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Monday, November 21, 2011

Audrey’s Law. Illinois teacher evaluations and IEA complicity. « Fred Klonsky

Audrey’s Law. Illinois teacher evaluations and IEA complicity. « Fred Klonsky:

Audrey’s Law. Illinois teacher evaluations and IEA complicity.

There I stood at the mic at the IEA Representative Assembly, trying to get recognized by Ken Swanson who was president of the Illinois Education Association in 2010.

IEA Executive Director Audrey Soglin was making her report on the new state teacher evaluation law, a law written by the committee she headed. Appointed to head the committee by Governor Quinn, she and the committee were tasked with crafting the state’s Race to the Top grant proposal. Education Secretary Duncan insisted that any proposal have a component that linked teacher evaluation to individual student performance.

The committee crafted a bill. The Illinois General Assembly passed it. Illinois never got the grant. But we did get the law.

Half way through Soglin’s report I went to the mic. I was the first one up. I pulled a point of information yellow