Full Text of SB1340 101st General Assembly
SB1340 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020 SB1340 Introduced 2/7/2019, by Sen. Jil Tracy SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Amends the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act. Removes a provision requiring the State Superintendent of Education to limit each annual cohort of the Act's pilot program to (i) for the first 2 annual cohorts, no more than 12 school districts and (ii) for any subsequent annual cohort, no more than 15 school districts. Effective immediately.
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| | | FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning education.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Section 25 as follows: | 6 | | (110 ILCS 148/25)
| 7 | | Sec. 25. Competency-based, high school graduation | 8 | | requirements pilot program eligibility and application | 9 | | process.
| 10 | | (a) The pilot program established under Section 20 of this | 11 | | Act shall be administered by the State Superintendent of | 12 | | Education in 2 phases: (i) an initial application and selection | 13 | | process phase, and (ii) a subsequent phase for full development | 14 | | and implementation of a detailed plan for a competency-based | 15 | | learning system for high school graduation requirements.
| 16 | | (b) For the initial phase under clause (i) of subsection | 17 | | (a) of this Section, the State Superintendent of Education | 18 | | shall develop and issue a pilot program application that | 19 | | requires:
| 20 | | (1) demonstration of commitment from the school | 21 | | district superintendent; the president of the school board | 22 | | of the district; teachers within the school district who | 23 | | will be involved with the pilot program implementation; a |
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| 1 | | community college partner; and a higher education | 2 | | institution other than a community college; | 3 | | (2) an indication of which of the year and course | 4 | | graduation requirements set forth in Section 27-22 of the | 5 | | School Code the school district wishes to replace with a | 6 | | competency-based learning system;
| 7 | | (3) a general description of the school district's plan | 8 | | for implementing a competency-based learning system for | 9 | | high school graduation requirements, including how the | 10 | | plan addresses the requirements of Section 20 of this Act | 11 | | and this Section;
| 12 | | (4) the school district's prior professional | 13 | | development and stakeholder engagement efforts that will | 14 | | support its successful development and implementation of a | 15 | | competency-based learning system, including, without | 16 | | limitation, prior implementation of professional | 17 | | development systems for major district instructional | 18 | | initiatives; and
| 19 | | (5) identification of any waivers or modifications of | 20 | | State law or rules for implementation of the proposed plan.
| 21 | | The demonstration of commitment from teachers as required | 22 | | by paragraph (1) of this subsection (b) must include a | 23 | | description of how teachers have been engaged throughout the | 24 | | application development process. If the school district has an | 25 | | exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the | 26 | | president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not |
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| 1 | | submit a statement of commitment for the application, the | 2 | | school district must submit either a statement by the president | 3 | | of the position of the exclusive bargaining representative on | 4 | | the application or a description of the school district's good | 5 | | faith efforts to obtain such a statement. | 6 | | (c) Subject to subsection (g) of this Section, the State | 7 | | Superintendent of Education shall select school districts | 8 | | meeting the requirements set forth in this Section to | 9 | | participate in the pilot program based on the quality of the | 10 | | proposed plan, the strength of the local commitments, | 11 | | including, without limitation, teachers within the school | 12 | | district who will be involved in the program's implementation | 13 | | and postsecondary institution partnerships, and demonstration | 14 | | of prior professional development and stakeholder engagement | 15 | | efforts that will support the proposed system's successful | 16 | | implementation. The State Superintendent of Education, in | 17 | | selecting the participating school districts, shall also | 18 | | consider the diversity of school district types and sizes, the | 19 | | diversity of geographic representation from across the State, | 20 | | and the diversity of plan approaches (such as approaches that | 21 | | involve one subject only, multiple subjects, and the types of | 22 | | subjects).
| 23 | | (d) School districts selected to participate in the pilot | 24 | | program shall receive technical assistance coordinated by the | 25 | | State Superintendent of Education to develop a full pilot | 26 | | program implementation plan. The State Superintendent of |
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| 1 | | Education shall have discretion to remove a school district | 2 | | from the pilot program during this period if the school | 3 | | district does not submit a full pilot program implementation | 4 | | plan that meets the State Superintendent of Education's | 5 | | specifications.
