Visiting international teachers begin work in Kankakee Dist. 111

KANKAKEE — Twenty-six visiting international teachers hailing from four countries started their jobs in Kankakee School District 111 this week as school resumed from winter break.

Coming from the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guyana and the Philippines, the teachers were recruited through a partnership with We Dare to Teach and Peoria Public School District 150.

We Dare to Teach is a program that connects qualified international teachers with U.S. schools facing teacher shortages, particularly in special education, according to its website.

The Kankakee School Board OK’d the international hires during its December board meeting, when the candidates were present and welcomed via Zoom.

Less than half of the international candidates who went through the interview process were ultimately hired to work in District 111.

James Henderson, interim assistant superintendent of human resources, said the Peoria school district is a private sponsor helping to ensure compliance with U.S. Department of State’s exchange program regulations.

“They are all certified and highly qualified,” Henderson said of the international teachers selected for Kankakee. “These individuals have at least 12 years of experience, and this is a rigorous program.”

Kankakee Superintendent Teresa Lance said the international teachers were hired as part of her efforts to increase the district’s number of licensed teachers.

At the end of the 2023-24 school year, 37% of the district’s teaching staff were not licensed teachers, compared to 4% across the state of Illinois, according to a district news release.

“[This] is more than a 30% difference and is not aligned with best practices for ensuring our students receive high-quality instruction,” Lance said in the release.

The district has been able to hire instructors — those who aren’t licensed to teach, but possess other degrees and relevant work experience in their content area — since 2018 through its competency-based education waiver with the state of Illinois.

Lance is also implementing a requirement for all non-certified instructors to become certified.

The process will vary based on each instructors’ transcript, as some are already pursuing licensure and might be close to meeting the requirement, Lance said.

Some are slated to be fully licensed by the next school year.

Lance noted the district would use some funds from its teacher vacancy grant to help instructors in pursuing licensure.

“That number (of instructors) will continue to decrease, and the number of certified teachers will increase,” she said. “So, you know this notion that there are no teachers out there? Well, we just proved that false.”

The visiting international teachers will be assigned to Edison, Taft, King, Kennedy, Kankakee Junior High School and Kankakee High School.

Edison and KJHS were selected because of their comprehensive status on the Illinois School Report Card, which means the schools were identified as underperforming in the state’s assessments.

King, Kennedy and KHS were identified due to their high percentages of instructors working in the buildings.

The schools were also selected to ensure all special education staff are certified, the news release stated.

The district plans to pair more than one dozen instructors with one of its visiting international teachers. Parents are asked to contact their school principals directly to determine if their child’s classroom would be receiving one of the teachers.

Kelly Gilbert, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said the district would be using a “scaffolded approach” to acclimating the international teachers over their first month.

“We have just as much to learn from them as they do from us and our students,” Gilbert said.

Their first week was set to include a welcome to the community and orientation to the school district.

Their second week will include classroom orientation and meeting the teachers, principals and staff they will be working with.

Their third and fourth weeks will include being gradually released into a co-teaching orientation. From there, they will continue with the ongoing mentoring program for all new district staff.

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