GOP members hope to block new Illinois teacher standards SPRINGFIELD — Republican Illinois state lawmakers are pushing back on proposed new standards for teachers and administrators that are scheduled for a hearing before a legislative rulemaking committee later this month. Supporters of the proposed “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” say they’re merely an attempt to
GOP members hope to block new Illinois teacher standards
SPRINGFIELD — Republican Illinois state lawmakers are pushing back on proposed new standards for teachers and administrators that are scheduled for a hearing before a legislative rulemaking committee later this month.
Supporters of the proposed “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” say they’re merely an attempt to make sure that all educators are trained in ways to reach students across all racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. But critics are calling them a form of political indoctrination that seeks to inject partisan, liberal ideology into the classroom.
The new standards would apply to teacher training programs at Illinois colleges and universities rather than K-12 school curricula. They are scheduled to come up for legislative review on Tuesday before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, or JCAR, a legislative body that has oversight authority over state regulatory agencies.
If approved, the standards would take effect in October 2025 in order to give state-approved educator preparation programs ample time to incorporate them, according to a statement from the Illinois State Board of Education.
ISBE also noted it will “offer optional professional development on the standards to current educators,” but school districts “maintain local control over what professional development they choose.”
During a virtual news conference Monday, three Republican House members said they hope JCAR will block the adoption of the proposed rules.
“You know, across the country and around the world, we’ve seen politics be injected in more and more parts of our lives. And the litmus test of ‘is someone progressive enough or not’ has come up time and time again,” said Rep. Tom Demmer, R-Dixon. “Unfortunately, the rule that’s being offered by the state board of education today, around culturally responsive teaching standards, is really just an attempt to impose further progressive politics into our education system, instead of focusing on the things that we know teachers, administrators, students and families across Illinois need.”
Demmer was joined in the news conference by GOP Reps. Steven Reick, of Woodstock, and Adam Niemerg, of Dieterich. Demmer and Reick both serve on JCAR.
Reick pointed specifically to a portion of the new standards that call on teachers to “understand and value the notion that multiple lived experiences exist, that there is not one ‘correct’ way of doing or understanding something, and that what is seen as ‘correct’ is most often based on our lived experiences.”
He also pointed to another provision calling on teachers to “(a)ssess how their biases and perceptions affect their teaching practice and how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.)”
Another provision calls on educators to “(b)e aware of the effects of power and privilege and the need for social advocacy and social action to better empower diverse students and communities.”
“Let’s be clear. This rule is not an improvement to education,” Reick said. “It’s an attempt to interject politics into the classroom. The standards that ISBE wants to impose are beyond misguided. Requiring certain political viewpoints in our school systems is simply unacceptable.”
JCAR is a 12-member group that is evenly divided between House and Senate members and between Democrats and Republicans. Its main function is to review proposed agency rules to make sure they do not conflict with state law and to make sure administrative rules reflect the General Assembly’s intent when it passed a law authorizing such rules.
In most cases, the panel makes a finding of “no objection,” meaning the agency is free to adopt the final rule. Occasionally, when JCAR members have some concerns about a proposed rule, they will vote to make a “recommendation” that the agency go back and clarify a point or tighten up its language.
But JCAR also has authority to issue an “objection” to a proposed rule if enough members believe it is inconsistent with state law, that it would have an adverse economic impact on small businesses, municipalities or nonprofit organizations, or that it fails to meet some standard or requirement of the Illinois Administrative Procedures Act.
An objection may also be accompanied by a “prohibition” against adopting a proposed rule if JCAR believes it constitutes a threat to the public interest, safety or welfare.
An objection or prohibition, however, requires a vote of at least eight of the 12 members. That means even if all six Republicans voted to object, they would still need at least two Democrats to go along.
Carmen Ayala, the state superintendent of education, defended the proposed rules, arguing that they are intended to help address the wide achievement gaps between different racial and ethnic student groups.
“Culturally responsive teaching and leading helped me improve the reading and math skills of every one of our student groups when I was a district superintendent and to achieve double digit growth among my students of color,” Ayala said in a statement. “Cultural responsiveness is inclusive of all of the experiences our educators, students, and families bring to the classroom.”
The state of Illinois administers standardized tests each year in English language arts and math to students in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school.
