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Matched Legal Cases: ['§9304', '§9302', '§9101', '§1111', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§1111', '§1111', '§9101', '§1111', '§2121', '§2122', '§2122', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§1119', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§9101', '§2123', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§9101', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111', '§1111']

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Revised June 15, 2005 HIGHLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS AND IMPROVING TEACHER QUALITY STATE GRANTS (ESEA TITLE II, PART
A) MONITORING REPORT
Illinois State Board of Education March 2-5, 2005
U.S. Department of Education Monitoring Team Robert Stonehill Tamara Morse Azar (Westat) Elizabeth Witt Illinois State Board of Education Gail Lieberman, Special Assistant for NCLB Ginger Reynolds, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Services Connie Wise, Data Analysis and Performance Reporting Division Administrator Dennis Williams, Certification Division Administrator Bob Bigham, Certification Division Candy Taylor, Programmer for Certification Myron Mason, Federal Grants and Programs Division Administrator Marla Wiemer, Budget Office Bonnie Robinson, Budget Office Robert Wolfe, External Assurance Division Administrator Paul Williams, External Assurance Patrick Murphy, ROE/Chicago Services Chicago Public Schools Walter Thiel Kathleen Irizarry Pedro Martinez Nancy Slavin Ascension Juarez Crystal Sykes Pleasant Hill CUSD (phone interview) Mike Dempsey, Superintendent Divernon CUSD (phone interview) Mark Spaid, Superintendent Illinois Board of Higher Education [State Agency for Higher Education (SAHE)] Terry Nunn, Senior Associate Director, Illinois Board of Higher Education Rich Jachino, Illinois Board of Higher Education Diane Gardner, Illinois State University Ross Hodel, Illinois State University
Page 2 –Illinois Monitoring Report Overview of Illinois: Number of Districts Number of Schools Number of Teachers State Allocation LEA Allocation State Activities SAHE Allocation SEA Administration SAHE Administration Scope of Review: Like all State educational agencies (SEAs), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), as a condition of receiving funds under Title I, Part A and Title II, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), provided an assurance to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that it would administer these programs in accordance with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, including those in Title I, Part A that concern “Highly Qualified Teachers” and those that govern the use of Title II, Part A funds. See §9304(a)(1) of the ESEA. One of the specific requirements the Department established for an SEA’s receipt of program funds under its consolidated state application (§9302(b)) was submission to the Department of annual data on how well the State has been meeting its performance target for Performance Indicator 3.1: “The percentage of classes being taught by ‘highly qualified’ teachers (as the term is defined in §9101(23) of the ESEA), in the aggregate and in ‘high-poverty’ schools (as the term is defined in §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) of the ESEA).” The purpose of the ED monitoring team visit to Illinois was twofold: first, to review the progress of the State in meeting the Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) requirements of NCLB, including the identification of areas needing corrective action as well as promising practices; and second, to review the use of ESEA Title II, Part A funds by the State, selected districts, and the State agency for higher education (SAHE) to ensure that the funds are being used to prepare, retain, and recruit high-quality teachers and principals so that all children will achieve to a high standard. The monitoring review was conducted at the Illinois State Board of Education office and on-site at the Chicago Public Schools. In addition to meeting with State representatives from ISBE, the team met with LEA representatives from Chicago Public Schools and conducted phone interviews with Pleasant Hill and Divernon School Districts. The ED monitoring team conducted the SAHE interview with Terry Nunn and other representatives of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. 881 4,273 134,608, both full- and part-time FY2003 $117,358,738 $110,375,893 $2,904,629 $2,904,629 $1,028,356 $145,231 FY2004 $118,016,892 $110,994,888 $2,920,918 $2,920,918 $1,034,122 $146,046
Page 3 –Illinois Monitoring Report
