Chapter 5: Promising Strategies for Improving K-12 Education in Illinois
Authors: Benjamin Superfine, Mark A. Smylie, Steven Tozer and David Mayrowetz, College of Education, UIC
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Illinois currently faces a serious dilemma in educational policy. Schools must strive to prepare their students to achieve (and exceed) the state’s standards, or face sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law. And they must do so with limited and unevenly allocated financial resources. One of the most cost-effective resource allocation strategies available to state educational policymakers is the development of the educator work force in Illinois. This strategy, while complex, can be a high-leverage policy option; it can help enhance the capabilities of teachers, school leaders, and other educational personnel who are essential for successfully implementing programs that can improve student achievement.
Improving instruction and promoting innovation within schools is vital to the continued advancement of our primary and secondary school systems. The development of teachers’ skills and knowledge is central in achieving this goal, as educational quality ultimately begins and ends with the teachers and the level of their instruction. Recent research has indicated that work force development can significantly improve school quality on a large scale and in low-income communities.
Educational policymakers in Illinois have made concerted efforts to enhance the overall teacher and school leader work force across the state. These efforts have included adoption of improved professional standards and creation of incentives to increase recruitment of new teachers in high-needs areas. These initiatives, however, have still failed to improve the overall quality of Illinois’ school work force. Compared to other Midwestern states, the level of teacher professional development in the state lags behind. Further, a recent study has shown Illinois to have taken “little action” to improve its school leadership workforce.
Despite Illinois’ relative lack of sustained teacher development efforts, there are several policies that could be implemented to help improve this situation. Some of these initiatives would include efforts to attract talent to Illinois and develop the size of work force supply, enhance allocation and placement decisions, promote “on-the-job” development, and set compensation and incentives for educators.
These policies are all innovative possibilities for overall workforce development, but policymakers must consider thateffective work force development should be contemplated systemically and strategically. Thoughtfully analyzing the ways in which the policies fit together can most effectively and efficiently promote powerful outcomes in our goal of raising student achievement and instructional quality statewide.
