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| Suggestions For Improving Public Education System in Illinois |
An education reform group with some political know-how is out with its' first three recommendations.
The group "Advance Illinois" says the state must recruit and empower better teachers and principals, raise expectations for students, and financially reward school districts that discover innovations that actually contribute to better learning.
A technology teacher at Effingham High School and a former Illinois Teacher of the Year, Joe Fatheree, says schools and teachers must be judged on their performance and not on how long they have been there.
"We must tie teacher evaluations to student performance, and especially, for those struggling schools, we must make transfer and layoff decisions based on performance, not just seniority," Fatheree said.
Students standards should also be raised by the year 2020. Some of the groups suggestions for students are raising the current 35-percent to 50-percent, the number of students who read and compute at grade level, closing a math and reading 'achievement gap' between white and minority students, doubling the rate of students completing a college-ready high school curriculum, and raising the high school graduation rate to 85 percent.
Advance Illinois members say the 'innovation fund' to reward schools that come up with new ideas is undetermined and adds the other reforms have negligible costs or costs covered with money in the system.
To learn more about Advance Illinois or to read the specific recommendations, CLICK HERE. The group also includes former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar. |
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| 07 03 09 by Newsroom |
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