Advance Illinois Statement on Status of the Minority Teachers of Illinois Scholarship

According to research, students do better in school when they have diverse teachers: When a student has a teacher who looks like them, they are more likely to score well on tests, consistently come to school, and graduate. Studies attribute this impact at least in part to the culturally responsive practices and mindsets that teachers of color often bring to the classroom – all of which have a positive impact on students generally, and on students of color in particular.   

It was these research-based insights that drove the state to create the Minority Teachers of Illinois scholarship program more than 30 years ago. Going to college is expensive. Through MTI, Illinois has helped reduce this ‘cost to entry’ for students who aspire to a career in teaching but come from limited family wealth. Impressively, Illinois has awarded over 13,000 scholarships since the program’s start.   

In response to a lawsuit challenging MTI, the General Assembly recently considered legislation that would create a new program, the Teachers of Illinois Scholarship.  We were pleased to see that this new program would still be dedicated to growing the teacher pipeline and to making it easier for students with financial need and from high need districts to become classroom educators. And while that is heartening, there is little doubt that a change from MTI to this new program will reduce the diversity of Illinois’ teacher pipeline, despite research making plain how important it is to student learning.  The measure passed the house, but did not move in the Senate, so while we have insight into what may happen in the future, for now MTI remains on the books in Illinois.   

“We appreciate the state’s ongoing commitment to growing and strengthening the teacher pipeline. Well-prepared teachers are the single most important factor in student learning,” according to Robin Steans, President of Advance Illinois. “That said, it is sad that Illinois is being pushed to turn its back on a program that is research-based and designed to tackle persistent opportunity and achievement gaps.”   

While diversity is a key goal in the educator pipeline, students are also harmed by shortages in particular areas such as special education and bilingual education, and in specific geographies and types of schools, particularly high-poverty schools. We appreciate the efforts to continue to prioritize these pipeline needs in the proposed legislation.  

It must be emphasized – particularly in today’s broader political environment - that to pretend race and racial disparities do not exist is to consign ourselves to perpetuating longstanding inequities.    

“We can all agree that discrimination on the basis of race is wrong, and understand that we have a responsibility to address ongoing disparities in our educational and economic systems that have been driven by historical race-based discrimination,” Steans said. “When the research tells us it matters that we have teachers of color in our classrooms, we should be ready to respond – exactly as Illinois has for the past thirty years.”  

MTI is a perfect example of why this works. The affordability supports provided through MTI were working to address the harmful consequences of decades of disparities driven by economic and educational policies; policies which have presented Black and Latinx students with massive barriers in accessing higher education, including disproportionate challenges meeting high and rising costs.   

Without MTI, we will not be able to make the same amount of progress towards closing the student and teacher diversity gap, which harms so many of our K-12 students. That is a great loss for students in our state and will impede our progress towards equitable student outcomes. 

This will not be the last instance of tension between the goals and priorities of our state and those of the new federal administration. We look to state leaders to continue to do the best possible work with the resources and capabilities at hand—always keeping student needs as the north star—and we look forward to partnering with state policymakers in this work. 

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About Advance Illinois 

Advance Illinois is an independent bipartisan policy and advocacy nonprofit organization working toward a healthy public education system that enables all students to achieve success in college, career, and civic life.