Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HR0360

HR0360 LRB104 13583 MST 26169 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Illinois Constitution states that "a fundamental goal of the People of the State is the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities"; and

WHEREAS, Illinois has a long-standing commitment to strengthening the educator pipeline in order to promote high-quality learning experiences and equitable outcomes for students across the State; and

WHEREAS, The current Illinois Professional Teaching Standards, the Illinois Professional Educator Standards effective July 1, 2026, and teacher evaluation tools employed in schools and educator preparation programs across Illinois affirm the importance of leadership growth and development for all educators, including pre-service educators; and

WHEREAS, Teacher leadership is the process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues, principals, and other members of school communities to improve teaching and learning practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement; and

WHEREAS, Teacher leadership is distinct from school administration and can take many forms that respond to local needs and elevate teacher voice and agency; and

WHEREAS, Research affirms that teacher leadership positively impacts student learning, school climate, and systems-level school improvement; and

WHEREAS, Research affirms that teacher leadership provides educators who remain in the classroom with career growth opportunities, supporting the recruitment and retention of effective teachers and reducing the costs to districts associated with teacher turnover; and

WHEREAS, Research affirms that expanding teacher leadership development strengthens and diversifies the principal pipeline and builds more resilient and collaborative school leadership systems; and

WHEREAS, Teacher leadership is a cost-effective way to expand leadership capacity in schools without adding administrative positions and is particularly impactful in rural schools in which educators often serve in multiple teaching and leadership roles simultaneously without recognition; and

WHEREAS, Intentional teacher leadership systems encourage participation from historically underrepresented groups in education leadership in order to promote equity and inclusive decision-making; and

WHEREAS, Illinois educators and education leaders have formed a statewide Teachers LEAD coalition dedicated to growing teacher leadership and supporting expanded access to leadership development resources; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois does not have a coordinated, statewide strategy or infrastructure supporting the intentional and equitable development of teachers as leaders or the implementation of distributed leadership models; and

WHEREAS, Increasing support for districts and schools in developing teacher leaders and implementing distributed leadership can accelerate the expansion of effective leadership practices and improve educational outcomes across the state; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we affirm the importance of adopting a statewide strategy to develop teachers as leaders and to leverage teacher leadership to recruit and retain excellent educators of diverse identities and backgrounds, strengthen school leadership, and support continuous school improvement to improve educational outcomes; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois State Board of Education to prioritize teacher leadership investments in future fiscal years in order to build greater capacity to conduct research and collect data, highlight and share best practices for distributed leadership, offer technical assistance to schools and districts, and provide strategic leadership to support the expansion of teacher leadership across Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois State Board of Education to collaborate with educators, districts, educator preparation programs, and other state agencies to build a strategy for the development of a statewide ecosystem that grows, recognizes, supports, and sustains teacher leadership in diverse contexts throughout the State; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois State Board of Education to include in its strategy multiple pathways to recognize, support, and sustain diverse teacher leadership throughout the State, including through collaborative partnerships, expanded inclusion of teacher voice in educational decision-making, and classroom teacher leadership development programs; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois State Board of Education to embed teacher leadership as a fundamental component of the school improvement process; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge each school district in Illinois to develop systems that provide teachers equitable access to ongoing leadership development and encourage them to take teacher leadership roles.