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1     AN ACT concerning education.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 5. The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Act is
5 amended by changing Sections 5, 10, 20, 25, 30, and 35 as
6 follows:
 
7     (110 ILCS 48/5)
8     Sec. 5. Purpose. The Grow Our Own Teacher preparation
9 programs established under this Act shall comprise a major new
10 statewide initiative, known as the Grow Our Own Teacher
11 Education Initiative, to prepare highly skilled, committed
12 teachers who will teach in hard-to-staff schools and
13 hard-to-staff teaching positions and who will remain in these
14 schools for substantial periods of time.
15      The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall
16 effectively recruit and prepare parent and community leaders
17 and paraeducators to become effective teachers and teacher
18 leaders statewide in hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff
19 teaching positions in schools serving a substantial percentage
20 of low-income students. Further, the Initiative shall increase
21 the diversity of teachers, including diversity based on race,
22 ethnicity, and disability.
23     The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall ensure
24 educational rigor by effectively preparing candidates students
25 in accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, through
26 which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure an
27 Illinois initial standard teaching certificate.
28     The goal of the Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative
29 is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income and other hard-to-staff
30 Illinois schools by 2016 with an average retention period of 7
31 years, as opposed to the current rate of 2.5 years for new
32 teachers in such areas.

 

 

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1 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
2     (110 ILCS 48/10)
3     Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:
4      "Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or
5 regionally accredited higher education program authorized to
6 prepare individuals to fulfill all of the requirements to
7 receive an Illinois initial standard teaching certificate.
8      "Hard-to-staff school" means an elementary or secondary
9 school that, based on data compiled by the State Board of
10 Education, ranks in the upper third of schools in this State on
11 a combined index measuring the percentage of the school's
12 teachers who are not fully certified and the percentage of the
13 school's teachers who leave their positions annually.
14      "Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching
15 category (such as special education, mathematics, or science)
16 in which statewide data compiled by the State Board of
17 Education indicates a multi-year pattern of substantial
18 teacher shortage or that has been identified as a critical need
19 by the local school board.
20     "Initiative" means the Grow Our Own Teacher Education
21 Initiative created under this Act.
22     "Paraeducators" means individuals with a history of
23 demonstrated accomplishments in school staff positions (such
24 as teacher assistants, school-community liaisons, school
25 clerks, and security aides) in schools serving a substantial
26 percentage of low-income students.
27     "Parent and community leaders" means individuals with a
28 significant history of working to improve involvement in
29 improving schools serving a substantial percentage of
30 low-income students, including membership in a community
31 organization.
32      "Community organization" means a nonprofit organization
33 that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and
34 organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that
35 will hold the school and the school district accountable for

 

 

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1 achieving high academic standards; in addition to
2 organizations with a geographic focus, "community
3 organization" includes general parent organizations,
4 organizations of special education or bilingual education
5 parents, and school employee unions.
6     "Program" means a Grow Our Own Teacher preparation program
7 established by a consortium under this Act.
8     "Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
9 students" means schools whose percentage of students receiving
10 free or reduced-price lunches is at or above the
11 district-average percentage.
12      "State Board" means the State Board of Education.
13 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
14     (110 ILCS 48/20)
15     Sec. 20. Selection of grantees. The State Board shall award
16 grants to up to 10 qualified consortia that reflect the
17 distribution and diversity of target hard-to-staff schools
18 across this State. In awarding grants, the State Board shall
19 select programs that successfully address Initiative criteria
20 and that reflect a diversity of strategies in terms of serving
21 urban areas, serving rural areas, the nature of the
22 participating institutions of higher education, whether
23 participants will be trained at the baccalaureate or graduate
24 master's level, and the nature of hard-to-staff teaching
25 positions on which a program is focused.
26     The State Board shall select consortia that meet the
27 following requirements:
28         (1) A consortium shall be composed of at least one
29     4-year institution of higher education with an accredited
30     teacher preparation program, at least one school district
31     or group of schools, and one or more community
32     organizations. The consortium may also include a 2-year
33     institution of higher education or a school employee union
34     or both.
35         (2) The 4-year institution of higher education

