. With more than $3.4 billion still available, we hope state leaders will take a close look at feedback from our reviewers and take a fresh look at what additional strategies might further improve our application and, more importantly, how we serve children.

To that end, state leaders and lawmakers would be well-advised to work on ensuring full support for the application and reforms from more districts across the state. While Illinois should be pleased that more than 74% of students were represented by districts that signed on to Phase 1, we can do better, and Delaware and Tennessee proved how much it matters by getting support from districts representing all students in their states.

In this time of fiscal challenge in Illinois, some might say this is too much to ask in such a short time. We say that with more than $400 million in the offing and our economic future on the line, this is too good an opportunity to pass up. And with only two winning states, more than $3.4 billion is still in play.

Race to the Top continues to create an opportunity for Illinois to make significant infrastructure investments and investments in human capital than we might otherwise not be able to make in these tight fiscal times - an opportunity to expand our technology platform, to provide additional mentoring and training to teachers and principals, to create engaging curricula that blend career skills with college-ready skills, and to move toward more sophisticated assessments to help inform teaching and learning.

A Phase 2 investment would be a significant step on a path toward an education system that prepares all our children, no matter where they’re born, to be world ready. The citizens of this great state deserve no less.

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Congratulations to the General Assembly for passing groundbreaking legislation on teacher evaluation and alternative certification. The legislative process brought together all the education stakeholders to produce a forward-looking and durable set of reforms that will help Illinois school children for years to come and better position Illinois for up to $400 million from the federal “Race to the Top” competition.

The State Journal-Register offered wrapups of the Senate vote Wednesday and the House vote Monday.
The votes were also covered by the Quad-City Times and Illinois Public Radio (pc link here, mac link avail here).

The Chicago Tribune editorialized on the legislation earlier in the week.

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A study released yesterday (June 1) by The New Teacher Project describes how school systems “treat all teachers as interchangeable parts, not professionals. Excellence goes unrecognized and poor performance goes unaddressed. This indifference to performance disrespects teachers and gambles with students’ lives.”  The study looked at 12 school districts, including three in Illinois, that range in size, geographic location and teacher evaluation approach. But, the study concludes, the outcomes are strikingly similar across the districts.

Here’s the link to the report and the The New Teacher Project website.

Here’s links to media coverage: EdWeek (access compliments of edweek.org), and from two cities with districts in the study: The Denver Post and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

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