Illinois School District U-46, in Elgin, provides strong support to teachers throughout the certification process and their first year of teaching, but the district’s evaluation process fails to rigorously review teacher performance and provide teachers with the feedback they need to improve their instruction.
TNTP’s analysis, conducted in collaboration with District U-46 and the Elgin Teachers Association, reveals limitations in state policy and both strengths and weaknesses in the district’s approach to managing its teaching workforce. Key findings include:
- State certification rules cause confusion among teachers and hamper the district’s efforts to fill vacancies in its hardest to staff subject areas;
- New teachers are highly satisfied with the district’s mentoring program;
- Teacher evaluations are based on few classroom observations and result in almost all teachers being rated as “excellent”; and
- Inflated evaluation ratings do not provide teachers with the constructive feedback they need to improve their instruction. As a result, poor performance goes unaddressed.