2. The extent to which the SEA intends to use any portion of its SEA reserve (up to 10 percent of
the SEA intends to use to serve disadvantaged populations listed in Sec. 18003(d)(4) of
expanding awareness of, and access to, best practices and innovations in remote learning
and support for students, families, and educators.
ISBE intends to use the 9.5 percent reserve of ESSER funds in five areas: Virtual
Coaching, Technology Devices, Connectivity, Professional Development, and
Funding for non-eligible entities. A total of .5 percent of the reserve will be used for
administrative purposes. The proposed ISBE budget is provided in Table I and the
use and rationale for each program follows.
Table 1: Proposed ISBE Budget
Program Amount
1. Virtual Coaching $6,500,000
2. Devices (e.g., laptops and tablets) $33,319,570
3. Connectivity $7,139,907
4. Professional Development $6,454,909
5. Funding for non-eligible entities $685,000
6. SEA Administration $2,847,336
Total: $56,946,722
1. Virtual Coaching
Use: ISBE, in partnership with the Illinois Education Association (IEA) and the Illinois
Federation of Teachers (IFT), proposes to use approximately $6.5 million of the
Superintendent’s reserve to develop and deliver a virtual coaching and mentoring
program in support of an estimated 4,000 new teachers who will be entering the
teaching profession this fall without (in some cases) finishing their clinical teaching
experience.
Rationale: An estimated 4,000 teacher candidates were unable to complete student
teaching as a result of the COVID-19 national emergency and the concomitant
suspension of in-person instruction in Illinois. This capstone experience is an
essential step in the ongoing development of the teacher candidate as she or he
transitions into the teacher of record. To ensure that teacher candidates, who
otherwise would successfully complete student teaching in the spring 2020 and could
become teachers of record in the fall 2020, ISBE worked with its partners to identify
areas of relief through an executive order and emergency rules.
More specifically, ISBE, in collaboration with partners, such as the Illinois Association
of School Administrators, the Illinois Principals Association, the Illinois Association of
Regional Superintendents of Schools, IEA, IFT, and administration and faculty from
public and private institutions of higher education in Illinois, identified areas and
approaches for relief. Providing waivers for student teaching and successful
completion of the teacher performance assessment during student teaching were
among the proposals. To these ends, an executive order was issued by the Governor
on April 24, 2020, and emergency administrative rules followed on April 27, 2020.
The waivers of student teaching and the teacher performance assessment did provide
teacher candidates a means of obtaining licensure in Illinois, but ISBE and its
partners also determined that these novice teachers require additional support as
they begin their careers. This additional support will include an in-person and
in-building mentor and a virtual coach. The virtual coaches will be selected by the
new teacher based on grade, content, cultural affinity, special education, and bilingual
matching criteria. Each virtual coach will work with approximately 10 teachers for
seven hours per week over 36 instructional weeks beginning as the 2020-2021 school
year commences in districts across Illinois.
Using ESSER funding to develop and deliver virtual coaching and mentoring best
ensures that students, including those who live in low-income homes, have an
identified disability, are English Learners, are homeless or in foster care, and/or are
racial and ethnic minorities, are taught by well-prepared and well-supported teachers.
There is a digital divide in Illinois. What follows is a three-part exposition explicating
this issue, which includes lack of access to devices, connectivity, and professional
learning in best practices for using digital learning to provide students across Illinois
access to rich and rigorous learning opportunities. Using ESSER funds in the ways
identified below is an essential first step in mitigating the factors that create this
divide, as well as providing immediate relief to those students, districts, and
communities most in need.
2. Technology Devices
Use: ISBE proposes to use $33,319,570 of the Superintendent’s reserve toward the
acquisition of devices (e.g., laptops or tablets) for students.
Rationale: According to the 2019 Learning Technology Center of Illinois survey ,
approximately 62 percent of school districts that responded to the survey implement a
1:1 program (n=350). The majority of districts without a 1:1 program are in the
process of researching, planning, or considering adopting a 1:1 program. The
suspension of in-person instruction in Illinois in mid-March and determination that
classroom instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year would occur
remotely identified a substantial digital divide in the state.
At the outset of the school closures, ISBE issued a Remote Learning Survey in which
it asked districts for information on how they intended to deliver remote instruction. Of
the 655 districts that responded, 9 percent deliver remote instruction via digital means
only and 9 percent do not currently possess the ability to deliver any remote
instructions via digital means. The remaining 82 percent of respondents use a
combination of digital and other non-digital means to deliver remote learning. Of
significance, however, is that 81 percent of respondents reported that remote learning
is delivered through the sharing and completion of worksheets and paper packets.
So, too, 87 percent of respondents indicated that the most frequent identified means
of communicating with students using technology is email, while 81 percent identified
that they communicate using another platform, such as Blackboard or Class Dojo.
These data suggest two things. First, while the greater majority of respondents utilize
digital means for the purposes of remote learning, generally, the central way in which
digital means are used is for communicating with students. Second, that over 90
percent of respondents reported that remote learning consists in whole or part
through the delivery of worksheets and paper packets suggests that there are
confluent challenges in a majority of districts with school/district access to devices to
deliver instruction, student access to devices, and/or connectivity.
According to the 2019 Learning Technology Center of Illinois survey results, the
consideration of digital learning prior to the COVID-19 emergency focused on
integrating online textbook technology into traditional classroom instruction.
Understandably, the notion of remote learning as the primary means of instruction via
technology was not considered in the survey. However, the suspension of in-person
instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and the possibility of
intermittent school closures in the 2020-21 school year obligates ISBE to contemplate
what must occur to ensure that students can access learning opportunities through
devices.
