Full Text of HB3945 103rd General Assembly
HB3945 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024 HB3945 Introduced 2/17/2023, by Rep. Laura Faver Dias SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 105 ILCS 5/24A-5 | from Ch. 122, par. 24A-5 |
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Amends the Evaluation of Certified Employees Article of the School Code. Provides that school districts may not tie teacher performance evaluations to a entire school's standardized testing performance or to a curriculum area in which the teacher is not certified.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| | | HB3945 | | LRB103 30079 RJT 56503 b |
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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 School Code is amended by changing Section | 5 | | 24A-5 as follows: | 6 | | (105 ILCS 5/24A-5) (from Ch. 122, par. 24A-5) | 7 | | Sec. 24A-5. Content of evaluation plans. This Section | 8 | | does not apply to teachers assigned to schools identified in | 9 | | an agreement entered into between the board of a school | 10 | | district operating under Article 34 of this Code and the | 11 | | exclusive representative of the district's teachers in | 12 | | accordance with Section 34-85c of this Code.
| 13 | | Each school district to
which this Article applies shall | 14 | | establish a teacher evaluation plan
which ensures that each | 15 | | teacher in contractual continued service
is evaluated at least | 16 | | once in the course of every 2 or 3 school years as provided in | 17 | | this Section. | 18 | | Each school district shall establish a teacher evaluation | 19 | | plan that ensures that: | 20 | | (1) each teacher not in contractual continued service | 21 | | is evaluated at least once every school year; and | 22 | | (2) except as otherwise provided in this Section, each | 23 | | teacher in contractual continued service is evaluated at |
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| 1 | | least once in the course of every 2 school years. However, | 2 | | any teacher in contractual continued service whose | 3 | | performance is rated as either "needs improvement" or | 4 | | "unsatisfactory" must be evaluated at least once in the | 5 | | school year following the receipt of such rating. | 6 | | No later than September 1, 2022, each school district must | 7 | | establish a teacher evaluation plan that ensures that each | 8 | | teacher in contractual continued service whose performance is | 9 | | rated as either "excellent" or "proficient" is evaluated at | 10 | | least once in the course of the 3 school years after receipt of | 11 | | the rating and implement an informal teacher observation plan | 12 | | established by agency rule and by agreement of the joint | 13 | | committee established under subsection (b) of Section 24A-4 of | 14 | | this Code that ensures that each teacher in contractual | 15 | | continued service whose performance is rated as either | 16 | | "excellent" or "proficient" is informally observed at least | 17 | | once in the course of the 2 school years after receipt of the | 18 | | rating. | 19 | | For the 2022-2023 school year only, if the Governor has | 20 | | declared a disaster due to a public health emergency pursuant | 21 | | to Section 7 of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, | 22 | | a school district may waive the evaluation requirement of all | 23 | | teachers in contractual continued service whose performances | 24 | | were rated as either "excellent" or "proficient" during the | 25 | | last school year in which the teachers were evaluated under | 26 | | this Section. |
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| 1 | | Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section | 2 | | or any other Section of this Code, a principal shall not be | 3 | | prohibited from evaluating any teachers within a school during | 4 | | his or her first year as principal of such school. If a | 5 | | first-year principal exercises this option in a school | 6 | | district where the evaluation plan provides for a teacher in | 7 | | contractual continued service to be evaluated once in the | 8 | | course of every 2 or 3 school years, as applicable, then a new | 9 | | 2-year or 3-year evaluation plan must be established. | 10 | | The evaluation plan shall comply with the requirements of | 11 | | this Section and
of any rules adopted by the State Board of | 12 | | Education pursuant to this Section. | 13 | | The plan shall include a description of each teacher's | 14 | | duties
and responsibilities and of the standards to which that | 15 | | teacher
is expected to conform, and shall include at least the | 16 | | following components: | 17 | | (a) personal observation of the teacher in the | 18 | | classroom by the evaluator, unless
the teacher has no | 19 | | classroom duties. | 20 | | (b) consideration of the teacher's attendance, | 21 | | planning,
instructional methods, classroom management, | 22 | | where relevant, and
competency in the subject matter | 23 | | taught. | 24 | | (c) by no later than the applicable implementation | 25 | | date, consideration of student growth as a significant | 26 | | factor in the rating of the teacher's performance. |
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| 1 | | (d) prior to September 1, 2012, rating of the | 2 | | performance of teachers in contractual continued service | 3 | | as either: | 4 | | (i) "excellent",
"satisfactory" or | 5 | | "unsatisfactory"; or | 6 | | (ii) "excellent", "proficient", "needs | 7 | | improvement" or "unsatisfactory". | 8 | | (e) on and after September 1, 2012, rating of the | 9 | | performance of all teachers as "excellent", "proficient", | 10 | | "needs improvement" or "unsatisfactory". | 11 | | (f) specification as to the teacher's strengths and | 12 | | weaknesses, with
supporting reasons for the comments made. | 13 | | (g) inclusion of a copy of the evaluation in the | 14 | | teacher's personnel
file and provision of a copy to the | 15 | | teacher. | 16 | | (h) within 30 school days after the completion of an | 17 | | evaluation rating a teacher in contractual continued | 18 | | service as "needs improvement", development by the | 19 | | evaluator, in consultation with the teacher, and taking | 20 | | into account the teacher's on-going professional | 21 | | responsibilities including his or her regular teaching | 22 | | assignments, of a professional development plan directed | 23 | | to the areas that need improvement and any supports that | 24 | | the district will provide to address the areas identified | 25 | | as needing improvement. | 26 | | (i) within 30 school days after completion of an |
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| 1 | | evaluation rating a teacher
in contractual continued | 2 | | service as "unsatisfactory", development and commencement | 3 | | by the district of a remediation plan designed to correct | 4 | | deficiencies
cited, provided the deficiencies are deemed | 5 | | remediable.
