LM april 2021 final hi

Shortage ... cont’d.

Weare toooverregulated Form a task force to study this. Regulate for success, not failure. Establish achievable benchmarks. For example, ISBE set the meets/exceeds benchmark on the SAT state test 50 points higher than the benchmark established by the College Board, which set the benchmark on the college-ready student. The College Board based their decision of 50 years of research. Another example is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The guidelines set up many schools in Illinois to be perceived as failures when many of these schools are excellent schools with fine instruction. Encourageuniversities to limit future increases in tuition toassistminority, low income, andoverall student enrollment Again, open the door for financially challenged students. Universities across the state have been raising tuition at approximately 7 percent a year. The higher the tuition, the fewer candidates we have. In economics, this is called the law of diminishing returns. Some universities have realized this and have cut tuition and looked for alternatives for textbooks to lower student expenses. Most have not. This, along with the virus threat, could potentially be devastating to universities in the future. Set upuniversitystudy commissions to evaluategeneral education classesoffered at the freshmanandsophomore level Too many students drop out because of the lack of interest in the general education classes that are not imperative to the development of a good teacher. Lessening the general education classes could assist

in extending resident student teacher programs so the candidate could have more experience in the classroom prior to having their own classroom. Continue to lookatways to raise teachers’ salariesandprovidingstate funding for the additional costsplacedonschool districts Currently, the new state law regarding future teacher salaries states that the minimum salary for all teachers will be at least $40,000 by the first day of school, 2023. This is good as long as the state financially supports districts to make this change. Hopefully, this will help keep teachers in the field. Re-institute capital development funds The Capital Development program provided more jobs in Illinois and improved the building and grounds of the selected districts. I realize that this idea might have to be delayed because of the current negative impact on the economy and COVID, but it is important to remain as a goal for the future. While this is not a list of all possibilities, I do hope this discussion stimulates efforts at all levels to solve this major administrative and teacher shortage in our state. Now is the time to review past practices that have worked and implement policies to assist Illinois and truly help the students of the future. I am not so crass as to not realize that the present health crisis has to be the current focus, but we also have to be cognizant of the fact that the teacher shortage cannot be totally put on the back burner.

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LM April 2021