LM May 2017 Final

Dr. James Rosborg Director of Master’s in Education, McKendree University

Fromrigor to reality Part 2: A further look at the state regulatory rules and their impact on candidates in teacher/administrative education

The Illinois Council of Professors in Education Administration (ICPEA), in conjunction with the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB), continues to study the impact of the changes in the state rules and regulations, and the impact on the number of candidates going into education in Illinois, both in the teaching and administration areas. Dr. Patrick Rice, IASB Field Service Director, expanded last year’s survey and received data from a cross-section of 17 Illinois universities. Besides surveying elementary and secondary educational programs, the survey included Early Childhood, Fine Arts, and Special Education programs. Similar to last year’s findings, the data received is cause for concern. The survey’s findings show Illinois continues to experience a teacher shortage not only in elementary and secondary education, but in all teacher education programs of study. And, the survey results indicate there is a lack of diversity

in the candidate pool. As reported in our previous article published last year, in 2010 the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) raised the minimum standards needed to pass the Test of Academic Proficiency (TAP), formerly the Basic Skills exam. The goal was to increase teacher rigor. The results were teacher and administrator candidate numbers dramatically went down with the jury still being out as to the improvement of candidate quality. Research in the area of principal preparation shows 1,742 new graduates in principalship in the last six years. ICPEA estimates there have been around 2,800 new principal job openings in the past six years. The number of job openings does not even include openings in other administrative positions like assistant principals, dean of students, directors, department chairs, and assistant superintendents. Our research shows that there is a direct correlation between having fewer teacher candidates which directly impacts the number of administrative candidates.

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