Illinois Has Eliminated The School Code’s Mandate That Teacher And Principal Evaluations Include Student Growth As A Factor In Rating Performance

On June 30, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed into law Public Act 104-0020 which amends Article 24A of the Illinois School Code and upends a major component of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (“PERA”) that governs teacher and principal evaluations. Effective July 1, 2025, teacher and principal evaluations no longer are required to incorporate the use of data and indicators on student growth as a factor in rating teacher and principal performance. For the last decade, PERA required that such student growth comprise a “significant factor” in rating teacher and principal performance.

Notably, the new legislation does not prohibit the use of student growth in evaluation plans. Moving forward, school districts may continue to incorporate student growth into these evaluation plans at their discretion. For teacher evaluations, continuing to include student growth in the evaluation plan requires “good faith cooperation” with the PERA joint committee, as has been annually required since PERA’s inception.

For some school districts, teacher evaluation plans are incorporated to some extent into  a collective bargaining agreement. Modifying the plan to eliminate or reduce the student growth component may have collective bargaining implications requiring careful review. We encourage you to work with your legal counsel to ensure the appropriate process is followed.