Our Work is Not Done. Opportunities to Make EBF More Equitable are Worth Exploring

4 minute read

“Continuous improvement” is undeniably a buzzword. But the concept – using data and evidence to consistently assess and improve upon policy solutions – is critical. When it comes to school funding, this approach helps ensure that funding systems are increasing equity and prevents formulas from becoming disconnected from student needs and real-world costs. 

Resolutions SR900  and HR722 embrace the need for continuous improvement in Illinois’ school funding approach by directing ISBE and the state’s Professional Review Panel (PRP) to continue building on some incredibly important work. 

Last spring, HB2170 – the education omnibus spearheaded by the legislative Black Caucus – charged the PRP with exploring how Illinois’ K-12 funding formula might increase equity in several areas. SR900 and HR722 elevate these findings and chart a course for the work ahead, laying out concrete next steps  to move this work forward in the coming year. 

The PRP’s report, though dense, is well worth the read. It’s packed with research and policy considerations for how the formula might better capture educational costs related to promoting racial equity, addressing needs of students exposed to trauma, supporting students living in concentrated poverty, and providing equitable access to foreign language instruction. It tackles big questions like: Might the formula do more to close stark racial equity gaps in resources that persist between districts in Illinois? Can it better reflect the costs of supporting students’ social emotional learning and mental health in the long term, especially in light of increased exposure to trauma resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic? 

The group’s findings suggest that, although the formula already makes progress in many of these areas, there is still room for improvement. And, although the bar for changing the formula should be high in light of evidence that it’s successfully beginning to close gaps, any opportunity to make the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula “more perfect” is worth exploring further.  

Even as the state continues to fund the formula by investing a minimum of $350 million into schools through EBF each year, we must make sure the formula accurately reflects the costs schools bear to serve their students well. With the majority of districts still below 70% of adequacy, our work is not done, and it matters that we drive new dollars where they are needed most.   

SR900 and HR722 make the powerful statement that state leaders think it’s worth taking the next steps to figure out if, and how, adjustments to the EBF might be needed and made. That means modeling potential options, making space for discussions that include diverse stakeholders, and ultimately using data to inform decisions. It’s exciting to see this commitment to continuous improvement and equity from leadership – Illinois' kids deserve nothing less.  

Melissa Figueira is a Senior Policy Advisor at Advance Illinois

Strengthening the Teacher Feedback Process for a Strong Workforce

5 minute read

It is no secret that our state is grappling with a teacher shortage. Years of underinvestment and program cuts are coming home to roost and directly impacting students. All students need and deserve highly skilled and qualified teachers, so it is essential that the state support and implement a comprehensive, coordinated, and ambitious plan to strengthen and diversify the educator pipeline.

In February, Governor Pritzker proposed a budget that includes increased funding to combat the teacher shortage by investing more in scholarships and college affordability. In addition, ISBE has been investing state and federal stimulus dollars in mentoring and induction, career pathways into teaching, and support for district equity work. And, the General Assembly has pushed the state to build a stronger, more integrated pipeline into early childhood. 

These investments build on work that has been growing over the past few years, and the good news is that headed into the pandemic, enrollment in teacher and principal preparation had swelled considerably and diversity had improved. At a recent board meeting, ISBE reported that enrollment in teacher preparation was up 23% since last year alone (on top of increases prior to that), and that the number of completers was up 17%. As for diversity, the percentage of teacher candidates of color increased by 12 percentage points from 2009-2019. That would be better news if the starting numbers weren’t so terribly low, but the growth has been steady over time and is beginning to add up -- that’s worth noting.

While many elements contribute to a stronger, more diverse pipeline, an integral component is the support and feedback teachers receive.  Anyone who has taught knows that it is indeed rocket science.  Figuring out how to impart knowledge and skills to classrooms of students with sometimes wide-ranging readiness, learning styles, and need requires significant expertise. And, that’s before you layer in the challenges of trying to teach in hybrid or remote settings and addressing the growing mental health and academic impact of sustained classroom disruption. To be a teacher is to continually adapt, learn, and improve. Never has that been more necessary or true. Accordingly, we must continue to prioritize meaningful feedback for educators. Passed in 2010 the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA) called for evaluations that go beyond simple checklist reviews.

