Bill Text: IL HB2851 | 2013-2014 | 98th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the School Code. Provides that, upon the request of the parents or legal guardian of a student, a school district shall fully disclose and release to the parents or legal guardian, in any manner, including by phone or in person, the performance evaluation for each of the teachers and for the principal of the school building to which the student is assigned for the current school year. Sets forth district requirements with respect to this disclosure. With respect to the State Board of Education's system to annually collect and publish data on teacher and administrator performance evaluation outcomes, adds additional data to be collected and published. Effective July 1, 2013.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2014-12-03 - Session Sine Die [HB2851 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2013-HB2851-Introduced.html

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98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2013 and 2014 HB2851 Introduced , by Rep. Deborah Conroy SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/24A-7.1
105 ILCS 5/24A-20
105 ILCS 5/34-85c
Amends the School Code. Provides that, upon the request of the parents or legal guardian of a student, a school district shall fully disclose and release to the parents or legal guardian, in any manner, including by phone or in person, the performance evaluation for each of the teachers and for the principal of the school building to which the student is assigned for the current school year. Sets forth district requirements with respect to this disclosure. With respect to the State Board of Education's system to annually collect and publish data on teacher and administrator performance evaluation outcomes, adds additional data to be collected and published. Effective July 1, 2013.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY STATE MANDATES ACT MAY REQUIRE REIMBURSEMENT
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections
24A-7.1, 24A-20, and 34-85c as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/24A-7.1)
Sec. 24A-7.1. Teacher, principal, and superintendent
performance evaluations; disclosure. Except as otherwise
provided under this Article Act, disclosure of public school
teacher, principal, and superintendent performance evaluations
is prohibited. Upon the request of the parents or legal
guardian of a student, a school district shall fully disclose
and release to the parents or legal guardian, in any manner,
including by phone or in person, the performance evaluation for
each of the teachers and for the principal of the school
building to which the student is assigned for the current
school year. With respect to this disclosure, the school
district shall do all of the following:
(1) Give all parents and legal guardians conspicuous
notice of their right to obtain this information.
(2) Explain the performance evaluations to parents and
legal guardians orally or in writing.
(3) Offer parents and legal guardians opportunities to

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understand the performance evaluations in the context of
teacher and principal evaluation and student performance.
(4) Make reasonable efforts to verify that any review
request is a bona fide request by a parent or legal
guardian entitled to review and to receive the requested
data.
(Source: P.A. 96-861, eff. 1-15-10.)
(105 ILCS 5/24A-20)
Sec. 24A-20. State Board of Education data collection and
evaluation assessment and support systems.
(a) On or before the date established in subsection (b) of
this Section, the State Board of Education shall, through a
process involving collaboration with the Performance
Evaluation Advisory Council, develop or contract for the
development of and implement all of the following data
collection and evaluation assessment and support systems:
(1) A system to annually collect and publish data by
district and school on teacher and administrator
performance evaluation outcomes by district, school,
class, subject, and grade, as well as by region, district
wealth, district-need category, student enrollment, type
of school (i.e., elementary, middle, or high school),
student need (e.g., poverty level), and district spending.
The system shall also annually collect and publish data on
the percentage or number of teachers and principals in each

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performance evaluation rating category, the percentage or
number moving to a higher rating category than the previous
year, the percentage or number moving to a lower rating
category than the previous year, and the percentage or
number retained in each rating category and data on tenure
granting and denial based on performance evaluations. The
system must ensure that no teacher or administrator can be
personally identified by publicly reported data.
(2) Both a teacher and principal model evaluation
template. The model templates must incorporate the
requirements of this Article and any other requirements
established by the State Board by administrative rule, but
allow customization by districts in a manner that does not
conflict with such requirements.
(3) An evaluator pre-qualification program based on
the model teacher evaluation template.
(4) An evaluator training program based on the model
teacher evaluation template. The training program shall
provide multiple training options that account for the
prior training and experience of the evaluator.
(5) A superintendent training program based on the
model principal evaluation template.
(6) One or more instruments to provide feedback to
principals on the instructional environment within a
school.
(7) A State Board-provided or approved technical