According to scores from the 2019 tests, the most recent scores available, only 37.4 percent of all students met or exceeded the state’s standards for English language arts. That included 47.7 percent of all white students but only 25.6 percent of Hispanic students and 17.7 percent of Black students.
In math, only 32 percent of all students met or exceeded the state’s standards, including 41.7 percent of white students, 20.4 percent of Hispanic students and 11.8 percent of Black students.
Republicans at Monday’s news conference said that’s an indication that schools need to focus more on teaching basic reading, writing and math skills, not on cultural sensitivity lessons. But Ayala argued that the two go hand-in-hand.
“As we help students recover from learning loss due to the pandemic, giving our teachers opportunities to learn about effective, equitable, and research-based strategies like cultural responsiveness could not be more important,” she said. “Every student deserves to feel welcomed, included, and accepted at school. Students are more engaged when they see their cultures represented in what they learn at school.”
The 24 most unique town names in Illinois
Unusual town names in Illinois
We’ve got nothing but love for odd town names, because we are the home of Normal, after all. Some of these names are silly, others are simple, and all of them have pun potential.
Goofy Ridge
Let’s start with the town that actually has humor in its name. According to Wikipedia, the area was originally called “The Ridge,” a camp near the river bank. After some serious drinking one night, a local game warden said he wasn’t too drunk to shoot a walnut off the head of a volunteer. Naturally, someone was drunk enough to volunteer. The game warden placed the tiny target on the volunteer’s head, aimed his .22 rifle, and shot the nut right off. This caper was called by a witness “one damned goofy thing to do,” and the camp was ever after known as Goofy Ridge. (Wikipedia)
Normal
Normal was laid out with the name North Bloomington on June 7, 1854 by Joseph Parkinson. The town was renamed to Normal in February 1865 and officially incorporated on February 25, 1867. The name was taken from Illinois State Normal University—called a “normal school,” as it was a teacher-training institution. It has since been renamed Illinois State University after becoming a general four-year university. (Wikipedia)
Birds
Birds is an unincorporated community in Lawrence County. According to Wikipedia, a Birds resident named Bob Rose became the “most distinguished Reggie Redbird mascot at Illinois State University in 1978.” Rose is quoted as saying, “As a boy growing up in Birds, I always dreamed of being the most famous of all Illinois birds, the Redbird. I remember feeling very homesick when I arrived at Illinois State. But, the first time I became Reggie, I felt I could take my Birds nest anywhere and feel at home. I thank Birds for inspiring me to take on the challenge of being Reggie and for allowing me to spread my wings and fly.” (Wikipedia)
Oblong
Oblong is a village in Crawford County. Incorporated in 1883, the village was originally a crossroads; when the village decided to incorporate, it was named after a rectangular prairie on the outskirts of the community. (Wikipedia)
Beardstown
Beardstown is a city in Cass County. The population was 6,123 at the 2010 census.
Beardstown was first settled by Thomas Beard in 1819; he erected a log cabin at the edge of the Illinois River, from which he traded with the local Native Americans and ran a ferry. The town was laid out in 1827 and was incorporated as a city in 1896.
The town is also the site of famous Lincoln/Douglas debate at the Beardstown Courthouse. A Lincoln Museum is on the second floor of the courthouse along with many Native American relics. (Wikipedia)
Muddy
Muddy is a small incorporated village located in the Harrisburg Township in Saline County. It was built as a coal mining village to house miners working in O’gara #12 mine located on the north bank of the Saline River. Until 2002, it held the smallest post office in the United States. (Wikipedia)
Sandwich
Sandwich is a city in DeKalb, Kendall, and LaSalle counties. Politician “Long John” Wentworth named it after his home of Sandwich, New Hampshire.
Sandwich is the home of the Sandwich Fair, which first started as an annual livestock show in DeKalb County. Held yearly, the Wednesday–Sunday after Labor Day since 1888, it is one of the oldest continuing county fairs in the state of Illinois, drawing daily crowds of more than 100,000, with the top attendance days reaching more than 200,000 fair-goers. (Wikipedia)
Other Illinois towns with unique nouns for names: Bath, Diamond, Energy, Equality, Flora, Justice, Liberty, Magnolia, and Pearl.
