HR0062 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0062 LRB103 05834 LAW 50854 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Teachers are the single most important in-school factor affecting student achievement, and having a diversity of teachers significantly improves academic outcomes for both students of color and white students; and

WHEREAS, Illinois has been grappling with a teacher shortage for years with 2,139 vacant teaching positions in Fall 2022, affecting an estimated 30,000 students; and

WHEREAS, Teacher vacancies are not experienced equally, concentrating in classrooms that serve special education students and bilingual students as well as in schools that serve students who are Black, Latinx, from low-income households, or from rural areas; and

WHEREAS, Illinois' teacher workforce does not represent the racial diversity of its PK-12 student population; and

WHEREAS, The number and percentage of enrolled teaching candidates have increased in the past few years, but the number of enrollees in Illinois' teacher preparation programs (TPPs) is still below historic levels; and

WHEREAS, For many candidates of color, the cost of higher education is a barrier towards completing teacher preparation programs; and

WHEREAS, The State has an array of recruitment and affordability initiatives that help address these challenges, such as early pathway programs, Minority Teachers of Illinois (MTI) scholarships, the Illinois Teacher Loan Repayment Program, Special Education Teacher Tuition Waivers (SETTW), the Monetary Award Program (MAP), and traditional and alternative pathway programs, but too few high school and college students or potential career changers know about the benefits of teaching as a career and the availability of state tuition support; and

WHEREAS, The increase in new licensure pathways that enable candidates to become teachers has complicated an already difficult to navigate teacher licensure system, making it more important than ever to provide personalized, targeted support for prospective teacher candidates; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has recently developed and released the Illinois Educator Preparation Profiles (IEPP) system that provides public information on the performance of Illinois educator preparation programs across the State; the IEPP could be connected to a state-wide teacher recruitment system to increase candidates' access to this important information; and

WHEREAS, Research has shown that personalized, targeted support for prospective teacher candidates supports their efforts to navigate the maze of information, the financial aid process, and the requirements, increasing the number and diversity of candidates entering the profession; and

WHEREAS, The creation of a statewide teacher recruitment system by ISBE, with the support of the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), would facilitate the process of attracting, cultivating, and supporting prospective future teachers to pursue teaching by making resources available through a website and an associated social media outreach, providing prospective teaches with such aids as personalized educator preparation program application checklists, scholarship and financial aid information, downloadable guides on candidate eligibility and application advice, detailed profiles on each Illinois educator preparation program, educator licensure pathway information, opportunities for personal conversations with state staff and Illinois teachers to answer application process questions, profiles on Illinois' public school districts, and real-time job postings from Pre-K-12 public school districts across the State; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to support the state goal of increasing the number and diversity of Illinois' educator workforce by collaborating with the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) to develop and launch a state-wide teacher recruitment system internally, possibly with the support from an outside vendor, that will be available to the public by July 1, 2024 and will support interested candidates statewide to apply to, enroll in, and complete Illinois' Teacher Preparation Programs and succeed in their eventual job placement.