Download My name is Catherine Main and I am a faculty member of the

My name is Catherine Main and I am a faculty member of the College of Education at the
University of Illinois at Chicago. I am also currently the President of the Illinois Association of
Early Childhood Teacher Educators (ILAECTE). For three years many members of our
organization were actively involved in grade band licensing restructuring process and the
development of the Illinois Standards for Early Childhood Educators. On their behalf, I am here
to comment on the pending recommendation to move Kindergarten back into the Elementary
Education endorsement grade span.
The members of ILAECTE are a group of professionals with expansive expertise in the
development and teaching of young children and the preparation of teachers who work with
children. We oppose the recommendation to move Kindergarten back in elementary education
grade span and instead strongly support the continuation of the approved policy that the
preparation of Kindergarten teachers in the state of Illinois is exclusively part of Early Childhood
teacher preparation programs.
Our decision is grounded in our collective expertise and experiences as well as the vast research
and knowledge base of what is best for young children at the time of school entry and what is
most likely to have the greatest impact on student outcomes. We’ve also reviewed the data
available to us regarding supply and demand of highly qualified early childhood teachers. Our
review of the data didn’t reveal any particular concern for shortages in teachers endorsed in
early childhood and as field we’ve been actively working on pipeline issues, particularly around
recruitment and transfer between two- and four-year institutions all across the state.
Accurate supply and demand data aside, I am sure that all of you are well aware of the
tremendous impact high quality early childhood programs can have on student achievement
and success as well as the other societal and economic benefits. What you may not know,
however, is that in order for our schools, communities, and our state as a whole to reap the
promised benefits of early childhood programs, the programs must meet a certain threshold of
quality. Quality matters and a key indicator of quality is specialized teacher training in early
childhood education.
The data from the preschool fade out studies is clear and the research on what makes a high
quality early childhood teacher is conclusive. There is a very specific set of competencies that
teachers of young children need in order to be effective. These competencies include, but are
not limited to, deep knowledge and understanding of child development, including language
and social-emotional development, a pedagogy that encompasses the critical and distinct roles
of the environment, play, peers, and adults in children’s learning and development as well as
specific pedagogy in content areas of math, literacy, science etc, and the necessity to connect
and build meaningful partnerships with families. You can find a more expansive lists of these in
NAEYC guidelines for preparation of early childhood educators, the recently released seminal
IOM/NAS report on Transforming for the Workforce, and our own Illinois Standards for Early
Childhood Teachers.
Where you won’t find them in any robust way is in the Illinois standards for Elementary
Educators. Many of you are secondary education teachers. Could you imagine a social studies
teacher approved by the state to teach physics? Just as we know that content knowledge in
physics matters for teaching physics, content knowledge in how young children learn and
develop matters for teaching young children. Why don’t our youngest school age children
deserve teachers with specialized, content expertise? I ask you to consider these questions
because that it what is at stake today.
I would also remiss to not mention the tragic impact this resolution could potentially have on
the state’s effort to strengthen school leadership’s understanding and integration of early
childhood education. The work in the state to include early childhood in principal preparation
is monumental and ground-breaking. The resolution to move Kindergarten back into the
elementary endorsement grade band sets that work back. My colleague, Dr. Shelby Cosner,
Associate Profession of Educational Policy Studies and coordinator of the nationally-recognized
Urban Leadership program at UIC in her letter to state points out that that having Kindergarten
exclusively in the ECE endorsement compels elementary school leaders to consider
Kindergarten as specialized teaching. This is significant. It’s the other side of the coin, instead
of looking at this requirement as a constraint constraint for school administrators, it’s an
opportunity for growth and change. It’s policy lever that we can use focus school leaders on
early childhood education. It requires the attention of the school leader on Kindergarten, it
guarantee at least one high qualified early childhood educator in every elementary school, and
it ends detrimental practice of moving the ineffective elementary school teacher to the
Kindergarten room
While we fully acknowledge that on the surface and on the ground it may seem inefficient and
limiting in principal’s flexibility around hiring and teaching assignments and these things are
real challenges for school leaders but isn’t the trade off worth it? Who are we as a state if we
trade administrative ease of hiring and flexibility for what is best for young children and
ultimately student outcomes?
From our point of view, passage of the resolution to move Kindergarten back into the
elementary education endorsement will result in one of two possible scenarios 1) the board
acknowledges the research and solid knowledge base specifying the specific competencies
Kindergarten teachers must hold in order for our schools, communities, and state to reap the
benefits quality early childhood education has to offer and then revises the standards for
elementary education teachers to include them and then require the poorly funded, overstretched higher faculty and administrators to redesign again. On behalf of our colleagues in
elementary education and administrators at our respective institutions, this scenario is
unacceptable. Scenario 2, the board chooses to ignore the compelling science, research, and
knowledge base regarding what effective early childhood teachers need to know and be able to
do and we can continue on a path where our early intervention and preschool benefits fadeout, Kindergarten continues to be the grade with one of the highest levels of school suspension,
and our third grade reading and math achievement levels remain unsatisfactory. Speaking on
behalf of young children and their families, our schools and our communities this scenario is
also completely unacceptable. Hopefully there is another scenario, we maintain the decision
made in light of the evidence regarding competencies for Early Childhood teachers, approved
by both ECAG and EMAG, recommended by the P-20 council, vetted and approved into rule and
we focus on pipeline and supply issues for those communities that need it and we support any
school leaders challenged by the lack of flexibility in teaching assignments.
Finally, I promised my colleagues that I would address the issue of communication. We are
deeply puzzled that issue with such broad range implications, on a topic that was so heavily and
heatedly debated just a couple of years ago would come up for a resolution without anyone
knowing about it.
We respectfully request that you advise the agency to engage in a communication strategy that
includes all stakeholders who have expertise, interest, and commitment to our children and
their families. On behalf of ILAECTE, we deeply appreciate your attention to this issue.
Thank you