Section 50.400  School District-Developed Prequalification Process or Retraining Program

Section 24A-3 of the School Code requires that an individual who conducts evaluations of teachers, principals, or assistant principals after September 1, 2012 be prequalified before undertaking any evaluations and participates in a regularly scheduled retraining program, either of which must be developed or approved by the State Board of Education.  In order to ensure that a school district-developed prequalification process or retraining program meets the rigor of the State Board of Education-developed trainings, any prequalification process or retraining program developed and used by a school district shall, at a minimum, meet the requirements of this Subpart E.  The State Board will display the completion of the required training in the educator's ELIS account.

a)         Prequalification Process

1)         Beginning September 1, 2012, an evaluator shall not conduct a performance evaluation of a teacher, principal, or assistant principal unless the evaluator has successfully completed the prequalification process and passed the State-developed assessment specific to rating professional practice.

2)         Beginning on a school district's applicable implementation date, as set forth in Section 50.20, or by an earlier implementation date as determined by the school district and its teachers, or exclusive bargaining representative, as applicable (see Section 50.20(g)), an evaluator shall not conduct a performance evaluation of a teacher, principal, or assistant principal that addresses student growth unless the evaluator has successfully completed the prequalification process for student growth and passed the State-developed assessment specific to the consideration of data and indicators of student growth.

b)         A school district shall ensure that each qualified evaluator completes the retraining program at least once every five fiscal years.  (See Section 24A-3 of the School Code.) 

1)         An individual who has not completed the retraining program, as required, by the applicable timeline shall be ineligible to conduct evaluations until the retraining program is completed.

2)         An individual who will be evaluating teachers in a school district that implements a performance evaluation system beginning September 1, 2015 or later shall be required to successfully complete a retraining program specific to professional practice of teachers before conducting any performance evaluations of teachers. 

c)         A school district developing its own prequalification process or retraining program shall notify the State Board of Education no later than the July 1 immediately preceding the school year in which the process or program will be implemented.  The notification shall at least include the type of training to be offered, names of the individuals presenting the training, and date upon which each school district-designated trainer completed the "train-the-trainers" program offered by, or on behalf of, the State Board of Education.

(Source:  Amended at 46 Ill. Reg. 8142, effective May 2, 2022)