In Illinois, evaluations are jointly negotiated at the local level and based on standards of effective teaching, with evaluators trained and prequalified to conduct observations and provide helpful feedback to strengthen professional development. Research indicates that teachers and principals support these more substantive evaluations and that, when done well, such evaluations lead to better discussions about instruction and classroom practice. With the amount of instructional change in motion, never has the need for feedback been stronger.

As we enter the tenth year of PERA, it is appropriate to take stock of where we are, strengthening key elements, and working to address pain points. SR744 directs stakeholders to do just that, charging the Performance Evaluation Advisory Committee (PEAC) to do an evaluative study and make recommendations for next steps. We applaud Senator Kimberly Lightford for championing this review and recognize how timely it is. 

Educators need substantive feedback to grow and develop. This has been particularly true during and as we emerge from COVID-19, with educators reporting that they need and want feedback and coaching as they grapple with circumstances that call for entirely new practices and skills. Now more than ever, we need systems in place to support educators in the classroom. Rather than lowering qualifications and expectations or dismantling supports that enable educators to be successful, the time has come to invest more in building our pipeline, strengthening new teacher mentoring and induction, expanding planning time during this ongoing period of flux and recovery, and reducing unnecessary requirements and trainings for our current educators, so they have more time to make meaningful connections with students, focus on instruction and develop their craft.

At Advance Illinois, we will continue to develop and advocate for a set of evidence-based strategies that address the entire educator pipeline from recruitment to preparation to placement and retention.

Lynda Parker is Assistant Principal for Student Services at Oak Park River Forest High School, District 200

Bold Investments in Illinois’ Higher Education are Investments in Its People, Prosperity

As the state and country continue on the path to recovery from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the need for every Illinois student with college aspirations to earn a college degree is more urgent than ever. And yet, the current path to earning a degree from a public university here in Illinois shows otherwise. Two decades worth of cuts to Illinois’ public university funding has left the system woefully underfunded; universities now get half the appropriations they did in the early 2000s. Worse still, the manner in which Illinois has allocated its funding—99.5% of which is appropriated without a formula—has left many institutions that more often serve Black, Latinx, low-income, rural, and first generation college students with the least resources to do so. 

Until Illinois adopts a new approach that adequately and equitably funds our public universities, our students will continue to be harmed and their futures negatively affected. A college degree remains the surest path to the middle class with benefits to both our students and the communities they call home.

Consider that of all the jobs added since the Great Recession, 95% have required college degrees. Further, that unemployment rates tend to drop as education levels increase, and as a person’s education level rises, their wages tend to rise as well; while a high school graduate earns a median salary of $34,880 a year, their college-educated counterparts earn a median annual salary of $57,920. And beyond the financial benefits they receive, college degree holders have a tremendous impact on the communities where they work and live. A person with a bachelor’s degree will, over a lifetime, contribute roughly $278,000 more into their local economies than someone who has only a high school diploma and $44,000 more in local and state taxes, which help keep Illinois going and growing.

Suffice it to say, the best path forward for Illinois is one where prioritizing higher education investments leads to an inclusive, equitable economy. Right now, however, declines in state funding—particularly of universities that are more reliant on state funding, which more often enroll the Black, Latinx, low-income, rural, and first generation college students—have forced these institutions to raise their prices to offset the impact. The result: Tens of thousands of Illinois students are being priced out and losing out on the opportunity of earning a college degree and a more prosperous future. Or, they are choosing to leave Illinois altogether. And either way, Illinois loses. 

Illinois’ students cannot go on this way. Identifying a better path forward is urgently needed.

Starting this month, Illinois has the opportunity to transform how it invests in its future by moving toward creating an equity-based approach to funding its public universities. Illinois can adopt a stable, adequate, and equitable funding model. With the creation of the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding, charged with researching, modeling, and ultimately recommending specific criteria and approaches for an equity-based higher education funding model for Illinois' public universities, we are one step closer to a more equitable future for Illinois. It is a process that stretches to July 2023, and we look forward to supporting the Commission’s work every step of the way. 

Learn more about the Commission and tune into its first public meeting on November 9, 2021 from 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm.

