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Illinois Education Research Council

ierc.siue.edu

Jennifer B. PresleyDirector

SHEEO Professional Development Conference

August 16, 2006Chicago, Illinois

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What We Do

Provide objective and reliable

evidence for Illinois P-16

education policy and program

development

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About the Illinois Education Research Council

• Established in 2000 to bridge the knowledge gap across educational sectors in Illinois

• Housed at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

• Keys to success are

– Linked to policy community – high-profile Advisory Board

– Modest permanent base state funding. Allows multi-year projects and permanent staffing (augmented with grants)

– Excellent researchers with content knowledge

– Illinois’ priorities are our priorities -- not chasing tenure/promotion or faculty’s own interests

– Independence to present uncomfortable results

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Opportunity Knocks: The Research Data Map

School Data

Report cardsFederal CCD

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Opportunity #1

Longitudinal Study of the Class of 2002

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The Data

• All 113,660 public high school students in the Illinois Class of 2002. All took ACT in 11th grade so we have scores and background information.

• Enrollments in institutions of higher education, public and private, in state and out of state, from the National Student Clearinghouse each year.

• Certificates and degrees from Illinois Community College Board (and the NSC in the future).

• Plan to follow the Class for six years. We now have the fourth year’s data from NSC for AY 2005-2006.

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IERC College Readiness Index ACT + GPA

Distribution of the 2002 Cohort

Not/Least Ready

Minimally Ready

Somewhat Ready

More Ready

Most Ready

34% 11% 17% 17% 20%

}} College Ready

Not Ready

Partially Ready

Roughly a third of the 2002 Cohort are not/least ready for college, about a third are partially ready, and about a third are college ready.

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Regional analysis of college readiness has been very helpful for in-state

communication

College readiness is an issue across the state.

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Tracking transfers is critical: Year 3 status of Year 1 starters by first

year institution type

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Benefit of NSC is that it includes transfers among ALL institutions

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Opportunity #2

The Distribution of Teacher Quality

in Illinois

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The Data• State Teacher Service Records and Teacher

Certification Information System – 140,000 teachers in public schools in 2002-2003

• ACT Inc.

• Barron’s Guide, for college competitiveness

• Common Core of Data (NCES)

• Illinois School Report Cards

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Creating the Teacher Quality Index (TQI)

Teacher Characteristics Averaged at the School Level

• Teachers’ Average ACT Composite Scores

• Teachers’ Average ACT English Scores

• % of Teachers Failing Basic Skills Test on First Attempt

• % of Teachers with Emergency/Provisional Certification

• Teachers’ Average College Competitiveness Ranking

• % of Teachers with 3 or Fewer Years’ Experience

Our ‘independence’ made it safer for us to use sensitive measures

}TQI(Principal Components Analysis)

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Distribution of School TQI by School Percent Poverty

• TQI distribution is strongly related to school poverty levels

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0

10

20

30

40

50

Low Lower Middle Upper Middle High Low Lower Middle Upper Middle High

LP/LM = (FRL <50%, Minority <50%) HP/HM = (FRL

Low Poverty/Low MinorityHigh Schools

High Poverty/High MinorityHigh Schools

TQI Quartile TQI Quartile

Pe

rce

nt

of

Stu

de

nts

Mo

re/M

ost

Re

ad

yLinking school TQI to student college

readiness• TQI is closely

related to students’ college readiness, regardless of school poverty and minority characteristics.

• TQI matters more for schools serving mostly disadvantaged students.

+9

+23

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Examples of Impact of ResultsTeacher Quality Distribution:

• Considerable national, Chicago and statewide media coverage – with help from the Education Trust

• Raised legislative questions about teacher quality –what can be done? More open to additional funding initiatives for preparation and professional development

• Unease in some colleges of education

College Readiness and Success:

• Increased legislators’ and board members’ understanding of the extent of under-preparation, and interest in secondary education

• Demonstrates link between college readiness and teacher quality – extends higher education’s understanding of its involvement in school quality

• Tracking students through college provides new accountability opportunities

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Where Illinois is Going• IBHE working with data custodian (SIUC) to add

some variables to the higher education unit-record enrollment system, and to be able to address some questions directly

• Student ID in K-12. Will be included in higher education unit-record reporting

• Eventually – value-added measures for teachers and feedback to teacher preparation programs

• IERC will continue to be an independent but directly connected component in P-20 efforts