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| Public Act 098-0603
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| SB1845 Enrolled | LRB098 09595 NHT 39741 b |
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AN ACT concerning education.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Sections |
21-5b and 21-5c as follows:
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(105 ILCS 5/21-5b) |
(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2016) |
Sec. 21-5b. Alternative certification. The State Board of |
Education, in
consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board, shall
establish and implement an |
alternative certification program under which
persons who meet |
the requirements of and successfully complete the program
|
established by this Section shall be issued an alternative |
teaching certificate
for teaching in the schools. The program |
shall be
limited to not more than 260 new participants during |
each year that the program
is in effect. The State Board of |
Education, in cooperation with one or more not-for-profit |
organizations in the State that support excellence in teaching, |
which may be in partnership
with a university that offers |
4-year baccalaureate and masters degree
programs and that is a |
recognized institution as defined in Section 21B-105 of this |
Code, may within
30 days after submission by the program |
sponsor approve
a course of study developed by the program |
|
sponsor that persons
in the program must successfully complete |
in order to satisfy one
criterion for issuance of an |
alternative certificate under this Section.
The Alternative |
Teacher Certification program course of study must include |
content and skills which have been approved by the State Board |
of Education,
in consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board, as meeting the requirement
for State |
teacher certification. |
The alternative certification program established under |
this Section shall be
known as the Alternative Teacher |
Certification program. The Alternative
Teacher Certification |
Program shall be offered by the submitting partnership,
and |
such partnership may be offered by one or more not-for-profit
|
organizations in the State which support excellence in |
teaching. The program
shall be
comprised of the following 3 |
phases: (a) the first phase is the
course of study offered on |
an intensive basis in education theory,
instructional methods, |
and
practice
teaching; (b) the second phase is the person's |
assignment to a full-time
teaching position for one school |
year; and (c) the third phase is a
comprehensive assessment of |
the person's teaching performance by school
officials and the |
partnership participants
and a recommendation by the program |
sponsor to the
State Board of Education that the person be |
issued a standard alternative
teaching certificate. Successful |
completion of the Alternative Teacher
Certification program |
shall be deemed to satisfy any other
practice or student |
|
teaching and subject matter requirements established by
law. |
A provisional alternative teaching certificate, valid for |
one year of
teaching
in the common schools and not renewable, |
shall be issued under this Section
21-5b to persons who at the |
time of applying for the provisional alternative
teaching |
certificate under this Section: |
(1) have graduated from an accredited college or |
university with a
bachelor's degree; |
(2) have successfully completed the first phase of the |
Alternative Teacher
Certification program as provided in |
this Section; |
(3) have passed the tests of basic skills and subject |
matter knowledge
required by Section
21-1a; and |
(4) (i) have been employed for a period of at least 5 |
years in an area
requiring application of the individual's |
education or (ii) have attained at least a cumulative grade |
average of a "B" if the individual is assigned either to a |
school district that has not met the annual measurable |
objective for highly qualified teachers required by the |
Illinois Revised Highly Qualified Teachers (HQT) Plan or to |
a school district whose data filed with the State Board of |
Education indicates that the district's poor and minority |
students are taught by teachers who are not highly |
qualified at a higher rate than other students; however, |
this item (4)
does not apply with respect to a provisional |
alternative teaching certificate
for
teaching in schools |
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situated in a school district that is located in a city
|
having a
population in excess of 500,000 inhabitants. |
Assignment may be made under clause (ii) of this item (4) |
only if the district superintendent and the exclusive |
bargaining representative of the district's teachers, if |
any, jointly agree to permit the assignment.
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A person possessing a provisional alternative certificate |
under this Section
shall be treated as a regularly certified |
teacher for purposes of compensation,
benefits, and other terms |
and conditions of employment afforded teachers in the
school |
who are members of a bargaining unit represented by an |
exclusive
bargaining representative, if any. |
Until February 15, 2000, a standard alternative teaching |
certificate,
valid for 4 years for teaching
in the schools and |
renewable as provided in
Section 21-14, shall be
issued under |
this Section 21-5b to persons who first complete the |
requirements
for the provisional alternative teaching |
certificate
and who at the time of applying for a standard |
alternative teaching certificate
under this Section have |
successfully completed the second and third phases of
the |
Alternative Teacher Certification program as provided in this |
Section.