To this end, ISBE will use the Learning Technology Center of Illinois throughout
Illinois for two purposes. First, staff from the Learning Technology Center of Illinois
will assist with the identification of student needs within districts. These needs will
also be evaluated through the percentage of district adequacy used to calculate
Evidence-Based Funding for local district funding in Illinois. Second, during the
summer and fall of 2020, Learning Technology Center of Illinois will build on its
current work of providing professional learning opportunities to districts on topics such
as technology integration, by developing and delivering new informational and
academic resources and expanding awareness of, and access to, best practices and
innovations in remote learning and support for students, families, and educators
based upon identified district need. District-identified need will be ascertained via a
survey currently being administered statewide. Those districts identified with the
greatest need will receive devices first.
3. Connectivity
Use: ISBE proposes to use $7.139,907 of the Superintendent’s reserve toward the
acquisition of connectivity for communities most in need.
Rationale: Once remote learning commenced in Illinois, the connectivity (or lack
thereof) in communities and homes in Illinois emerged as a central reason for a digital
divide across the state. Approximately 10 percent of Illinois school districts use low
bandwidth connections. Students while in school, more than likely, can access digital
learning content with relative ease by either working in a dedicated computer lab or
on a device in their classroom. Once in-person, in-school instruction ceased, the
inability for every family with school-aged children to connect to the internet became
apparent and the need for connectivity became a necessary, and not just nice, part of
delivering high quality remote learning.
Illinois is the home of more than 125,000 committed and excellent teachers and
school leaders. The stories of districts tackling this issue through creative solutions
like outfitting school buses with routers and extenders and placing them strategically
within the community are inspiring, but the fact remains that the need to do so in
multiple locations across Illinois suggests that connectivity is a real issue in many
communities.
The consideration of digital learning prior to the COVID-19 emergency focused on
integrating online textbook technology into traditional classroom instruction.
Connectivity within a school was not a central concern. However, closing schools for
the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and the possibility of intermittent school
closures in the 2020-21 school year obligates ISBE to contemplate what must occur
to ensure that students can access learning opportunities if they are at home or
somewhere else in their community outside of school.
4. Professional Learning
Use: ISBE proposes to use $6,454,909 of the Superintendent’s reserve toward
supporting statewide professional learning opportunities for educators and families in
using digital learning.
Rationale: The final piece of the digital divide dilemma is the need for professional
learning opportunities for educators and families. The general focus of these
activities will be on best practices in developing and delivering online learning and
supporting students who are learning via remote learning.
Once in-person instruction was suspended in Illinois and it was communicated that
the remainder of the school year would be conducted via remote learning, it became
apparent that -- in addition to the devices that connect to the internet in order to
access content -- teachers and families require additional information, approaches,
and/or techniques as they support their students and children. The proliferation of
professional learning via online instruction in the last decade, although typically for the
adult learner, suggests that there is more to developing and supporting online
learning than just using an internet camera and set of links to which students are
directed. Rather there is a body of knowledge that includes content, pedagogy, and
human (child) development that must be understood to support students in K-12
schools who are engaging in online remote learning.
While professional learning for educators and parents is currently taking place and will
be expanded as soon as ESSER funds are available, during the summer and fall of
2020, Learning Technology Center of Illinois will build on its current work of providing
professional learning opportunities to districts by developing and delivering new
informational and academic resources and expanding awareness of, and access to,
best practices and innovations in remote learning and support for students, families,
and educators based upon identified district need. District-identified need will be
ascertained via a survey currently being administered statewide.
Illinois will make great strides in combatting the digital divide through using ESSER
funds to provide devices to students, enabling communities to access connectivity,
and supporting educators and families through professional learning. This work,
including an emphasis on students who live in low-income homes, have an identified
disability, are English Learners, are homeless or in foster care, and/or are racial and
ethnic minorities, is both a matter of being as prepared as possible for an unknown
future and, more importantly, a matter of equity – so that every child can access
digital high-quality, rigorous learning opportunities led by a licensed Illinois teacher
and supported by their families.
5. Funding for non-eligible entities
Use: ISBE will allocate approximately $685,000 to the following entities: Non-eligible
Title I LEAs, Area Vocational Centers, Special Education Joint Agreement
Cooperatives, and Regional Office of Education Alternative School Programs.
Rationale: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is felt across Illinois in all sectors of
industry and education. There are 177 educational entities that serve P-12 students
that are not eligible to receive funding from the 90 percent of ESSER funds identified
for this purpose. To this end, ISBE will fund the following entities: Non-eligible Title I
LEAs, Area Vocational Centers, Special Education Joint Agreement Cooperatives,
and Regional Office of Education Alternative School Programs at $19 per enrolled
student. The per student amount is based upon is based upon student enrollment on
March 16, 2020 as is at the minimum per pupil amount allocated to the least
resourced Title I Eligible LEA.
6. SEA Administration
Use: ISBE will use $2,847,336 for the purposes of SEA Administration. In particular,
funds will be allocated for two purposes. First, funding will purchase devices and
connectivity (e.g., air card) for ISBE staff to work remotely ($420,025). The remaining
$2,284,994 will support the continuity of operations while staff is required to work
remotely.
Rationale: The COVID-19 national emergency and state disaster proclamation
coupled with the quick response in March from ISBE and its staff in moving into
remote work demonstrated the nimbleness of ISBE as an organization. However, the
quick transition from office to remote work also identified areas in which ISBE was not
as well prepared. The uncertainty of the future in respects to COVID-19 nationally and
in Illinois, require that ISBE take steps to ensure operations can continue should
remote work become necessary in the 2020-2021 school year. The use of SEA
Administration funds in the ways identified above create the greatest likelihood of a
smooth transition between office and remote work as well as the seamless
continuation of services to the field.
