Cayata Dixon
Mon, 10 Sep 2001 12:51:36 -0700
Failing teachers spur hearings September 9, 2001 BY ROSALIND ROSSI AND KATE N. GROSSMAN STAFF REPORTERS To attack the problem of failing students, Illinois first needs to attack the problem of "failing teachers'' outlined in a three-day Chicago Sun-Times series, the head of the Illinois Senate Education Committee says. State Sen. Daniel Cronin, the committee's chairman, said he will convene hearings starting in November, in Springfield and Chicago, on how to put "proven, crackerjack'' teachers in front of the state's neediest children. Ideas to be explored include retesting teachers with the state's new, tougher Basic Skills test for teachers; clarifying confusing names for state certificates; giving parents more information about the certificates that their child's teacher holds and providing financial incentives to outstanding teachers who agree to teach in schools on the state's warning list for poor student performance. "I fully expect that money is going to be a part of this, and it's necessary,'' said Cronin (R-Elmhurst). "Our goal is to come up with some legislation. . . . This is probably the most significant issue that has rocked the Education Committee in some time. It's very serious, and I can think of no more worthy issue to justify hearings.'' The Sun-Times series, called "Failing Teachers,'' was based on an exclusive analysis of the test records of more than 67,000 teachers employed full time last school year in Illinois public schools and tested since the state began giving its own certification tests in 1988. Cronin called its findings "appalling.'' The Sun-Times analysis indicated that the state's neediest children were roughly five times more likely to have a teacher who had failed at least one certification test than their counterparts in the state's most advantaged schools. Statewide, 5,243 teachers working full time last year failed at least one certification test. The vast majority eventually went on to pass such tests, but hundreds never managed to pass and taught just the same. Usually, loopholes in state law that waive state tests allowed them to do so. Also in response, Gov. Ryan has asked the state Board of Education to develop solutions to issues raised by the series. Mayor Daley wants new Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan to determine how many Chicago public school teachers have failed certification exams, how often they failed and how long they have been teaching. The state's biggest test flunker, the Sun-Times found, had flunked 24 of 25 teacher tests--including 12 of 12 tests on how to teach learning disabled children--yet was teaching learning-disabled kids in Chicago last school year. Other top state flunkers functioned on a Chicago-only loophole that lets Chicago teachers head a classroom indefinitely without passing any teacher tests. While other states call certificates that waive such tests "emergency'' or "temporary'' permits, Illinois calls them "certificates.'' That's "misleading and convoluted and it just doesn't accurately reflect what people expect,'' Cronin said. "People expect that a certificate means something, and we're learning that a certificate doesn't mean much [in Illinois].'' Cronin said he favored "fiscal incentives" for top-notch, fully certified teachers who agreed to do a "tour of duty'' in state warning-list schools. Teachers certified through alternative routes should be entitled to scholarships or stipends for teaching in warning-list schools, he said. "The kids who need the teachers the most ought to have . . . crackerjack teachers,'' Cronin said. The committee also should examine whether existing teachers or those in warning-list schools should be required to take the state's tougher new Basic Skills test for teachers, which debuts Sept. 15, Cronin said. That idea is likely to ignite the biggest battle. "In principle, yes, everyone should take the test,'' said Anthony Bryk, director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research. "But it's hard to imagine the state or any governing body doing anything but grandfathering in existing staff and just requiring [the new test] for new people.'' Other ideas may be controversial, as well. State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago), vice chairwoman of the Illinois House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education, said she would be "very much opposed'' to bonuses for teachers in the neediest schools because "knowing human nature in the way I know it, too often cronyism takes the place of the real criterion.'' Instead, Davis said teachers in needy schools should be given free college classes, smaller class sizes, shorter working hours and loan forgiveness. "We need, based on [the Sun-Times' series], a Marshall Plan for education,'' Davis said. "Everybody needs to put education on the front burner with intensive effort.'' Cronin said he'd also like to determine which colleges of education produced teachers who had failed their tests. Perhaps all education schools should be required to give an "exit exam'' to students before they graduate, he said. He also endorsed giving parents more information about the certificates held by their child's teacher. That could include posting teacher credentials on the Internet, sending home notices to parents whose children are taught by teachers working outside their specialty and listing the percentage of less-than-fully certified teachers on state report cards sent to parents--all ideas explored in today's concluding segment of "Failing Teachers.'' "Any time you're talking about providing parents and families more information about their child's education, I think it's a good thing,'' Cronin said. "I think that's a ripe area for the hearings. . . . 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