Monitoring Area 1: Highly Qualified Teacher Systems & Procedures Element Description Status Number Critical Element Has the State developed and implemented Finding 1.1 procedures, consistent with the statutory definition Commendation of highly qualified, to determine whether all teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified (§9101(23))? Critical Element Are all new elementary school teachers (including Finding 1.2 special education teachers, as appropriate) required to pass a rigorous State test in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum to demonstrate subject-matter competency (§9101(23)(B)(II))? Critical Element Are all new middle and secondary school teachers Finding 1.3 (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subjectmatter competency in each core academic subject they teach, consistent with §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii)? Critical Element Are all veteran (i.e., those who are not new to the Findings 1.4 profession) elementary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency by passing a rigorous State test or by completing the State’s “High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation” (HOUSSE) procedures (§9101(23)(C))? Critical Element Are all veteran middle and secondary teachers Finding 1.5 (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subjectmatter competency in each core academic subject they teach, consistent with §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii)? Critical Element If the State has developed HOUSSE procedures, Finding 1.6 please provide a copy of the most current version(s). For each set of HOUSSE procedures the State has developed, please describe how it meets each of the following statutory requirements of §9101(23)(C)(ii). Critical Element How does the SEA ensure that, since the beginning Met requirement 1.7 of the 2002-03 school year, districts only hire highly qualified teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) to teach in Title I programs? Page 7
Page 4 –Illinois Monitoring Report Critical Element How has the SEA ensured, since the beginning of 1.8 the 2002-03 school year, that districts that use ESEA Title II funds to reduce class size hire only highly qualified teachers for such positions? Critical Element Does the SEA’s plan establish annual measurable 1.9 objectives for each LEA and school to ensure that annual increases occur: • in the percentage of highly qualified teachers at each LEA and school; and • in the percentage of teachers who are receiving high-quality professional development to enable such teachers to become highly qualified and successful classroom teachers (§1119(a)(2)(A)). Critical Element Does the SEA also have a plan with specific steps 1.10 to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified and out-of-field teachers? Does the plan include measures to evaluate and publicly report the progress of such steps (§1111(b)(8)(C))? Critical Element Has the State reported to the Secretary in the 1.11 CSPR the number and percentage of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and in high-poverty schools, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified (§1111(h)(4)(G); §9101(23))? Critical Element Does the State prepare and disseminate to the 1.12 public an Annual State Report Card (§1111(h)(1)(C)(viii))? If so, how is it disseminated? Finding 10
Page 5 –Illinois Monitoring Report Monitoring Area 2: Administration of ESEA Title II, Part A Description Status Does the SEA allocate funds according to the statute, using the most recent Census Bureau data as described in the Non-Regulatory Guidance (§2121(a))? Does the SEA require an application from each LEA before providing Title II, Part A funding? If yes, what information does the SEA require in the LEA application (§2122(b))? In particular, does the SEA require each LEA to describe how the activities to be carried out are based on the required local needs assessment (§2122(b))? Does the SEA have a procedure to determine the amount of funds each LEA expended during the period of availability? Does the SEA have a procedure to regularly review the drawdowns of the LEAs? Does the SEA have a written policy on allowable carryover funds? If an LEA cannot obligate funds within the 27 months of availability (which includes the extra year of availability permitted under the Tydings amendment), does the SEA have a procedure for reallocating these funds to other LEAs? Does the SEA have records to show that each LEA meets the maintenance of effort requirements? Does the SEA ensure that it and its component LEAs are audited annually, if required, and that all corrective actions required through this process are fully implemented? Has the SEA identified and provided technical assistance to LEAs that are not making progress toward meeting their annual measurable objectives in meeting the highly qualified teacher challenge? Met requirement
Met requirement Recommendation Commendation
Page 6 –Illinois Monitoring Report Monitoring Area 3: State Activities Description Does the State use its State Activities funds to promote the recruitment, hiring, training, and retention of highly qualified teachers and principals? Does the State support activities that focus on increasing the subject-matter knowledge of teachers and that assist teachers to become highly qualified?
