You can think of recognition status as a statement of how well a school or school district complies with the legal requirements established for them. There are many state and federal laws for school districts and the public schools they oversee. These laws cover many different topics, such as collecting and maintaining student records, conducting regular building safety inspections, adopting various policies (like a bullying policy), adhering to nondiscriminatory practices, and more. The Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Association of Regional School Superintendents have jointly created a monitoring tool that includes the most critical health and safety, nondiscrimination, and instructional requirements for schools and school districts. Each year the 35 Regional Offices of Education (ROEs) and the three Cook County Intermediate Service Centers (ISCs) outside the city of Chicago use this monitoring tool to evaluate their districts and recommend a recognition status for each district and each school within their region. ISBE then assigns each school and school district a recognition status based upon the ROE/ISC recommendations and any other information ISBE has regarding compliance with applicable legal requirements. Recognition statuses can be changed at any time if a school or school district corrects a compliance issue or if ISBE becomes aware of some new compliance violation.
What are the different recognition status options, and what do they mean?
Fully Recognized – A district or school complies with all legal requirements that are evaluated as part of the annual recognition process, and ISBE has not verified any significant compliance violations outside of that process.
Recognized Pending Further Review – A district or school is not currently meeting some legal requirement, but the problems are not serious enough to place the district or school On Probation. In addition, these problems can be fixed quickly by the district or school. For example, a district may have this status because it has adopted a policy but has not posted it on its website as required by law.
On Probation – A district or school can be placed On Probation if it:
- creates a health hazard or a danger to students or staff;
- fails to offer required coursework;
- employs personnel who lack the required qualifications and who are not in the process of attaining such qualifications;
- fails or refuses to serve students according to relevant legal and regulatory requirements; or
- prolongs or repeats instances of noncompliance to a degree that indicates an intention not to comply with relevant requirements.
A district or school that is placed On Probation must submit a Corrective Action Plan to ISBE that describes how these problems will be fixed and by when.
Nonrecognized – If a district or school that is On Probation fails to submit an approvable Corrective Action Plan within the timeline required or fails to implement the plan in the way that it said it would, ISBE's Board can vote to nonrecognize the district or school.
How is recognition status determined?
ROEs and ISCs routinely visit districts and schools to evaluate how well they are meeting the requirements for recognition. Each year, each ROE and ISC submits a recommendation for the recognition status of all districts and schools within their region to the Illinois State Board of Education. ISBE then reviews the recommendations, makes final determinations, and assigns a recognition status to all districts and schools in the state.
In some situations, the state superintendent also may change a district's or school's recognition status after it has been assigned if there is new information to show that the district or school is not meeting some legal requirement or has corrected some deficiency.
What laws or rules govern recognition?
ISBE has the power and duty to set requirements for how public schools and districts should operate and assign recognition statuses, according to
105 ILCS 5/2-3.25 and
5/2-3.25b. The full description and legal requirements for recognition are explained in
23 Ill Admin. Code 1.20.
