Illinois Racing to the Top

Illinois is one of many states competing for federal dollars by applying for Race to the Top grant dollars. Last week Illinois State lawmakers passed a bill that includes linking student "growth" data to teacher evaluations. The quick passing of SB 315 may make Illinois eligible to receive some of the billions of dollars tied to The Race to the Top initiatives of the Obama administration. States wishing to apply for those funds by today's deadline must show that their policies are aligned with the education reform efforts put forth by the administration.

Though the bill does not require that any district participate in the new evaluation system unless paid for by federal or state dollars and the time line to implement for the entire state is not until 2016, requiring that at least 50% of a teacher's evaluation score reflect student growth is an important step toward getting the most effective teachers in the neediest classrooms.

In an editorial, The Chicago Tribune points out the state law's limits:

"The bill makes some excellent demands, including that the performance of students be used as a measure of teacher performance. In some ways, though, it is a missed opportunity. It doesn't require that schools use the evaluation results in tenure decisions or that consistently underperforming teachers be fired. So we're going to have to count on school administrators to make good use of this tool."