UNION REPRESENTATION DURING A PANDEMIC | The Case of K-12 School COVID Protocols, Public Health and Individual Autonomy

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the Illinois educational workforce, creating a complex interplay between public health measures, individual autonomy, and union dynamics. This report, based on a survey of Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) members, highlights these multifaceted responses to vaccine mandates and the intricate position of teachers’ unions during these … Read more

THE IMPACT OF TEACHER LICENSURE ON STUDENT OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM ILLINOIS EDUCATION TEACHER PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT (EdTPA)

In 2015 Illinois mandated the education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), a performance-based assessment to evaluate teaching readiness, as a part of the teacher licensure requirements. The new requirement aimed to benefit student learning by improving the teaching effectiveness of prospective teachers. This report estimates the effect of teachers hired after 2015 when edTPA was implemented … Read more

TEACHER SHORTAGE AND RACIAL DISPARITY IN ILLINOIS TEACHING PROFESSION: THE EFFECT OF EDTPA

The Illinois State Broad of Education (ISBE) mandated Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA), a performance-based assessment to evaluate teaching readiness, as a part of the licensure requirements since July 2015. The new examination imposed significant monetary ($300-$1,200 per applicant) and time investments, which had a disproportionate effect on minority prospective teacher candidates. The impact of the … Read more

BARGAINING FOR INNOVATION | AN ANALYSIS OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS IN ILLINOIS PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS

More than two million children attend over 3,800 public schools in 852 local school districts across Illinois. Nearly all of these districts have collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that determine the terms and conditions of employment. This study evaluates 543 collective bargaining agreements across Illinois, representing nearly two-thirds of all school district CBAs. While labor agreements … Read more

STUDENT BASED BUDGETING CONCENTRATES LOW BUDGET SCHOOLS IN CHICAGO’S BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS

In 2014, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) adopted a system-wide Student Based Budgeting model for determining individual school budgets. Our report examines the impact of Student Based Budgeting. Our findings show that CPS’ putatively color-blind Student Based Budgeting reproduces racial inequality by concentrating low budget public schools almost exclusively in Chicago’s Black neighborhoods. The clustering of … Read more

ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ WORK-RELATED STRESSORS AND STRAIN

International surveys conducted by the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) found that teachers in their union suffer significantly from stress (ETUCE, 2011). Furthermore, survey data in the United States reveals that teaching is a “high stress” profession (Kyriacou, 2000). The harm caused by this stress is evident by the high rates of teacher … Read more