Galesburg Reporter

Illinois State Board of Education Performance Evaluation Advisory Council Training Committee met Jan. 23.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

I. Call to Order and Roll Call 

Dr. Larry Frank called the meeting to order at 1:08 p.m. 

Amy Alsop (IFT) present

Kate Schumacher (IFT) present

Courtney Orzel (IASA) absent

Kay Dugan (IPA) present

Karen Triezenberg (IPA) present

Anna Mae Grams-Pullappally (CPS) present

Jodi Scott (IARSS) absent

Mark Klaisner (IARSS) absent

Sonya Spaulding (IARSS) present

Larry Frank (IEA) present

Carrie Hruby (IASA) absent

A quorum was met. 

Others in attendance: 

Meagan Budke (ISBE) 

Jessica Tobias (ISBE) 

Vince Camille (ISBE) 

II. Approval of Minutes from October 10

Kay Dugan made a motion to approve the minutes, Amy Alsop seconded the motion. 

Amy Alsop (IFT) yes

Kate Schumacher (IFT) yes

Courtney Orzel (IASA) absent

Kay Dugan (IPA) yes

Karen Triezenberg (IPA) yes

Anna Mae Grams-Pullappally  (CPS)yes

Jodi Scott (IARSS) absent

Mark Klaisner (IARSS) absent

Sonya Spaulding (IARSS) yes

Larry Frank (IEA) yes

Carrie Hruby (IASA) absent

Minutes were passed by a roll call vote. 

III. Evaluator Training Document Review 

The members of the group discussed expiration dates for current trainings. It was established that Administrator Academy 1865 will expire on June 30, 2024, then AA 2001, AA 1448, and AA 2000 will expire on June 30, 2025. There will be some new academies as well as some retired. The idea is that AA 1865 and AA 2000 will not need to be updated as they are going to be replaced by proposed Administrator Academy 4050. Ms. Dugan reported that the work that  Illinois Principals Association is doing is going well with revising AA 3967 to extend it to be the  two-day Principal Evaluator training and retraining pending the Train the Trainer session in  April. The conversation pivoted to discuss the name of the course and whether it should be  “school leaders” or “principal evaluation.” The name should be concurrent with the language that  is used in law. Dr. Camille from ISBE said that ISBE is working internally to decide on the name  and will report back when chosen for the new AA.  

Ms. Budke brought up a conversation had via email between some members of the committee and ISBE staff stating that it was confusing. She would like to resolve some of the confusion  oday. She shared her screen to show a guidance document that needs to be revised, suggesting  that the committee should revise the document and that she would take it back to ISBE for internal conversations so ISBE staff could indicate their intentions. Ms. Dugan wanted to clarify  that the guidance documents would be aligned with what is in rule. Ms. Budke assured her that the intention is that the Training Committee would revise the guidance documents on paper, illustrating the flow of the trainings. ISBE staff would be sure that the guidance document was compliant and it would be edited to fit the vision and then published on the ISBE website. Ms. Budke assured the committee that she wants to be sure she is articulating the vision accurately to  ISBE management. 

The common understanding is that AA 4050 will be the training and retraining from July 1, 2024, through the next five years. That will bring it to June 30, 2029. Starting July 1, 2029, AA 4050 will become only the initial training and then multiple newly developed AAs will become the retraining to give evaluators options for retraining.

Conversation pivoted to the guidance documents. Currently, there are three documents that can be compiled and updated to create one document that can be used by the field. The three  documents are: 

• Evaluator Renewal Information 

• Teacher/Principal Performance Evaluation Qualification 

• Summary Teacher Principal Evaluation Qualifications

Ms. Budke asked for clarification on a couple of points: 

1.) What is the language change to the title? 

A.) This is a decision that needs to be made by ISBE. 

2.) Is the course number going to change? 

A.) Yes, by naming it a new number, then it is a clean slate. Ms. Budke will update documentation accordingly and bring it to the committee to vote on. Ms. Dugan asked for the  trainer list. Ms. Budke stated that the list was sent to Ms. Scott last week by Dr. Helfer. It was  decided that the number of the new AA that will serve as the initial training as well as the retraining will be AA 4050. 

3.) Something to consider is, do the initial training and retraining need to be different? 

A.) This is not in rule/statute or at least not from the committee perspective. This is what has  been happening over the last several years. 

4.) By what date does everyone need to take AA 4050? 

A.) Ms. Budke said ideally it would be June 30, 2029. The group stated that in a perfect world that is what it would be, but there are so many variables to consider that it would be difficult to  set a date. The committee referenced that a guidance chart that was published some time ago would be helpful if it was updated. Dr. Camille chimed in and stated that this is a very difficult  task to forecast when everyone would have to have AA 4050 complete. He provided additional  context that this is nearly impossible to do. Ideally, there would be something in the Educator  Licensure Information System to take individual educator cycle dates and do an internal  algorithm to give the educator a retraining date. He explained that the current training timelines  are all over the place. Since it is so complicated with multiple nuances, the three renewal members typically look at the educator’s specific situation to give an approval for being trained  or not trained. He voiced his concern that through this conversation, the retraining issue will become even more complicated with an additional layer of dates to consider. He punctuated this point by saying in terms of legalities, the stakes are high. Ms. Spaulding offered that she has  some folks at West 40 who are very talented and could help create a document or system on a spreadsheet that could help determine retraining dates. 

IV. AA TBD Work Time 

Since this meeting is taking place online and not in person like originally planned, logistics for the next meeting were discussed. It was decided that the next meeting in February would be extended to make up for time lost today. Ms. Grams-Pullappally asked if the group could meet in February and do official business. Then adjourn the meeting with tasks assigned and do work, but not vote on anything so there is no Open Meetings Act violation. This has been allowed per ISBE Legal in the past. 

Ms. Dugan presented a question about what direction for this new Administrator Academy should be. Ms. Alsop stated that after the meeting in October, she and Ms. Schumacher were thinking of a vision of this new academy. The goal of the new academy will be to provide tools for evaluators to be more informed and more effective in their role of providing feedback and  collecting evidence during evaluations of educators even though the evaluator may not have  first-hand experience teaching. The focus is to have this new student growth academy prioritize early childhood, students with disabilities, and English learners. The committee agreed that these  populations are a good focus based on feedback from the field. Ms. Schumacher wanted to point out that in the academy the focus would be on the big three special populations, but this academy  would also draw on the experiences of participants by having share-outs. Ms. Spaulding added that she hears a lot of positive feedback from the field on the materials in AA 2001, so something similar would be beneficial in this new AA. 

The group further brainstormed different things that work and do not work in other AAs and what should be considered for the new AA. 

Ms. Alsop stated that the work of this group is important and that the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) is exploring leading some legislation so this subcommittee can live on past the sunset of PEAC in June. 

The group then discussed assigning work to do before the next meeting in February. Ms. Schumacher and Ms. Alsop have compiled some articles as a starting point to see if there are voices of children that we can highlight. Group members were instructed to drop their thoughts in Google Drive notes before the next meeting. 

V. Public Comment 

None. 

VI. Next Meeting  

The group would like to meet from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Feb. 20 and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Feb. 21. 

VII. Adjourn 

Recess at the call of the chair. 2:58 p.m.

https://www.isbe.net/Documents_PEAC/012224-Minutes.pdf