Ransom
Ransom is a village in LaSalle County. It was a planned community; ads were placed in the Streator Monitor as early as 1876 calling for shopkeepers, craftsmen, and tradesmen to locate and set up shop in the area. In 1885, the village of Ransom was officially incorporated. The village was named for American Civil War General Thomas E.G. Ransom, who was born in Vermont but lived as a young man in Illinois. (Wikipedia)
Standard
Standard is a village in Putnam County. The population was 220 at the 2010 census.
Normal is another Illinois town with a rather average name.
Cairo
Cairo is the southernmost city in Illinois. Generally pronounced care-o by natives and kay-ro by others, it’s located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers—this part of Illinois is known as Little Egypt. (Wikipedia)
Other Illinois towns with international names include Athens, Belgium, Canton, Columbia, Crete, Havana, Palestine, Panama, Paris, Peru, Rome, and Venice.
And there are plenty of other U.S. towns named Cairo—they’re located in Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and West Virginia.
Wyoming
Wyoming is a city in Stark County. It was founded on May 3, 1836 by General Samuel Thomas, a veteran of the War of 1812. He and many of the other early settlers came from the state of Pennsylvania. It is for the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania that the city is named. (Wikipedia)
Other Illinois towns that share names with U.S. states include Kansas, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia.
Golf
Golf is a village in Cook County. The community is primarily residential, and has a dedicated police department, post office, and Metra train stop; it has a total area of 0.45 square miles. (Wikipedia)
Aside from Golf, there is also a town named Polo in Illinois—that makes two towns that share names with sports. Golf and Polo are also Volkswagen vehicle models. Two other Illinois towns that share names with auto makers are Plymouth and Pontiac.
Boody
Boody is an unincorporated census-designated place in Macon County. As of the 2010 census, it has a population of 276.
Mechanicsburg
Mechanicsburg is a village in Sangamon County. The population was 456 at the 2000 census. (Wikipedia)
There are a few other Illinois towns that share their names with occupations, including Farmer City, Mason City, Piper City, Prophetstown, and Carpentersville.
Hometown
Hometown is a city in Cook County. It was developed after World War II, targeting former GIs and their families. It borders the city of Chicago along 87th Street between Cicero Avenue and Pulaski Road.
Time
Time is a village in Pike County. The population was 29 at the 2000 census.
Royal
Royal is a village in Champaign County. The population was 293 at the 2010 census.
Benld
Benld is a city in Macoupin County. Founded in 1903, the name derives from founder Benjamin L. Dorsey. Dorsey was responsible for gaining the land on which the town was built and coal mining rights. When it came time to name the village, he took the combination of his first name and his middle and last initial.
On September 29, 1938, a meteorite landed in Benld, marking only the third meteorite landing in Illinois since records were kept. The meteorite was also one of the few known meteorites to strike a man-made object, punching a hole in the roof of a man’s garage and embedding itself in the seat of his 1928 Pontiac Coupe. A neighbor was standing about 50 feet from the impact and may be the individual who came closest to being struck by a meteorite in history up to that time. The meteorite and portions of the car are now on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. (Wikipedia)
Bone Gap
Bone Gap is a village in Edwards County. French trappers knew this area before it was permanently settled. They referred to it as “Bon Pas,” which translates to “good step.” Kentuckians modified the name to “Bone Pass,” as though it were a “pass” through a mountain range. This was then changed to “Bone Gap.”
An alternative story about the origin of Bone Gap’s name involves a small band of Piankashaw Indians who established a village in a gap in the trees a short distance east of present day Bone Gap. Several years later early American settlers found a pile of bones discarded by the Indians near their encampment-hence the name Bone Gap as given to the white man’s village established about the 1830s. (Wikipedia)
Equality
Equality is a village in Gallatin County. The population was 721 at the 2000 census.
Industry
Industry is a village in McDonough County. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 540.
Joy
Joy is a village in Mercer County. The population was 373 at the 2000 census.
Mineral
Mineral is a village in Bureau County. The population was 237 at the 2010 census, down from 272 people in 2000.
The area in which Mineral is located was first settled in the early 1830s. The land just south of the current village was found to be ripe with coal, hence the town’s name. (Wikipedia)
Lost Nation
Lost Nation is an unincorporated census-designated place in Ogle County. It’s located south of the city of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, its population was 708.
There is another Lost Nation located in Iowa, 95 miles due west.
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