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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Teachers are the single most important in-school | ||||||
3 | factor affecting student achievement, and having a diversity | ||||||
4 | of teachers significantly improves academic outcomes for both | ||||||
5 | students of color and white students; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Illinois has been grappling with a teacher | ||||||
7 | shortage for years with 2,139 vacant teaching positions in | ||||||
8 | Fall 2022, affecting an estimated 30,000 students; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Teacher vacancies are not experienced equally, | ||||||
10 | concentrating in classrooms that serve special education | ||||||
11 | students and bilingual students as well as in schools that | ||||||
12 | serve students who are Black, Latinx, from low-income | ||||||
13 | households, or from rural areas; and
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14 | WHEREAS, Illinois' teacher workforce does not represent | ||||||
15 | the racial diversity of its PK-12 student population; and
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16 | WHEREAS, The number and percentage of enrolled teaching | ||||||
17 | candidates have increased in the past few years, but the | ||||||
18 | number of enrollees in Illinois' teacher preparation programs | ||||||
19 | (TPPs) is still below historic levels; and
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20 | WHEREAS, For many candidates of color, the cost of higher |
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1 | education is a barrier towards completing teacher preparation | ||||||
2 | programs; and
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3 | WHEREAS, The State has an array of recruitment and | ||||||
4 | affordability initiatives that help address these challenges, | ||||||
5 | such as early pathway programs, Minority Teachers of Illinois | ||||||
6 | (MTI) scholarships, the Illinois Teacher Loan Repayment | ||||||
7 | Program, Special Education Teacher Tuition Waivers (SETTW), | ||||||
8 | the Monetary Award Program (MAP), and traditional and | ||||||
9 | alternative pathway programs, but too few high school and | ||||||
10 | college students or potential career changers know about the | ||||||
11 | benefits of teaching as a career and the availability of state | ||||||
12 | tuition support; and
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13 | WHEREAS, The increase in new licensure pathways that | ||||||
14 | enable candidates to become teachers has complicated an | ||||||
15 | already difficult to navigate teacher licensure system, making | ||||||
16 | it more important than ever to provide personalized, targeted | ||||||
17 | support for prospective teacher candidates; and
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18 | WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has | ||||||
19 | recently developed and released the Illinois Educator | ||||||
20 | Preparation Profiles (IEPP) system that provides public | ||||||
21 | information on the performance of Illinois educator | ||||||
22 | preparation programs across the State; the IEPP could be | ||||||
23 | connected to a state-wide teacher recruitment system to |
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1 | increase candidates' access to this important information; and
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2 | WHEREAS, Research has shown that personalized, targeted | ||||||
3 | support for prospective teacher candidates supports their | ||||||
4 | efforts to navigate the maze of information, the financial aid | ||||||
5 | process, and the requirements, increasing the number and | ||||||
6 | diversity of candidates entering the profession; and
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7 | WHEREAS, The creation of a statewide teacher recruitment | ||||||
8 | system by ISBE, with the support of the Illinois Board of | ||||||
9 | Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois Community College Board | ||||||
10 | (ICCB), and the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), | ||||||
11 | would facilitate the process of attracting, cultivating, and | ||||||
12 | supporting prospective future teachers to pursue teaching by | ||||||
13 | making resources available through a website and an associated | ||||||
14 | social media outreach, providing prospective teaches with such | ||||||
15 | aids as personalized educator preparation program application | ||||||
16 | checklists, scholarship and financial aid information, | ||||||
17 | downloadable guides on candidate eligibility and application | ||||||
18 | advice, detailed profiles on each Illinois educator | ||||||
19 | preparation program, educator licensure pathway information, | ||||||
20 | opportunities for personal conversations with state staff and | ||||||
21 | Illinois teachers to answer application process questions, | ||||||
22 | profiles on Illinois' public school districts, and real-time | ||||||
23 | job postings from Pre-K-12 public school districts across the | ||||||
24 | State; therefore, be it
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1 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
2 | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
3 | we urge the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to | ||||||
4 | support the state goal of increasing the number and diversity | ||||||
5 | of Illinois' educator workforce by collaborating with the | ||||||
6 | Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois | ||||||
7 | Community College Board (ICCB), and the Illinois Student | ||||||
8 | Assistance Commission (ISAC) to develop and launch a | ||||||
9 | state-wide teacher recruitment system internally, possibly | ||||||
10 | with the support from an outside vendor, that will be | ||||||
11 | available to the public by July 1, 2024 and will support | ||||||
12 | interested candidates statewide to apply to, enroll in, and | ||||||
13 | complete Illinois' Teacher Preparation Programs and succeed in | ||||||
14 | their eventual job placement.
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