In all school districts the
remediation plan | 6 | | for unsatisfactory, tenured teachers shall
provide for 90 | 7 | | school days of remediation within the
classroom, unless an | 8 | | applicable collective bargaining agreement provides for a | 9 | | shorter duration. In all school districts evaluations | 10 | | issued pursuant
to
this Section shall be
issued within 10 | 11 | | days after the conclusion of the respective remediation | 12 | | plan.
However, the school board or other governing | 13 | | authority of the district
shall not lose
jurisdiction to | 14 | | discharge a teacher in the event the evaluation is not | 15 | | issued
within 10 days after the conclusion of the | 16 | | respective remediation plan. | 17 | | (j) participation in the remediation plan by the | 18 | | teacher in contractual continued service rated
| 19 | | "unsatisfactory", an evaluator and a consulting teacher | 20 | | selected by the evaluator of the teacher who was rated | 21 | | "unsatisfactory", which
consulting teacher is an | 22 | | educational employee as defined in the Educational
Labor | 23 | | Relations Act, has at least 5 years' teaching experience, | 24 | | and a
reasonable familiarity with the assignment of the | 25 | | teacher being evaluated,
and who received an "excellent" | 26 | | rating on his or her most
recent evaluation. Where no |
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| 1 | | teachers who meet these criteria are available
within the | 2 | | district, the district shall request and the applicable | 3 | | regional office of education shall supply, to participate | 4 | | in the remediation process, an
individual who meets these | 5 | | criteria. | 6 | | In a district having a population of less than 500,000 | 7 | | with an
exclusive bargaining agent, the bargaining agent
| 8 | | may, if it so chooses, supply a roster of qualified | 9 | | teachers from whom the
consulting teacher is to be | 10 | | selected. That roster shall, however, contain
the names of | 11 | | at least 5 teachers, each of whom meets the criteria for
| 12 | | consulting teacher with regard to the teacher being | 13 | | evaluated, or the names
of all teachers so qualified if | 14 | | that number is less than 5. In the event of
a dispute as to | 15 | | qualification, the State Board shall determine | 16 | | qualification. | 17 | | (k) a mid-point and final evaluation by an evaluator | 18 | | during and at the end of the remediation period, | 19 | | immediately following receipt of a remediation plan | 20 | | provided for under subsections (i) and (j) of this | 21 | | Section. Each evaluation shall assess the teacher's | 22 | | performance during the time period since the prior | 23 | | evaluation; provided that the last evaluation shall also | 24 | | include an overall evaluation of the teacher's performance | 25 | | during the remediation period. A written copy of the | 26 | | evaluations and ratings, in which any deficiencies in |
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| 1 | | performance and recommendations for correction are | 2 | | identified, shall be provided to and discussed with the | 3 | | teacher within 10 school days after the date of the | 4 | | evaluation, unless an applicable collective bargaining | 5 | | agreement provides to the contrary. These subsequent | 6 | | evaluations
shall be conducted by an evaluator. The | 7 | | consulting
teacher shall provide advice to the teacher | 8 | | rated "unsatisfactory" on how
to improve teaching skills | 9 | | and to successfully complete the remediation
plan. The | 10 | | consulting teacher shall participate in developing the
| 11 | | remediation plan, but the final decision as to the | 12 | | evaluation shall be done
solely by the evaluator,
unless | 13 | | an applicable collective bargaining agreement provides to | 14 | | the contrary.
