The demonstration of commitment from teachers as required by paragraph (1) of this subsection (b) must include a description of how teachers have been engaged throughout the application development process. If the school district has an exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not submit a statement of commitment for the application, the school district must submit either a statement by the president of the position of the exclusive bargaining representative on the application or a description of the school district's good faith efforts to obtain such a statement.
(c) Subject to subsection (g) of this Section, the State Superintendent of Education shall select school districts meeting the requirements set forth in this Section to participate in the pilot program based on the quality of the proposed plan, the strength of the local commitments, including, without limitation, teachers within the school district who will be involved in the program's implementation and postsecondary institution partnerships, and demonstration of prior professional development and stakeholder engagement efforts that will support the proposed system's successful implementation. The State Superintendent of Education, in selecting the participating school districts, shall also consider the diversity of school district types and sizes, the diversity of geographic representation from across the State, and the diversity of plan approaches (such as approaches that involve one subject only, multiple subjects, and the types of subjects).
(d) School districts selected to participate in the pilot program shall receive technical assistance coordinated by the State Superintendent of Education to develop a full pilot program implementation plan. The State Superintendent of Education shall have discretion to remove a school district from the pilot program during this period if the school district does not submit a full pilot program implementation plan that meets the State Superintendent of Education's specifications.
(e) School districts shall, as part of the development of their application and participation in the competency-based learning system pilot program, establish and maintain a standing planning and implementation committee that includes representation from administrators and teachers, including teachers who will be involved in the competency-based learning system's implementation. The teacher representatives shall be selected by teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers, and the number of teacher representatives shall be at least equal to administrator representatives, unless otherwise agreed to by the teachers or, where applicable, the exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers. The standing planning and implementation committee shall develop reports that shall be included within the initial application, the full pilot program plan, and any subsequent annual submissions to the State Superintendent of Education as part of the assessment and evaluation of the program. The reports shall describe the members' assessment of the school district's plan or implementation, as applicable, of the school district's competency-based learning system and any recommendations for modifications or improvements to the system. If the committee does not reach consensus on the report, the administrator members shall submit the report and the teacher members may provide a position statement that must be included with the report submitted to the State Superintendent of Education.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of the School Code or any other law of this State to the contrary, school districts participating in the pilot program may petition the State Superintendent of Education for a waiver or modification of the mandates of the School Code or of the administrative rules adopted by ISBE in order to support the implementation of the school district's proposed competency-based learning system. However, no waiver shall be granted under this subsection (f) relating to State assessments, accountability requirements, teacher tenure or seniority, teacher or principal evaluations, or learning standards or that removes legal protections or supports intended for the protection of children or a particular category of students, such as students with disabilities or English learners. Any waiver or modification of teacher educator licensure requirements to permit instruction by non-educators or educators without an appropriate license must ensure that an appropriately licensed teacher and the provider of instruction partner in order to verify the method for assessing competency of mastery and verify whether a student has demonstrated mastery. All requests must be jointly signed by the school district superintendent and the president of the school board and must describe the position of teachers within the school district that will be involved in the competency-based learning system's implementation on the application. If the school district has an exclusive bargaining representative of its teachers and the president of the exclusive bargaining representative does not submit a statement of support for the application, the school district must submit either a statement by the president that describes the position of the exclusive bargaining representative on the application or a description of the school district's good faith efforts to obtain such a statement. The State Superintendent of Education shall approve a waiver or modification request meeting the requirements of this subsection (f) if the State Superintendent of Education determines the request is reasonably necessary to support the implementation of the school district's proposed competency-based learning system, and the request shall not diminish the overall support of teachers within the school district involved with the system's implementation as demonstrated in the school district's initial application to participate in the pilot program. An approved request shall take effect in accordance with the timeline set forth in the school district's application, and an approved waiver or modification shall remain in effect for so long as the school district participates in the pilot program established by this Act. The State Superintendent of Education's approval of a school district plan for implementation of competency-based, high school graduation requirements shall serve as a waiver or modification of any conflicting requirements of Section 27-22 of the School Code. School districts participating in the pilot program may additionally pursue waivers and modifications pursuant to Section 2-3.25g of the School Code.
(g) For purposes of this subsection (g), "annual cohort" means the group of school districts selected by the State Superintendent of Education to participate in the pilot program during an annual application and selection process. The State Superintendent of Education shall limit each annual cohort of the pilot program as follows: the first 2 annual cohorts shall be limited to no more than 12 school districts, and any subsequent annual cohort shall be limited to no more than 15 school districts. A school district may submit only one application for each annual cohort of the pilot program. The application of a school district having a population exceeding 500,000 inhabitants may not include more than 6 schools. The expansion of a school district's competency-based learning system to a new school or new subject area identified in Section 27-22 of the School Code shall require a new application by the school district.
School districts may collaboratively apply to participate in the pilot program. Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection (g), the application of a collaborative of districts shall be counted as one district application in the annual cohort selection process. In the application of a collaborative of districts, each district participating in the collaborative shall comply with the requirements outlined in subsection (b) of this Section as if applying as an individual district. The districts participating in the collaborative may establish and maintain a standing planning and implementation committee individually or collaboratively. If a collaborative of districts decides at a later date to participate as individual districts in the pilot program, the districts shall submit to the State Superintendent of Education a revised implementation plan that outlines the changes to their original plan, the individual district applications from these districts shall be considered as separate district applications, and none of these districts may be counted as one of the districts that are already part of the cohort limitation.
(Source: P.A. 99-674, eff. 7-29-16; 100-599, eff. 6-29-18.)
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