Alternatively, beginning February 15, 2000, at the end |
of the 4-year
validity
period,
persons who were issued a |
standard alternative teaching certificate shall be
eligible, |
on
the same basis as holders of an Initial Teaching Certificate |
issued under
subsection (b) of
Section 21-2 of this Code, to |
|
apply for a Standard Teaching Certificate,
provided they
meet |
the requirements of
subsection (c) of Section 21-2 of this Code |
and further provided that a
person who
does not
apply for and |
receive a Standard Teaching Certificate shall be able to teach
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only in
schools situated in a school district that is located |
in a city having a
population in excess
of 500,000 inhabitants. |
Beginning February 15, 2000, persons who have completed the |
requirements for
a
standard alternative teaching certificate |
under this Section shall be issued an
Initial
Alternative |
Teaching Certificate valid for 4 years of teaching and not
|
renewable. At the end of the 4-year validity period, these |
persons shall be
eligible, on the same
basis as
holders of an |
Initial Teaching Certificate issued under subsection (b) of
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Section 21-2 of
this Code, to apply for a Standard Teaching |
Certificate, provided they meet the
requirements of subsection |
(c) of Section 21-2. |
Such alternative certification program shall be |
implemented so that the first
provisional alternative teaching |
certificates issued under this Section are
effective upon the |
commencement of the 1997-1998 academic year and the first
|
standard alternative teaching certificates issued under this |
Section are
effective upon the commencement of the 1998-1999 |
academic year. |
The State Board of Education, in cooperation with the |
partnership or partnerships
establishing such Alternative |
Teacher Certification programs, shall adopt rules
and |
|
regulations that are consistent with this Section and that the |
State Board
of Education deems necessary to establish and |
implement the program. |
No one may be admitted to an alternative certification |
program under this Section after September 1, 2014 2013, and |
those alternative certification candidates who are admitted on |
or before September 1, 2014 2013 must complete their coursework |
the program before January 1, 2016 2015, except that candidates |
admitted to an alternative certification program at Governors |
State University and participants in the Teacher Quality |
Partnership Grant program must be admitted on or before March |
31, 2014, complete their coursework on or before August 31, |
2015, and be entitled to certification on or before September |
30, 2016 September 31, 2015. An The alternative certification |
program at Governors State University shall provide the State |
Board of Education with the names of the candidates who will be |
eligible for certification under this exception. |
This Section is repealed on January 1, 2017 2016. |
(Source: P.A. 97-607, eff. 8-26-11; 97-702, eff. 6-25-12; |
98-38, eff. 6-28-13.)
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(105 ILCS 5/21-5c) |
(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2016) |
Sec. 21-5c. Alternative route to teacher certification. |
The State Board
of Education, in consultation with the State |
Teacher Certification Board, shall
establish and implement one |
|
or more alternative route to teacher certification programs
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under which persons who meet the requirements of and |
successfully complete the programs
established by this Section |
shall be issued an initial teaching
certificate for teaching in |
schools in this State.
The State Board of Education may
approve |
a course of study
that persons in such programs must |
successfully complete in order to
satisfy one criterion for |
issuance of a certificate under this Section. The
Alternative |
Route to Teacher Certification programs course of study must |
include
content and skills which have been approved by the |
State Board of
Education, in consultation with the State |
Teacher Certification Board, as meeting the
requirement for |
State teacher certification. |
Programs established under this Section shall be
known as |
Alternative Route to Teacher Certification programs. The |
programs
may be offered by a university that offers 4-year |
baccalaureate and masters degree programs and that is a |
recognized institution as defined in Section 21B-105 of this |
Code, by one or more not-for-profit
organizations in the State, |
or a combination thereof. The programs shall be comprised of |
the following 3
phases: (a) a
course of study offered on an |
intensive basis in education theory,
instructional methods, |
and
practice teaching; (b) the person's assignment to a |
full-time
teaching position for one school year, including the |
designation of a
mentor teacher to advise and assist the person |
with that
teaching assignment; and (c) a comprehensive |
|
assessment of the person's
teaching performance by school |
officials and program participants
and a recommendation by the |
program sponsor to the
State Board of Education that the person |
be issued an initial
teaching certificate. Successful |
completion of Alternative Route to
Teacher
Certification |
programs shall be deemed to satisfy any other
practice or |
student teaching and subject matter requirements established |
by
law. |
A provisional alternative teaching certificate, valid for |
one year of
teaching
in the common schools and not renewable, |
shall be issued under this Section
21-5c to persons who at the |
time of applying for the provisional alternative
teaching |
certificate under this Section: |
(1) have graduated from an accredited college or |
university with a
bachelor's degree; |
(2) have been employed for a period of at least 5 years |
in an area
requiring application of the individual's |
education; |
(3) have successfully completed the first phase of the |
Alternative Teacher
Certification program as provided in |
this Section; and |
(4) have passed the tests of basic skills and subject |
matter knowledge
required by Section 21-1a. |
An initial teaching certificate, valid for teaching
in the |
common schools,
shall be
issued under Section 21-3 or 21-5 to |
persons who first complete the
requirements
for the provisional |
|
alternative teaching certificate
and who at the time of |
applying for an initial teaching certificate
have successfully |
completed the second and third phases of
the Alternative Route |
to Teacher Certification program as provided in this
Section. |
A person possessing a provisional alternative certificate |
or an initial
teaching certificate earned under this Section
|
shall be treated as a regularly certified teacher for purposes |
of compensation,
benefits, and other terms and conditions of |
employment afforded teachers in the
school who are members of a |
bargaining unit represented by an exclusive
bargaining |
representative, if any. |
The State Board of Education may adopt rules
and |
regulations that are consistent with this Section and that the |
State Board
deems necessary to establish and implement the |
program. |
No one may be admitted to an alternative certification |
program under this Section after September 1, 2014 2013, and |
those alternative certification candidates who are admitted on |
or before June 30, 2014 September 1, 2013 must complete their |
coursework the program before January 1, 2016 2015, except that |
candidates admitted to an alternative certification program at |
Governors State University and participants in the Teacher |
Quality Partnership Grant program must be admitted on or before |
March 31, 2014, complete their coursework on or before August |
31, 2015, and be entitled to certification on or before |
September 30, 2016 September 31, 2015. An The alternative |