Status Met requirement Recommendation
Page 7 –Illinois Monitoring Report
Critical Element 1.1. Has the State developed and implemented procedures, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified, to determine whether all teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified (§9101(23))? Finding: ISBE’s procedure for determining the highly qualified teacher (HQT) status of special education teachers of core academic subjects is not consistent with the definition of a “highly qualified” teacher in §9101(23) of the ESEA. ISBE has not determined the highly qualified status of special education teachers instructing in the core content areas. The State currently requires that special education teachers pass a test of basic skills that includes reading, writing, and mathematics. They must also pass the Assessment of Professional Teaching for the appropriate grade level, which evaluates the teachers’ knowledge of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, the language arts standards, and the technology standards. ISBE has indicated that in Fall 2006 all special education teachers will also be required to take a Special Education General Curriculum assessment that will test their understanding of mathematics, social science, and science based on the Illinois Learning Standards. For veteran special educators, technical assistance was provided for ISBE to (1) determine which teachers directly deliver content to students, (2) identify those teachers with dual certification in elementary or a content area, and (3) develop and implement HOUSSE procedures for veteran teachers to determine their highly qualified status. Citation: The ESEA provisions governing teacher quality include basic requirements (§1119(a) and (b)) that all teachers of core academic subjects who teach in Title I programs and who were hired after the first day of the 2002-03 school year first demonstrate that they are highly qualified, and that all other teachers of core academic subjects in all public schools be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06 school year. §9101(23) of the ESEA expressly defines a “highly qualified” teacher as one who has at least a bachelor’s degree, has full State certification, and has demonstrated competency in each subject he or she teaches in certain statutorily prescribed ways. Further Action Required: ISBE must submit a written plan with specific procedures to ensure that all special education teachers of core academic subjects are highly qualified in conformity with the definition in §9101(23) and the timeline in §1119(a)(1) and (2). Commendation: Through the development of the On-Line Teacher Information System (OTIS), the State is attempting to streamline the process of determining the highly qualified status for teachers throughout the state. While the system is still in the pilot stage and will require modifications to ensure that all provisions of NCLB’s highly qualified teacher requirements are met before determining that a teacher has met the standards, OTIS will work in conjunction with existing state personnel databases to relieve some burden for teachers and LEAs in determining and reporting highly qualified teacher information.
Page 8 –Illinois Monitoring Report Critical Element 1.2. Are all new elementary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to pass a rigorous State test in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum to demonstrate subject-matter competency (§9101(23)(B)(II))? Finding: The Illinois definition and procedures for determining the highly qualified status of new special education teachers are not in compliance with statute. Special education teachers hold categorical licenses based on grade level, and are not assessed in the same manner as regular education teachers. See Critical Element 1.1 for a more detailed discussion of this issue. Citation: §9101(23)(B)(II) of the ESEA requires that all new elementary teachers demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach by passing a rigorous State assessment in reading, writing, mathematics, and the other areas of the elementary school curriculum Further Action Required: ISBE must ensure that all new elementary teachers, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate subject-matter competency no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year. Critical Element 1.3. Are all new middle and secondary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency, in each core academic subject they teach, in one or more of the following ways (§9101(23)(B)(II)(ii))? Finding: New middle and secondary teachers who hold the Illinois 6-12 license are required to pass a content exam or have a major (or its credit equivalent) in the content area to earn a content-specific endorsement. However, middle and secondary school special educators are not required to pass an assessment of their content knowledge. Middle and secondary school special education teachers are required to take the same battery of assessments as elementary teachers (as described in Critical Element 1.1). Citation: §9101(23)(B)(II)(ii) of the ESEA requires middle and secondary school teachers new to the profession to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach by passing a rigorous State academic subject test or by successfully completing an academic major, coursework equivalent to an academic major, a graduate degree, or advanced certification or credentialing. Further Action Required: ISBE must ensure that all middle and secondary school teachers who teach multiple subjects, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach, in accordance with the options available in §9101(23)(B)(ii) and §9101(23)(C)(ii) of the ESEA, no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year.