Evaluations at the
conclusion of the | 15 | | remediation process shall be separate and distinct from | 16 | | the
required annual evaluations of teachers and shall not | 17 | | be subject to the
guidelines and procedures relating to | 18 | | those annual evaluations. The evaluator
may but is not | 19 | | required to use the forms provided for the annual | 20 | | evaluation of
teachers in the district's evaluation plan. | 21 | | (l)
reinstatement to the evaluation schedule set forth | 22 | | in the district's evaluation plan for any teacher in | 23 | | contractual continued service
who achieves a rating equal | 24 | | to or better than "satisfactory" or "proficient" in the | 25 | | school year following a rating of "needs improvement" or | 26 | | "unsatisfactory". |
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| 1 | | (m) dismissal in accordance with subsection (d) of | 2 | | Section 24-12 or Section 24-16.5 or 34-85 of this
Code of | 3 | | any teacher who fails to complete any applicable | 4 | | remediation plan
with a rating equal to or better than a | 5 | | "satisfactory" or "proficient" rating. Districts and | 6 | | teachers subject to
dismissal hearings are precluded from | 7 | | compelling the testimony of
consulting teachers at such | 8 | | hearings under subsection (d) of Section 24-12 or Section | 9 | | 24-16.5 or 34-85 of this Code, either
as to the rating | 10 | | process or for opinions of performances by teachers under
| 11 | | remediation. | 12 | | (n) After the implementation date of an evaluation | 13 | | system for teachers in a district as specified in Section | 14 | | 24A-2.5 of this Code, if a teacher in contractual | 15 | | continued service successfully completes a remediation | 16 | | plan following a rating of "unsatisfactory" in an overall | 17 | | performance evaluation received after the foregoing | 18 | | implementation date and receives a subsequent rating of | 19 | | "unsatisfactory" in any of the teacher's overall | 20 | | performance evaluation ratings received during the | 21 | | 36-month period following the teacher's completion of the | 22 | | remediation plan, then the school district may forego | 23 | | remediation and seek dismissal in accordance with | 24 | | subsection (d) of Section 24-12 or Section 34-85 of this | 25 | | Code. | 26 | | Nothing in this Section or Section 24A-4 shall be |
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| 1 | | construed as preventing immediate
dismissal of a teacher for | 2 | | deficiencies which are
deemed irremediable or for actions | 3 | | which are injurious to or endanger the
health or person of | 4 | | students in the classroom or school, or preventing the | 5 | | dismissal or non-renewal of teachers not in contractual | 6 | | continued service for any reason not prohibited by applicable | 7 | | employment, labor, and civil rights laws. Failure to
strictly | 8 | | comply with the time requirements contained in Section 24A-5 | 9 | | shall
not invalidate the results of the remediation plan. | 10 | | Nothing contained in this amendatory Act of the 98th | 11 | | General Assembly repeals, supersedes, invalidates, or | 12 | | nullifies final decisions in lawsuits pending on the effective | 13 | | date of this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly in | 14 | | Illinois courts involving the interpretation of Public Act | 15 | | 97-8. | 16 | | If the Governor has declared a disaster due to a public | 17 | | health emergency pursuant to Section 7 of the Illinois | 18 | | Emergency Management Agency Act that suspends in-person | 19 | | instruction, the timelines in this Section connected to the | 20 | | commencement and completion of any remediation plan are | 21 | | waived. Except if the parties mutually agree otherwise and the | 22 | | agreement is in writing, any remediation plan that had been in | 23 | | place for more than 45 days prior to the suspension of | 24 | | in-person instruction shall resume when in-person instruction | 25 | | resumes and any remediation plan that had been in place for | 26 | | fewer than 45 days prior to the suspension of in-person |
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| 1 | | instruction shall be discontinued and a new remediation period | 2 | | shall begin when in-person instruction resumes. The | 3 | | requirements of this paragraph apply regardless of whether | 4 | | they are included in a school district's teacher evaluation | 5 | | plan. | 6 | | School districts may not tie teacher performance | 7 | | evaluations to a entire school's standardized testing | 8 | | performance or to a curriculum area in which the teacher is not | 9 | | certified. | 10 | | (Source: P.A. 101-643, eff. 6-18-20; 102-252, eff. 1-1-22; | 11 | | 102-729, eff. 5-6-22.)
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