 

 

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1     participating in the consortium shall have past,
2     demonstrated success in preparing teachers for elementary
3     or secondary schools serving a substantial percentage of
4     low-income students.
5         (3) The consortium shall focus on a clearly defined set
6     of target schools serving a substantial percentage of
7     low-income students that will be the primary focus of the
8     program. The consortium shall articulate the steps that it
9     will carry out in preparing teachers for its target
10     hard-to-staff schools and in preparing teachers for one or
11     more hard-to-staff teaching positions in its target
12     schools.
13         (4) Candidate Student participants in a program under
14     the Initiative must hold a high school diploma or its
15     equivalent and must meet either the definition of "parent
16     and community leaders" or the definition of
17     "paraeducators" contained in Section 10 of this Act.
18         (5) The consortium shall employ effective procedures
19     for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare
20     highly competent teachers. Professional preparation
21     Instruction shall include on-going direct experience in
22     target schools and evaluation analysis of this experience.
23         (6) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts
24     of candidates students who begin by moving through the
25     program together. The program shall be offered on a
26     schedule that enables candidates students to work full time
27     while participating in the program and allows
28     paraeducators to continue in their current positions. The
29     consortium shall guarantee that support will be available
30     to an admitted cohort through the cohort's full period of
31     training. At the beginning of the Initiative, programs that
32     are already operating and existing cohorts of candidates
33     students under this model shall be eligible for funding.
34         (7) The institutions of higher education participating
35     in the consortium shall document and agree to expend the
36     same amount of funds in implementing the program that these

 

 

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1     institutions spend on average per candidate student on
2     similar educational programs. Grants received by the
3     consortium shall supplement and not supplant these
4     amounts.
5         (8) The State Board shall establish additional
6     criteria for review of proposals, including criteria that
7     address the following issues:
8             (A) Previous experience of the institutions of
9         higher education in preparing candidates students for
10         hard-to-staff schools and positions and in working
11         with candidates students with non-traditional
12         backgrounds.
13             (B) The quality of the implementation plan,
14         including strategies for overcoming institutional
15         barriers to the progress of non-traditional candidates
16         students.
17             (C) If a community college is a participant, the
18         nature and extent of existing articulation agreements
19         and guarantees between the community college and the
20         4-year institution of higher education.
21             (D) The number of candidates participants to be
22         trained in the current cohort or cohorts and the
23         capacity of the consortium for adding cohorts in future
24         cycles.
25             (E) Experience of the community organization or
26         organizations in organizing parents and community
27         leaders to achieve school improvement and a strong
28         relational school culture.
29             (F) The qualifications of the person or persons
30         designated by the 4-year institution of higher
31         education to be responsible for cohort support and the
32         development of a shared learning and social
33         environment among candidates participants.
34             (G) The consortium's plan for collective
35         consortium decision-making, including mechanisms for
36         community and candidate participant input.

 

 

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1             (H) The consortium's plan for direct impact of the
2         program on the quality of education in the target
3         schools.
4             (I) The relevance of the curriculum to the needs of
5         targeted schools and positions, and the use in
6         curriculum and instructional planning of principles
7         for effective education of adults adult education.
8             (J) The availability of classes under the program
9         in places and times accessible to the candidates
10         participants.
11             (K) Provision of a level of performance to be
12         maintained by candidates participants as a condition
13         of continuing in the program.
14             (L) The plan of the 4-year institution of higher
15         education to ensure that candidates students take
16         advantage of existing financial aid resources before
17         using the loan funds described in Section 25 of this
18         Act.
19             (M) The availability of supportive services,
20         including counseling, tutoring, and child care.
21             (N) A plan for continued participation of
22         graduates of the program in a program of support for at
23         least 2 years, including mentoring and group meetings.
24             (O) A plan for testing and qualitative evaluation
25         of candidates' participants' teaching skills that
26         ensures that graduates of the program are as prepared
27         for teaching as other individuals completing the
28         institution of higher education's preparation program
29         for the certificate sought those from the conventional
30         teacher training program of the 4-year institution of
31         higher education.
32             (P) A plan for internal evaluation that provides
33         reports at least yearly on the progress of candidates
34         participants towards graduation and the impact of the
35         program on the target schools and their communities.
36             (Q) Contributions from schools, school districts,

