Section 50.310  Student Growth Components

Each school district shall provide for the use in the performance evaluation plan of data and indicators on student growth as a significant factor in rating principal or, as applicable, assistant principal performance.  (Sections 24A-15 and 34-8 of the School Code)  For the purpose of this Subpart D, "significant factor" shall represent at least 30 percent of the performance evaluation rating assigned, except as otherwise provided in subsection (a).

a)         Student growth shall represent at least 25 percent of a principal's or assistant principal's performance evaluation rating in the first and second years of a school district's implementation of a performance evaluation system under Section 50.20 (for example, 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years for a school district with a 2012-2013 implementation date).  Thereafter, student growth shall represent at least 30 percent of the rating assigned.

b)         No later than October 1 of each school year, the qualified evaluator shall inform the principal or assistant principal of the assessments and, for the assessments identified, the measurement models and targets to be used.  The qualified evaluator shall specify the weights of each assessment and target to be used.

1)         The school district shall identify at least two assessments, either from Type I or Type II, which are able to provide data that meet the definition of student growth as set forth in Section 50.30. 

A)        A State assessment administered under Section 2-3.64a-5 of the School Code may be one of the assessments to be used for determining student growth and shall be considered to be a Type I assessment.

B)        Type III assessments may be used for schools serving a majority of students who are not administered a Type I or Type II assessment.  In these situations, the qualified evaluator and principal may identify at least two Type III assessments to be used to determine student growth.

C)        CPS may adopt the State assessments administered pursuant to Section 2-3.64a-5 of the School Code as its sole measure of student growth for purposes of principal evaluations.  (Section 24A-7 of the School Code)  In circumstances in which the school district determines that the State assessment is not appropriate for measuring student growth, it shall identify other assessments to be used in the manner prescribed in this Section.

2)         Individual assessment results of any student shall be included in the student growth measurement model, provided that the student has been enrolled in the school for a period of time sufficient for the student to have results from at least two points in time on a comparable assessment.  For instance, a student would be included if that student had results from the two most recently administered State assessments or results from an assessment administered at the beginning of a school term and again at mid-year.

3)         The results from the most recent administration of a selected assessment shall be used as the ending point at which the level of student growth is calculated.

c)         For an assistant principal, a qualified evaluator may select student growth measures that align to the individual's specific duties (e.g., improvements in attendance, decrease in disciplinary referrals). 

d)         The school district shall consider how certain student characteristics (e.g., special education placement, English learners, low-income populations) shall be used for each assessment and target chosen to ensure that they best measure the impact that a principal, school and school district have on students' academic achievement.  (Section 24A-7 of the School Code)

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