Tenured Teacher Dismissal in Illinois: The Effects of Senate Bill 7.

摘要

Legislation in the form of Senate Bill 7/PERA was implemented in Illinois to change the way teachers were evaluated in order to dismiss under-performing teachers and positively affect student achievement. This study sought to explore and define whether or not the legislation itself had improved the administrators' ability to remove tenured teachers who had shown to have been of substandard quality through newly-enacted legislation. The study utilized a causal-comparative methodology and sought to define those variables that are affiliated with dismissal rates in Illinois school districts. A review of the literature regarding the history of tenure, its social and political implications, how teachers attained tenure, associated problems, and a review of educational reform are included. Data were collected by surveying 856 school districts in Illinois, with 273 administrators responding, representing approximately 32% of the total districts. The variables analyzed were rate of dismissal overall, as well as the rate of dismissal in regards to gender, region, type of district, length of tenure, and discipline (subject taught). No significant results were found for any of the researched variables. Comments are made regarding the results and the effects of the legislation on the overall evaluation of tenured teachers and those effects on dismissal.