Teacher Preparation Program Accountability:
Illinois

Analysis of Illinois's policies

Illinois's approval process for its traditional and alternate route teacher preparation programs could do more to hold programs accountable for the quality of the teachers they produce.

Illinois does rely on some objective, meaningful data to measure the performance of teacher preparation programs. Beginning in 2018, all teacher preparation programs in Illinois will be required to submit performance evaluation data of program completers to the state. 

Regrettably, Illinois fails to apply any transparent, measurable criteria for conferring program approval. The state collects programs' annual summary licensure test pass rates (80 percent of program completers must pass their licensure exams). However, the 80 percent pass-rate standard, while common among many states, sets the bar quite low and is not a meaningful measure of program performance.

Illinois requires each institution to submit a publicly accessible annual report for each approved program, and while the state has posted aggregate and summary assessment pass-rate data per institution on its website, the data has not been updated since 2008-2009. 

In Illinois, the state maintains full authority over teacher preparation program approval.

Citation

Illinois Administrative Code Title 23, Section 25.115 Title II State Reports https://title2.ed.gov Report Cards http://www.isbe.state.il.us/certification/html/t2.htm

Recommendations for Illinois

Gather other meaningful data that reflect program performance. 
Although measures of student growth are an important indicator of program effectiveness, they cannot be the sole measure of program quality for several reasons, including the fact that many programs may have graduates whose students do not take standardized tests. The accountability system must therefore include other objective measures that show how well programs are preparing teachers for the classroom. Illinois should expand its requirements to also include such measures as:
1.    Satisfaction ratings by school principals and teacher supervisors of programs' student teachers, using a standardized form to permit program comparison
2.    Average raw scores of teacher candidates on licensing tests, including academic proficiency, subject matter and professional knowledge tests
3.    Number of times, on average, it takes teacher candidates to pass licensing tests
4.    Five-year retention rates of graduates in the teaching profession.

Establish the minimum standard of performance for each category of data. 
Merely collecting the types of data described above is insufficient for accountability purposes. The next and perhaps more critical step is for the state to establish precise minimum standards for teacher preparation program performance for each category of data. Illinois should be mindful of setting rigorous standards for program performance, as its current requirement that 80 percent of program graduates pass the state's licensing tests is too low a bar. Programs should be held accountable for meeting rigorous standards, and there should be consequences for failing to do so, including loss of program approval.

Publish an annual report card on the state's website. 
Illinois should produce an annual report card that shows all the data the state collects on individual teacher preparation programs, which should be published on the state's website at the program level for the sake of public transparency. Data should be presented in a manner that clearly conveys whether programs have met performance standards.  

Maintain full authority over teacher preparation program approval.
Illinois should ensure that it is the state that considers the evidence of program performance and makes the decision about whether programs should continue to be authorized to prepare teachers.

State response to our analysis

Illinois stated that the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is working with stakeholders to revise requirements for program approval. As part of this revision, ISBE will use CAEP standards for continued program recognition. The state asserted that there currently is no overlap between ISBE and national accreditation requirements and that institutions that choose to pursue national accreditation must also meet all applicable ISBE requirements.

The state further indicated that ISBE is in the process of establishing a framework for collecting completer data through an ISBE-administered survey at the time of application and at renewal. In addition, ISBE will soon begin the process of developing a reporting function that will allow staff to run a report, by institution and program, on number of test-taking attempts.