Performance Counts Act

Merry Christmas,

If you haven't heard, there's a huge bill about to be tackled by the Illinois house and senate. This bill would make massive changes to the Illinois School Code, the governing rules for school district operating. Here is what the gist of the bill is:

1. School districts have to show school growth on their 2012-2013 report card. That's going to be difficult, unless districts stick to just standardized test scores. (So no one will mention the arts or other subjects.)

2. Tenure is completely different. If a teacher gets rated unsatisfactory, they could possibly go before the superintendent, a board representative, and a union representative. Three things can then happen: 1. They are recommended to be dismissed. 2. They are recommended to be reinstated. Or, 3. They are recommended to be returned to first year tenure status!!!!!!!! The reason that is so huge is because when you aren't tenured, the district can dismiss you without a reason. Another huge issue is the ruling can't be appealed and there is no hearing officer.

3. Striking is made more difficult due to a more complicated mediation process.

There are more changes but I think these three are the biggest and carry the more weight.

Point 1 is infuriating but that might be premature of me. Point 3 isn't really a big deal unless you work is a bad district that has poor compensation and benefits.

Point 2 is huge. I wonder how many districts will make personnel moves on teachers that used to be untouchable. I also wonder if this will improve job mobility, which has been a problem since the recession.

The next five years are going to be interesting.