| 6 | | (e) School districts shall, as part of the development of | 7 | | their application and participation in the competency-based | 8 | | learning system pilot program, establish and maintain a | 9 | | standing planning and implementation committee that includes | 10 | | representation from administrators and teachers, including | 11 | | teachers who will be involved in the competency-based learning | 12 | | system's implementation. The teacher representatives shall be | 13 | | selected by teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive | 14 | | bargaining representative of its teachers, and the number of | 15 | | teacher representatives shall be at least equal to | 16 | | administrator representatives, unless otherwise agreed to by | 17 | | the teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive bargaining | 18 | | representative of its teachers. The standing planning and | 19 | | implementation committee shall develop reports that shall be | 20 | | included within the initial application, the full pilot program | 21 | | plan, and any subsequent annual submissions to the State | 22 | | Superintendent of Education as part of the assessment and | 23 | | evaluation of the program. The reports shall describe the | 24 | | members' assessment of the school district's plan or | 25 | | implementation, as applicable, of the school district's | 26 | | competency-based learning system and any recommendations for |
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| 1 | | modifications or improvements to the system. If the committee | 2 | | does not reach consensus on the report, the administrator | 3 | | members shall submit the report and the teacher members may | 4 | | provide a position statement that must be included with the | 5 | | report submitted to the State Superintendent of Education. | 6 | | (f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the School Code | 7 | | or any other law of this State to the contrary, school | 8 | | districts participating in the pilot program may petition the | 9 | | State Superintendent of Education for a waiver or modification | 10 | | of the mandates of the School Code or of the administrative | 11 | | rules adopted by ISBE in order to support the implementation of | 12 | | the school district's proposed competency-based learning | 13 | | system. However, no waiver shall be granted under this | 14 | | subsection (f) relating to State assessments, accountability | 15 | | requirements, teacher tenure or seniority, teacher or | 16 | | principal evaluations, or learning standards or that removes | 17 | | legal protections or supports intended for the protection of | 18 | | children or a particular category of students, such as students | 19 | | with disabilities or English learners. Any waiver or | 20 | | modification of teacher educator licensure requirements to | 21 | | permit instruction by non-educators or educators without an | 22 | | appropriate license must ensure that an appropriately licensed | 23 | | teacher and the provider of instruction partner in order to | 24 | | verify the method for assessing competency of mastery and | 25 | | verify whether a student has demonstrated mastery. All requests | 26 | | must be jointly signed by the school district superintendent |
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| 1 | | and the president of the school board and must describe the | 2 | | position of teachers within the school district that will be | 3 | | involved in the competency-based learning system's | 4 | | implementation on the application. If the school district has | 5 | | an exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the | 6 | | president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not | 7 | | submit a statement of support for the application, the school | 8 | | district must submit either a statement by the president that | 9 | | describes the position of the exclusive bargaining | 10 | | representative on the application or a description of the | 11 | | school district's good faith efforts to obtain such a | 12 | | statement. The State Superintendent of Education shall approve | 13 | | a waiver or modification request meeting the requirements of | 14 | | this subsection (f) if the State Superintendent of Education | 15 | | determines the request is reasonably necessary to support the | 16 | | implementation of the school district's proposed | 17 | | competency-based learning system, and the request shall not | 18 | | diminish the overall support of teachers within the school | 19 | | district involved with the system's implementation as | 20 | | demonstrated in the school district's initial application to | 21 | | participate in the pilot program. An approved request shall | 22 | | take effect in accordance with the timeline set forth in the | 23 | | school district's application, and an approved waiver or | 24 | | modification shall remain in effect for so long as the school | 25 | | district participates in the pilot program established by this | 26 | | Act. The State Superintendent of Education's approval of a |
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| 1 | | school district plan for implementation of competency-based, | 2 | | high school graduation requirements shall serve as a waiver or | 3 | | modification of any conflicting requirements of Section 27-22 | 4 | | of the School Code. School districts participating in the pilot | 5 | | program may additionally pursue waivers and modifications | 6 | | pursuant to Section 2-3.25g of the School Code.
| 7 | | (g) For purposes of this subsection (g), "annual cohort" | 8 | | means the group of school districts selected by the State | 9 | | Superintendent of Education to participate in the pilot program | 10 | | during an annual application and selection process. The State | 11 | | Superintendent of Education shall limit each annual cohort of | 12 | | the pilot program as follows: the first 2 annual cohorts shall | 13 | | be limited to no more than 12 school districts, and any | 14 | | subsequent annual cohort shall be limited to no more than 15 | 15 | | school districts. A school district may submit only one | 16 | | application for each annual cohort of the pilot program. The | 17 | | application of a school district having a population exceeding | 18 | | 500,000 inhabitants may not include more than 6 schools. The | 19 | | expansion of a school district's competency-based learning | 20 | | system to a new school or new subject area identified in | 21 | | Section 27-22 of the School Code shall require a new | 22 | | application by the school district.
| 23 | | School districts may collaboratively apply to participate | 24 | | in the pilot program. Notwithstanding any other provision of | 25 | | this subsection (g), the application of a collaborative of | 26 | | districts shall be counted as one district application in the |
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| 1 | | annual cohort selection process. In the application of a | 2 | | collaborative of districts, each district participating in the | 3 | | collaborative shall comply with the requirements outlined in | 4 | | subsection (b) of this Section as if applying as an individual | 5 | | district. The districts participating in the collaborative may | 6 | | establish and maintain a standing planning and implementation | 7 | | committee individually or collaboratively. If a collaborative | 8 | | of districts decides at a later date to participate as | 9 | | individual districts in the pilot program, the districts shall | 10 | | submit to the State Superintendent of Education a revised | 11 | | implementation plan that outlines the changes to their original | 12 | | plan and , the individual district applications from these | 13 | | districts shall be considered as separate district | 14 | | applications , and none of these districts may be counted as one | 15 | | of the districts that are already part of the cohort | 16 | | limitation . | 17 | | (Source: P.A. 99-674, eff. 7-29-16; 100-599, eff. 6-29-18.)
| 18 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 19 | | becoming law.
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