Bill Text: IL SB3111 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Special Education Article of the School Code. Sets forth specific areas in which special education teacher assistants must be trained. Effective immediately.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-19 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB3111 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-SB3111-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 SB3111 Introduced 2/8/2010, by Sen. James A. DeLeo SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
105 ILCS 5/14-9.01 from Ch. 122, par. 14-9.01
Amends the Special Education Article of the School Code. Sets forth specific areas in which special education teacher assistants must be trained. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
14-9.01 as follows:
(105 ILCS 5/14-9.01) (from Ch. 122, par. 14-9.01)
Sec. 14-9.01. Qualifications of teachers, other
professional personnel and necessary workers. No person shall
be employed to teach any class or program authorized by this
Article who does not hold a valid teacher's certificate as
provided by law and unless he has had such special training as
the State Board of Education may require. No special
certificate or endorsement to a special certificate issued
under Section 21-4 on or after July 1, 1994, shall be valid for
teaching students with visual disabilities unless the person to
whom the certificate or endorsement is issued has attained
satisfactory performance on an examination that is designed to
assess competency in Braille reading and writing skills
according to standards that the State Board of Education may
adopt. Evidence of successfully completing the examination of
Braille reading and writing skills must be submitted to the
State Board of Education prior to an applicant's examination of
the subject matter knowledge test required under Section 21-1a.

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Beginning July 1, 1995, in addition to other requirements, a
candidate for a teaching certification in the area of the deaf
and hard of hearing granted by the Illinois State Board of
Education for teaching deaf and hard of hearing students in
grades pre-school through grade 12 must demonstrate a minimum
proficiency in sign language as determined by the Illinois
State Board of Education. All other professional personnel
employed in any class, service, or program authorized by this
Article shall hold such certificates and shall have had such
special training as the State Board of Education may require;
provided that in a school district organized under Article 34,
the school district may employ speech and language pathologists
who are licensed under the Illinois Speech-Language Pathology
and Audiology Practice Act but who do not hold a certificate
issued under the School Code if the district certifies that a
chronic shortage of certified personnel exists. Nothing
contained in this Act prohibits the school board from employing
necessary workers to assist the teacher with the special
educational facilities, except that all such necessary workers
must have had such training as the State Board of Education may
require. The training for special education teacher assistants
must include, without limitation, the following:
(1) Training on the legal requirements of the
individualized education program (IEP), including access
to general education curriculum and access to general
education classrooms for students who receive special

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education services. This should include the importance of
confidentiality and the legal requirements for individuals
who are working within a school system.
(2) Training on specific disabilities and the
potential impact these disabilities may have on a student's
ability to access the various components of their
education. This should include the physical needs,
academic needs, communication needs, functional needs,
health needs, social or emotional needs, and cognitive
needs of those specific disabilities. This training should
be individualized for the teacher assistant, according to
their duties and students. It should also include specific
elements of instruction related to the individual students
to which that assistant is assigned, and those students'
needs.
(3) Training on specific curriculum needs and how that
curriculum might be modified for individual students. The
training should include an understanding of the difference
between accommodations that are specific to the needs of
students and modifications of the curriculum should be part
of that training. The training should provide assistants
with information and strategies on how to make those
modifications so that they are appropriate for the student
and meet the requirements of the teacher. Having a general
knowledge about the various types and formats of making
modifications is important to the success of that

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assistant, and ultimately their students.
(4) Training on specific specialized strategies that
might be used with an individual student, according to that
student's needs. This training on strategies should be
specific to the students with whom that assistant is
assigned, and their specialized needs. These strategies
might be implementation of academic materials and
programs, social strategies, behavior strategies, or
physical strategies.
(5) Training on the medical needs of students as
needed. This might include training on the feeding,
positioning, lifting, and care of body needs for specific
students.
(6) Training on the elements of data collection and how
it is used within the individualized education program
process to document progress. Teacher assistants are often
a part of the daily contact with students and are asked to
provide feedback and information on progress that might be
connected to individualized education program goals. The
training on effective data collection is important for
teacher assistants to understand. This training should
include specific information related to the needs of the
students to which that assistant is assigned to teach.
(7) Training on the teaming process and how working
within a team to be an effective and valued member is
important to the success of the student. This training

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should include specific information on how the team
functions and the expectations and roles that are defined
for each individual assistant.
No later than January 1, 1993, the State Board of Education
shall develop, in consultation with the Advisory Council on the
Education of Children with Disabilities and the Advisory
Council on Bilingual Education, rules governing the
qualifications for certification of teachers and school
service personnel providing services to limited English
proficient students receiving special education and related
services.
The employment of any teacher in a special education
program provided for in Sections 14-1.01 to 14-14.01,
inclusive, shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 24-11
to 24-16, inclusive. Any teacher employed in a special
education program, prior to the effective date of this
amendatory Act of 1987, in which 2 or more districts
participate shall enter upon contractual continued service in
each of the participating districts subject to the provisions
of Sections 24-11 to 24-16, inclusive.
(Source: P.A. 92-651, eff. 7-11-02.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.