 

 

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1         and other consortia members to the program, including
2         stipends for candidates participants during their
3         student teaching.
4             (R) Consortium commitment for sustaining the
5         program over time, as evidenced by plans for reduced
6         requirements for external funding in subsequent
7         cycles.
8 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
9     (110 ILCS 48/25)
10     Sec. 25. Expenditures under the Initiative.
11     (a) Every program under the Initiative shall implement and
12 manage a program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of
13 tuition and direct expenses of candidates students under the
14 program in excess of grants-in-aid and other forgivable loans
15 received. All candidates students admitted to a cohort shall be
16 eligible for such loans. Loans shall be fully forgiven if a
17 graduate completes 5 years of service in a hard-to-staff school
18 or hard-to-staff teaching position.
19     (b) Grants under the Initiative shall be awarded in such a
20 way as to provide the required support for a cohort of
21 candidates students for the cohort's entire training period.
22 Program budgets must show expenditures for the entire period
23 that candidates participants are expected to be enrolled.
24     (c) No funds under the Initiative may be used to supplant
25 the average per-capita expenditures by the institution of
26 higher education for candidates students in regular education
27 degree programs.
28     (d) Where necessary, program budgets shall include the
29 costs of child care to permit candidates parents to maintain a
30 full class schedule. Child care may be provided by the
31 community organization or organizations or be independently
32 contracted for.
33     (e) The institution of higher education may expend grant
34 funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator,
35 who must be housed at each cooperating institution of higher

 

 

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1 education that has a program, and the additional costs of
2 offering classes in community settings and for tutoring
3 services.
4     (f) The community organization or organizations may
5 receive a portion of the grant money for the expenses of
6 recruitment, community orientation, and counseling of
7 potential candidates participants, for providing space in the
8 community, and for working with school personnel to facilitate
9 individual work experiences and support of candidates
10 participants.
11     (g) The school district or school employee union or both
12 may receive a portion of the grant money for expenses of
13 supporting the work experiences of candidates participants and
14 providing mentors for graduates. School districts may also use
15 these or other applicable public funds to pay participants in
16 programs under the Initiative for student teaching required by
17 an accredited teacher preparation program. Nothing contained
18 in Section 10-20.15 of the School Code shall prohibit or
19 restrict any such payments.
20 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
21     (110 ILCS 48/30)
22     Sec. 30. Implementation of Initiative. The State Board
23 shall develop guidelines and application procedures for the
24 Initiative in fiscal year 2005. The State Board may, if it
25 chooses, award a small number of planning grants during fiscal
26 year 2005 to potential consortia using existing resources. The
27 first programs under the Initiative shall be awarded grants in
28 such a way as to allow candidates participants to begin their
29 work at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.
30 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
31     (110 ILCS 48/35)
32     Sec. 35. Independent program evaluation. The State Board
33 shall contract for an independent evaluation of program
34 implementation by each of its participating consortia and of

 

 

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1 the impact of each program, including the extent of candidate
2 student persistence in program enrollment, acceptance as an
3 education major in a 4-year institution of higher education,
4 completion of a bachelor's degree in teaching, obtaining a
5 teaching position in a target school or similar school,
6 subsequent effectiveness as a teacher, and persistence in
7 teaching in a target school or similar school. The evaluation
8 shall assess the Initiative's overall effectiveness and shall
9 identify particular program strategies that are especially
10 effective.
11 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)