Page 9 –Illinois Monitoring Report Critical Element 1.4. Are all veteran (i.e., those who are not new to the profession) elementary school teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency by passing a rigorous State test or by completing the State’s “High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation” (HOUSSE) procedures (§9101(23)(C))? Finding 1: The current HOUSSE procedures allow teachers who are not new to the profession to demonstrate subject-matter competency in ways that are not in compliance with the statute, as described in §9101(23)(C). The Illinois HOUSSE allows for credit to be given for experience outside of the content area and allows experience to count for more than 50 percent of the total points needed. Finding 2: As discussed in Critical Element 1.1, Illinois has not yet determined which special education teachers who are not new to the profession directly deliver content to students, and meet the highly qualified teacher provisions of NCLB. Citation: §1119(a)(2) of the ESEA requires all teachers of core academic subjects to be highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06 school year. Recent amendments to the IDEA, which the President signed into law on December 3, 2004, affirm that these requirements apply to special education teachers (while providing some flexibility for special education teachers of multiple subjects and who teach to alternate achievement standards for students with significant cognitive disabilities). Further Action Required: ISBE must ensure that all teachers who are not new to the profession, including special education teachers who provide direct instruction in core academic subjects, are highly qualified in each of the core academic subjects they teach by the end of the 2005-06 school year. (Please also refer to the discussion in Critical Element 1.1-1.3 above.) Critical Element 1.5. Are all veteran middle and secondary teachers (including special education teachers, as appropriate) required to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each core academic subject they teach, in one or more of the following ways? Finding: For middle and secondary school teachers with grades 6-12 licensure who teach multiple core academic subjects, Illinois requires 18 credit hours to add an additional contentarea endorsement to the license. Eighteen hours is not a major equivalent and, as such, is insufficient to demonstrate subject-area competence. Citation: §9101(23)(C)(ii) of the ESEA requires middle or secondary school teachers not new to the profession, including special education teachers who instruct in the core academic subjects, to demonstrate subject-matter competency in each of the core academic subjects they teach. Further Action Required: ISBE must ensure that, no later than the end of the 2005-06 school year, experienced teachers pass the required State subject test or meet one of the other criteria for demonstrating the required subject-matter knowledge that §9101(23) (B)(ii) or §9101(23) (C)(ii) of the ESEA requires in order to be highly qualified. See Critical Elements 1.1 through 1.4 for more discussion.
Page 10 –Illinois Monitoring Report Critical Element 1.6. Does each set of HOUSSE procedures the State has developed meet each of the statutory requirements of §9101(23)? Finding: ISBE HOUSSE procedures allowed an elementary education degree and the completion of an elementary preparation program as sufficiency measures for meeting the highly qualified requirements. Also, the HOUSSE awarded points for general teaching experience (not limited to in the content area), and awarded additional points for teaching in the content area. The two areas combined could satisfy 85 of 100 points in the HOUSSE. The Department team provided technical assistance to ISBE to bring this component into compliance with the statute. Citation: §9101(23)(C)(ii) permits a State to establish HOUSSE procedures to determine the subject-matter knowledge of an “elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher who is not new to the profession.” §9101(23)(C)(ii)(V) states that the HOUSSE may take “into consideration, but not be based primarily on, the time the teacher has been teaching in the academic subject.” Further Action Required: ISBE must provide a written plan for ensuring HOUSSE procedures are developed in alignment with the statutory criteria, which includes considering teaching experience in the content area, but which does not allow previous experience to count for more that 50 percent. Critical Element 1.8. How has the SEA ensured, since the beginning of the 2002-03 school year, that districts that use ESEA Title II funds to reduce class size hire only highly qualified teachers for such positions? Finding: ISBE noted to the monitoring team that they believed that teachers who were hired to reduce class size before the implementation of NCLB would be exempt from meeting the highly qualified teacher requirements. Citation: §2123(a)(2)(B) of the ESEA allows LEAs to use ESEA Title II, Part A funds to recruit and hire highly qualified teachers to reduce class size. Further Action Required: The State must submit a written plan with specific procedures to ensure that districts pay only highly qualified teachers with ESEA Title II, Part A funds that are used to reduce class size. Critical Element 1.10. Does the SEA also have a plan with specific steps to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified and out-of-field teachers? Does the plan include measures to evaluate and publicly report the progress of such steps (§1111(b)(8)(C))? Finding: ISBE has not developed a plan to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by teachers who are inexperienced or unqualified. Citation: §1111(b)(8)(C) of the ESEA requires each State to have a plan that describes “the specific steps the State educational agency will take to ensure that both schoolwide programs and targeted assistance schools provide instruction by highly qualified instructional staff as required
Page 11 –Illinois Monitoring Report by sections 1114(b)(1)(C) and 1115(c)(1)(E), including steps that the State educational agency will take to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers, and the measures that the State educational agency will use to evaluate and publicly report the progress of the State educational agency with respect to such steps.” Further Action Required: The State must submit a written plan with specific procedures to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at a higher rate than their peers by inexperienced or unqualified teachers. Critical Element 1.11. Has the State reported to the Secretary in the CSPR the number and percentage of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and in high-poverty schools, consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified (§1111(h)(4)(G); §9101(23))? Finding: The State did not report data in the CSPR on the number and percentage of classes in core academic subjects that are taught by highly qualified teachers in a manner that is consistent with the statutory definition of highly qualified. LEAs are working to implement the HOUSSE procedures, and the State does not yet have data on the status of its veteran teachers that have not passed State assessments. Also, ISBE is developing a plan to determine the highly qualified status of special education teachers who instruct in the core academic subjects. As a result, the State is reporting estimates of the number and percentage of classes in core academic subjects that are taught by highly qualified teachers. Citation: §1111(h)(4)(G) of the ESEA further requires each SEA annually to report to the U.S. Secretary of Education on the percentage of classes (in core academic subjects) taught by highly qualified teachers in the State, local educational agency, and school”1 (a summary of which §1111(h)(5) requires the Secretary annually to report to Congress). Further Action Required: ISBE must submit a written plan with specific procedures and a timeline for reporting to the public and to the Department, as required by §1111(h), the percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers at all grade levels (and disaggregated by high-and low-poverty schools), as required for the CSPR. Commendation: ISBE developed the OTIS system, an online teacher information database, for teachers to use to determine their highly qualified status. The State is populating the database with certification and service records already housed in other database systems. OTIS has been piloted in two school districts, and ISBE expects to release it statewide this fall. OTIS also includes online HOUSSE procedures for veteran teachers.