The Coalition for Transforming Higher Education Funding is a growing network of individuals and organizations from across Illinois who believe all Illinois students should be able to attend a public university that can support their academic dreams and provide better economic opportunities for their future.

School Level Funding

Welcome to our blog! The Advance Illinois Blog provides readers an opportunity to hear from the Advance Illinois staff and partners on education policy issues affecting Illinois students and beyond. The first entry is authored by our very own Robin Steans where she celebrates Illinois’ ranking as the top state in reporting school-level spending as required by ESSA reporting requirements. Take a look!

LEADING THE NATION IN CRITICAL FUNDING INFORMATION, LET’S MAKE THE MOST OF IT

As the new school year gets underway, with COVID-19 still presenting serious challenges, it is nice to share some good news. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all states to disaggregate and publicly report school-level spending data. This is a big deal in that it has the potential to shed light on whether dollars are making it to schools in a way that equitably support students with greater learning needs.  

The Education Trust, a national civil rights organization which focuses on educational excellence and equity, recently released Going Beyond ESSA Compliance: A 50-State Scan of School Spending Reports, which takes a look at how well states were doing in reporting school-level spending. While they were interested in whether states were complying with the new ESSA reporting requirements (spoiler alert – only 41 are), they were really looking to see whether states were presenting that information in a way that truly “generate(s) insight about spending equity and promote(s) action.” They developed five equity-oriented principles and assessed every state’s reporting against them. What did they find? Illinois leads the nation and was the only state to earn a 100% rating.

The report explains the process ISBE undertook to develop such thoughtful data transparency (special shout out to the agency and to Sara Shaw, who led this effort), and it is clear the authors believe Illinois makes school-level spending data available in a way that allows readers to both understand and interrogate district and school resource decisions. 

School finances can seem boring, dry, and often, impenetrable. The reality is that how we spend our dollars is critical. We have worked incredibly hard as a state to “fix the formula” and ensure that more funding goes to districts who are serving students with greater need…and we are making serious progress.

The next logical step is to understand what happens at the school level: are dollars in fact making their way to the students who need them most? As importantly, given the ongoing level of underfunding, does our state report card help parents and others understand overall school and district performance and spending in the context of available funding?  We may wish to see more variation in spending at the school level by student income, for example, but when we see that a district is at 61% of funding adequacy, it impacts our understanding of what is possible, even as it may raise questions for leaders and advocates to wrestle with.

Congratulations to ISBE and Illinois for leading the nation in making critical funding information available in such clear and powerful ways and for putting school and district performance into context by pairing that information with funding data. Parents, policy makers, educators, and advocates, the ball is in our court to put this information to use.  

Below, check out this quick tutorial that highlights just how phenomenal a leader Illinois is when it comes to reporting school-level spending:

• First, go to the Illinois Report Card homepage 

• Next, pick a school you’d like to know more about.  For purposes of illustration, I’m picking Guilford High School in Rockford (Go, Vikings!):  

  • You’ll see that the initial landing page provides basic information about the school, including per-pupil spending at the school ($12k), how that compares to average per-pupil spending in the district ($13k), and how well-funded the district is generally (Rockford is at 61% of adequacy, or full funding).  So, at-a-glance and right up front, you not only get a clear picture of school and district finances, but you see them in relation to graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, teacher retention and more.

• Then click on School Environment and go to School Finances:   

  • Here, you’ll not only be able to review school and district spending over time, but if you scroll down, you’ll get an easy-to-read breakdown of the students the school serves, with information on the kind of needs that should drive spending.  You’ll see information on enrollment, English Learners, low-income levels, and the percent of students with IEPs.  You’ll also see how those percentages have changed over time and how they compare to the district’s demographics overall.  Reviewing this, you’ll readily see whether the school has higher or lower need than the district as a whole, and whether their level of funding reflects that. [NOTE: Higher need should mean higher per-pupil spending.]

• If you click on “Full District” you’ll see how per-pupil spending at a school compares to that of every other school in the district. Let your cursor hover, and you get details on every school in the chart.

If that’s not helpful enough, click on “Scatterplot” and you can get a quick visual on how every school’s spending compares by income, performance and more.