More than 5 percent of the teachers working in Illinois’ poorest school districts are not fully certified to teach, compared with 1 percent in other districts, according to data released Wednesday by the Illinois State Board of Education.
The state report shows that of the 46,500 teachers working in poor school districts about 2,500 are operating on waivers, such as full-time substitute teaching permits or bilingual special permits. State officials did not break down where these educators are teaching but said a large portion are in the Chicago Public Schools.
Of the approximately 86,150 teachers working in the other school districts, about 1,000, or 1.2 percent, are not fully credentialed.
The majority of teachers working on waivers do not need a college degree in education, nor do they need to pass the state tests required of fully licensed teachers.
“This information is very disturbing,” said Mike Long, who oversees teacher preparation for the state board. “The quality of the classroom teacher represents the single greatest impact on student learning.”
The data released Wednesday was part of a larger federal report the state board is working on that will evaluate the state’s colleges of education and, to some extent, the teachers the colleges are producing. That report will be completed next month.
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State law requires that teachers working in Illinois public school districts graduate from an accredited college of education and pass a test of basic skills and a subject area test. But the law also sets out exceptions to that policy.
For instance, the Chicago Public Schools system is allowed to hire full-time substitutes instead of fully certified teachers. These individuals need only a four-year college degree–in any field–to teach. They do not need to pass any teacher assessments.
Other school districts must limit substitutes to 120 consecutive days.
State officials could not say how many such substitutes are working in the Chicago system. Efforts to reach city school officials were unsuccessful Wednesday.
At least 800 educators in the state, many of them in Chicago, are working on “transitional bilingual” certificates. These educators, typically immigrants who were trained as teachers in a foreign country, are allowed to teach in state schools for up to eight years on a temporary certificate.
State board officials, who have made raising teacher quality a priority, said they were disturbed by the findings and plan to look for ways to improve classroom teaching in the neediest schools.
State officials crafted a bill for legislators last session that would have insisted teachers who have transitional bilingual certificates work toward full certification. The bill did not make it through both houses.
Other possible measures include limiting the number of times a prospective teacher can take the basic skills test.