Bill Text: IL SR0232 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Illinois school districts to add additional time to the school day and/or school year, beginning in the School Year 2021-22 and for the next three years, to help all students address the unprecedented need brought on by the COVID-19 learning disruption.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-06-01 - Resolution Adopted [SR0232 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-SR0232-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, All students, educators, and families in Illinois | ||||||
3 | have been deeply affected by COVID-19 in
ways that will be felt | ||||||
4 | for years to come; and
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5 | WHEREAS, The pandemic has laid bare systemic inequities in | ||||||
6 | American society and has
disproportionately impacted Black and | ||||||
7 | Latinx students, students from low-income households, English
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8 | Learners, and students with special needs; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Even prior to COVID-19, Illinois students faced | ||||||
10 | significant unmet academic and social-emotional
needs; and
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11 | WHEREAS, Since March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has | ||||||
12 | forced districts to disrupt traditional in-person
learning and | ||||||
13 | educator professional development, and schools have been | ||||||
14 | implementing
variations of in-person, hybrid, and remote | ||||||
15 | learning models; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Research suggests that the disrupted schooling | ||||||
17 | over the past year, left unaddressed, will
impact students' | ||||||
18 | academic and social-emotional learning and development and | ||||||
19 | will disproportionally
impact historically underserved | ||||||
20 | students' educational and lifelong outcomes; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The path to recovery for Illinois students | ||||||
2 | requires a commitment to address their academic,
emotional, | ||||||
3 | and mental health needs and requires adults in the State of | ||||||
4 | Illinois to provide our children
with stronger, more systemic | ||||||
5 | supports and interventions; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Teachers and administrators will need additional | ||||||
7 | time to plan and adapt practice to best
support student needs; | ||||||
8 | and
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9 | WHEREAS, Both research and practice indicate that adding | ||||||
10 | time to the school day and/or year can have
a meaningful | ||||||
11 | positive impact on student outcomes; and
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12 | WHEREAS, To be most effective, this additional time needs | ||||||
13 | to be of both a sufficient quantity and
quality, including | ||||||
14 | engaging instructional and enrichment time for students and | ||||||
15 | planning and
collaboration time for educators; and
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16 | WHEREAS, There are meaningful equity considerations that | ||||||
17 | schools and districts must consider in how they
elect to add | ||||||
18 | additional time to the school day and/or school year so that no | ||||||
19 | student or group of
students is excluded or faces opportunity | ||||||
20 | gaps; and
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21 | WHEREAS, Illinois school districts have received |
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1 | significant federal stimulus dollars to address both the
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2 | COVID-19 related immediate and recovery needs of students, and | ||||||
3 | extended time is an allowable use for
these funds; and
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4 | WHEREAS, Absent additional time, in order to provide the | ||||||
5 | needed academic and social-emotional
supports, schools may be | ||||||
6 | forced to eliminate or decrease time and support for | ||||||
7 | enrichment
opportunities or focus on a subset of content | ||||||
8 | instead of the breadth and depth of knowledge the State and
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9 | Illinois institutions of higher education have deemed | ||||||
10 | necessary for post-secondary success; and
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11 | WHEREAS, National and local education and civil rights | ||||||
12 | leaders, as well as state education leaders, have
advocated | ||||||
13 | for additional time as a critical strategy to address learning | ||||||
14 | disruption; therefore, be it
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15 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL | ||||||
16 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Illinois | ||||||
17 | school districts to add additional time to the school day
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18 | and/or school year, beginning in the School Year 2021-22 and | ||||||
19 | for the next three years, to help all
students address the | ||||||
20 | unprecedented need brought by the COVID-19 learning | ||||||
21 | disruption; and be it further
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22 | RESOLVED, That this additional time should be added based |
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1 | on research-based best practices, including
ensuring there are | ||||||
2 | sufficient additional minutes added to the calendar with a | ||||||
3 | focus on quality
instructional, social-emotional, and | ||||||
4 | enrichment programming; and be it further
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5 | RESOLVED, That additional consideration should be given to | ||||||
6 | the need for additional time for educators
to plan and | ||||||
7 | prepare; and be it further
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8 | RESOLVED, That districts should prioritize equity | ||||||
9 | considerations in the planning and implementation of
this | ||||||
10 | additional time, including how this time is (1) prioritized | ||||||
11 | for those schools and communities that
serve predominantly | ||||||
12 | historically underserved student populations, (2) supported by | ||||||
13 | qualified educators
and staff, (3) accessible by sufficient | ||||||
14 | transportation services and not at the exclusion of | ||||||
15 | participating in
extracurricular activities like sports, | ||||||
16 | internships and clubs, (4) inclusive of programming that takes | ||||||
17 | into
consideration the language needs and diverse learner | ||||||
18 | needs of the community's students, (5) not
prohibitive for | ||||||
19 | students based on fees, and (6) executed in partnership with | ||||||
20 | caregivers, students, and
school staff.
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