Section 60.20  Definitions

"Act" means the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Act [110 ILCS 48].

"Applicant" means a consortium or a potential consortium, as applicable, as described in Section 60.30 of this Part.

"Candidate" means a person working toward a bachelor's degree qualifying that individual for a teaching certificate who is assisted under a grant awarded to a consortium pursuant to this Part.

"Cohort" means a group of candidates preparing for a teaching certificate who, pursuant to Sections 20 and 25 of the Act, begin receiving assistance under this Part together.  No member of any cohort may hold a bachelor's degree at the time of entry into the program, provided that this restriction shall not apply to members of cohorts for whose preparation funding was granted during Fiscal Year 2006.

"Consortium" means an entity to which the State Board can issue grants under this Part.  A consortium shall be composed of at least one 4-year institution of higher education with an accredited teacher education program, at least one school district or group of schools, and one or more community organizations.  The consortium may also include a 2-year institution of higher education and/or a school employee union.  Eligible consortia are further defined in Section 20 of the Act.  A consortium shall implement a program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of tuition and direct expenses of students preparing for teaching certificates in excess of grants-in-aid and other forgivable loans received.

"Direct expenses" are an individual's tuition for coursework required for completion of the preparation program in which the candidate is or will be enrolled, fees related to participation in the preparation program or required coursework, and expenses for books and other necessary instructional materials.

"Eligible school" is an Illinois public elementary or secondary school that serves a substantial percentage of low-income students and either is hard to staff or has hard-to-staff teaching positions (Section 10 of the Act).

"Institution" means an institution of higher education.

"Potential consortium" is a group of entities that is eligible to submit a proposal for a planning grant in response to an RFP issued under this Part.

"Student with a non-traditional background" is either one who begins a baccalaureate program at a point in time other than immediately following graduation from high school or one who began a baccalaureate program after high school, did not complete it, and re-enters a baccalaureate program after some passage of time.

"Year of service" means full-time employment for at least half a school year, or an equivalent amount of part-time employment, in:

a public school that, at the time the individual becomes employed, is either one of the schools targeted by the program completed by the individual with assistance under this Part or another school that is defined as hard to staff pursuant to this Section; or

a teaching position that, at the time the individual becomes employed, is hard to staff as defined in this Section.

(Source:  Amended at 32 Ill. Reg. 8761, effective May 27, 2008)