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assistance system that supports districts with the
development and implementation of teacher and principal
evaluation systems.
(8) Web-based systems and tools supporting
implementation of the model templates and the evaluator
pre-qualification and training programs.
(9) A process for measuring and reporting correlations
between local principal and teacher evaluations and (A)
student growth in tested grades and subjects and (B)
retention rates of teachers.
(10) A process for assessing whether school district
evaluation systems developed pursuant to this Act and that
consider student growth as a significant factor in the
rating of a teacher's and principal's performance are valid
and reliable, contribute to the development of staff, and
improve student achievement outcomes. By no later than
September 1, 2014, a research-based study shall be issued
assessing such systems for validity and reliability,
contribution to the development of staff, and improvement
of student performance and recommending, based on the
results of this study, changes, if any, that need to be
incorporated into teacher and principal evaluation systems
that consider student growth as a significant factor in the
rating performance for remaining school districts to be
required to implement such systems.
(b) If the State of Illinois receives a Race to the Top

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Grant, the data collection and support systems described in
subsection (a) must be developed on or before September 30,
2011. If the State of Illinois does not receive a Race to the
Top Grant, the data collection and support systems described in
subsection (a) must be developed on or before September 30,
2012; provided, however, that the data collection and support
systems set forth in items (3) and (4) of subsection (a) of
this Section must be developed by September 30, 2011 regardless
of whether the State of Illinois receives a Race to the Top
Grant. By no later than September 1, 2011, if the State of
Illinois receives a Race to the Top Grant, or September 1,
2012, if the State of Illinois does not receive a Race to the
Top Grant, the State Board of Education must execute or
contract for the execution of the assessment referenced in item
(10) of subsection (a) of this Section to determine whether the
school district evaluation systems developed pursuant to this
Act have been valid and reliable, contributed to the
development of staff, and improved student performance.
(c) Districts shall submit data and information to the
State Board on teacher and principal performance evaluations
and evaluation plans in accordance with procedures and
requirements for submissions established by the State Board.
Such data shall include, without limitation, (i) data on the
performance rating given to all teachers in contractual
continued service, (ii) data on district recommendations to
renew or not renew teachers not in contractual continued

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service, and (iii) data on the performance rating given to all
principals.
(d) If the State Board of Education does not timely fulfill
any of the requirements set forth in Sections 24A-7 and 24A-20,
and adequate and sustainable federal, State, or other funds are
not provided to the State Board of Education and school
districts to meet their responsibilities under this Article,
the applicable implementation date shall be postponed by the
number of calendar days equal to those needed by the State
Board of Education to fulfill such requirements and for the
adequate and sustainable funds to be provided to the State
Board of Education and school districts. The determination as
to whether the State Board of Education has fulfilled any or
all requirements set forth in Sections 24A-7 and 24A-20 and
whether adequate and sustainable funds have been provided to
the State Board of Education and school districts shall be made
by the State Board of Education in consultation with the P-20
Council.
(Source: P.A. 96-861, eff. 1-15-10.)
(105 ILCS 5/34-85c)
Sec. 34-85c. Alternative procedures for teacher
evaluation, remediation, and removal for cause after
remediation.
(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the board and
the exclusive representative of the district's teachers are

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hereby authorized to enter into an agreement to establish
alternative procedures for teacher evaluation, remediation,
and removal for cause after remediation, including an
alternative system for peer evaluation and recommendations;
provided, however, that no later than September 1, 2012: (i)
any alternative procedures must include provisions whereby
student performance data is a significant factor in teacher
evaluation and (ii) teachers are rated as "excellent",
"proficient", "needs improvement" or "unsatisfactory".
Pursuant exclusively to that agreement, teachers assigned to
schools identified in that agreement shall be subject to an
alternative performance evaluation plan and remediation
procedures in lieu of the plan and procedures set forth in
Article 24A of this Code and alternative removal for cause
standards and procedures in lieu of the removal standards and
procedures set forth in Section 34-85 of this Code. To the
extent that the agreement provides a teacher with an
opportunity for a hearing on removal for cause before an
independent hearing officer in accordance with Section 34-85 or
otherwise, the hearing officer shall be governed by the
alternative performance evaluation plan, remediation
procedures, and removal standards and procedures set forth in
the agreement in making findings of fact and a recommendation.
(b) The board and the exclusive representative of the
district's teachers shall submit a certified copy of an
agreement as provided under subsection (a) of this Section to

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the State Board of Education.
(c) With respect to teacher evaluations, the school
district shall comply with Section 24A-7.1 of this Code and
shall submit data and information to the State Board of
Education to enable the State Board to comply with subdivision
(1) of subsection (a) of Section 24A-20 of this Code.
(Source: P.A. 96-861, eff. 1-15-10; 97-8, eff. 6-13-11.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1,
2013.