Thank you, Dr. Ayala, for Your Commitment to Equity and Students

As we and others reflect on Dr. Carmen Ayala’s contributions to Illinois schools, we want to celebrate her abiding commitment to equity throughout her career and as State Superintendent. Dr. Ayala has championed culturally-responsive curriculum, transformed hiring strategies wherever she has worked, fought for equitable funding, and pushed to strengthen and increase the diversity of our state’s educator workforce. Her equity continuum speaks volumes.   

On Dr. Ayala’s last day as State Superintendent of Education, we want to spotlight her work to diversify the educator pipeline. When she stepped into her role at ISBE, she made elevating educators a central tenet of the agency’s strategic plan. At a time when teacher shortages could have worsened due to COVID-19, the need to prioritize recruiting excellent educators to support and engage students and drive learning and achievement couldn’t have been greater. Dr. Ayala and her team put into action both short-term and systemic strategies to increase the recruitment of teachers of color, increase the teaching workforce overall, and ensure every teacher had improved preparation to support student learning. 

Marshalling both state and federal Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) funds as well as key partnerships, Dr. Ayala and her team have implemented a set of comprehensive strategies to support educators at multiple points in the pipeline, including: 

… Increasing investments in Illinois’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) Education Career Pathways program and Educator Rising to engage and support high school students with an interest in the teaching profession, supporting them to take steps into that career path and earn credentials to smooth their entry into the field—and earn more scholarship dollars along the way! 

... Launching a statewide teacher mentoring program to support new educators in their first two years of teaching; 

... Creating grants to cover tuition for current educators to earn bilingual licensure;  

… Funding school districts to enhance recruitment and retention of special education teachers; 

… Working with Educator Preparation Programs to recruit more diverse candidates into their programs and the field; 

… In partnership with ROE 51 and Teach Plus, creating affinity groups for teachers of color, to increase the system’s support and retention of minority teachers; 

… Advocating for additional funds for the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula so that districts have a stable source of state funds to hire, develop, and compensate educators;  

Importantly, this work is making a real difference!  

The state has been adding teaching positions without increasing its vacancy rate. And while vacancies in high-need areas and positions continue, and we need to increase the number of candidates competing for positions, this is good news.  

And just recently, the Education Trust, a national civil rights organization, recognized Illinois as a national leader in teacher diversity policies. According to EdTrust, our state is leading in three of five areas critical to a comprehensive approach to teacher diversity: having established clear goals, collected and made transparent actionable data at the state and district level, and established targeted recruitment programs and policies.   

The recent public recognition of Illinois’—and Dr. Ayala’s—leadership is as encouraging as it is deserved. Congratulations to the many leaders who have worked to strengthen and diversify the state’s teaching force, and thank you, Dr. Ayala, for your unswerving commitment to equity and children throughout your tenure as State Superintendent.