Page 12 –Illinois Monitoring Report Critical Element 1.12. Does the State prepare and disseminate to the public an Annual State Report Card (§1111(h)(1)(C)(viii))? If so, how is it disseminated? Finding: Illinois publishes data on the qualifications of its teachers in an Annual State Report Card and other publications. However, the State used incomplete data to report the percentage of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers; special education teachers and notnew teachers who need to demonstrate subject matter mastery and have not yet gone through HOUSSE procedures. Citation: §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) of the ESEA requires each SEA to include in its Annual State Report Card data on the percentage of classes in the State not taught (in core academic subjects) by highly qualified teachers, as the term is defined in §1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) of the ESEA) compared to low-poverty schools. Further Action Required: ISBE must submit a written plan with specific procedures and a timeline for reporting to the public, as required for the Annual State Report Card and in a manner consistent with the statutory requirements, as required by §1111(h).
Critical Element 2.10. Has the SEA identified and provided technical assistance to LEAs that are not making progress toward meeting their annual measurable objectives in meeting the highly qualified teacher challenge? Recommendation: ISBE requires LEAs, as part of the consolidated application for funding, to include a professional development component. ISBE should use this indicator and highly qualified teacher data to target those LEAs who are not making progress toward the statewide annual measurable objectives in meeting the highly qualified teacher requirements for technical assistance. Commendation: In 2004, Illinois passed a state law that requires LEAs with a shortage of highly qualified teachers, as defined by NCLB, to use at least 40 percent of Title II, Part A funding to address that shortage.
Critical Element 3.1. Does the State use its State Activities funds to promote the recruitment, hiring, training, and retention of highly qualified teachers and principals? Recommendation: ISBE experiences routine carryover and an under-use of State activities funds. The State is encouraged to improve strategic planning and align State Activities funds more closely with the statewide needs assessment. Critical Element 3.2. Does the State support activities that focus on increasing the subjectmatter knowledge of teachers and that assist teachers to become highly qualified?
Page 13 –Illinois Monitoring Report Commendation: The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) is commended for their work with paraprofessionals in the State. ICCB is collaborating between the community college system and ISBE to work with paraprofessionals, offering test preparation and coursework toward degree programs.
Critical Element 4.1. Did the SAHE manage a competition for eligible partnerships? Commendation: The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) is commended for the quality of the peer review process they used to evaluate grant applications. IBHE selected a group of assessors from across the State that had significant professional development experience in both content areas and professional knowledge. The assessors were trained on the review instrument, then reviewed grant applications and made their recommendations to BHE. Commendation: The SAHE offers annual symposiums for grantees to learn and share best practices, and to gather information on the grant process. Commendation: The SAHE works in collaboration with ISBE to fund projects that address statewide need areas and to avoid duplicate funding to the same grantees. The SAHE works to fund programs that support professional development, curriculum, and delivery structures that can support State goals.
Notice: Grants and cooperative agreements; availability, etc.: Special education and rehabilitative services&#8212; National activities comprehensive plan; comments and recommendations request
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