Rep. Calvin L. Giles

Filed: 5/11/2005

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2011

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2011 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the the following:
 
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

 

 

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1 in accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, through
2 which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure an
3 Illinois initial standard teaching certificate.
4     The goal of the Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative
5 is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income and other hard-to-staff
6 Illinois schools by 2016 with an average retention period of 7
7 years, as opposed to the current rate of 2.5 years for new
8 teachers in such areas.
9 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
10     (110 ILCS 48/10)
11     Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:
12      "Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or
13 regionally accredited higher education program authorized to
14 prepare individuals to fulfill all of the requirements to
15 receive an Illinois initial standard teaching certificate.
16      "Hard-to-staff school" means an elementary or secondary
17 school that, based on data compiled by the State Board of
18 Education, ranks in the upper third of schools in this State on
19 a combined index measuring the percentage of the school's
20 teachers who are not fully certified and the percentage of the
21 school's teachers who leave their positions annually.
22      "Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching
23 category (such as special education, mathematics, or science)
24 in which statewide data compiled by the State Board of
25 Education indicates a multi-year pattern of substantial
26 teacher shortage or that has been identified as a critical need
27 by the local school board.
28     "Initiative" means the Grow Our Own Teacher Education
29 Initiative created under this Act.
30     "Paraeducators" means individuals with a history of
31 demonstrated accomplishments in school staff positions (such
32 as teacher assistants, school-community liaisons, school
33 clerks, and security aides) in schools serving a substantial

 

 

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1 percentage of low-income students.
2     "Parent and community leaders" means individuals with a
3 significant history of working to improve involvement in
4 improving schools serving a substantial percentage of
5 low-income students, including membership in a community
6 organization.
7      "Community organization" means a nonprofit organization
8 that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and
9 organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that
10 will hold the school and the school district accountable for
11 achieving high academic standards; in addition to
12 organizations with a geographic focus, "community
13 organization" includes general parent organizations,
14 organizations of special education or bilingual education
15 parents, and school employee unions.
16     "Program" means a Grow Our Own Teacher preparation program
17 established by a consortium under this Act.
18     "Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
19 students" means schools whose percentage of students receiving
20 free or reduced-price lunches is at or above the
21 district-average percentage.
22      "State Board" means the State Board of Education.
23 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
24     (110 ILCS 48/20)
25     Sec. 20. Selection of grantees. The State Board shall award
26 grants to up to 10 qualified consortia that reflect the
27 distribution and diversity of target hard-to-staff schools
28 across this State. In awarding grants, the State Board shall
29 select programs that successfully address Initiative criteria
30 and that reflect a diversity of strategies in terms of serving
31 urban areas, serving rural areas, the nature of the
32 participating institutions of higher education, whether
33 participants will be trained at the baccalaureate or graduate

 

 

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1 master's level, and the nature of hard-to-staff teaching
2 positions on which a program is focused.
3     The State Board shall select consortia that meet the
4 following requirements:
5         (1) A consortium shall be composed of at least one
6     4-year institution of higher education with an accredited
7     teacher preparation program, at least one school district
8     or group of schools, and one or more community
9     organizations. The consortium may also include a 2-year
10     institution of higher education or a school employee union
11     or both.
12         (2) The 4-year institution of higher education
13     participating in the consortium shall have past,
14     demonstrated success in preparing teachers for elementary
15     or secondary schools serving a substantial percentage of
16     low-income students.
17         (3) The consortium shall focus on a clearly defined set
18     of target schools serving a substantial percentage of
19     low-income students that will be the primary focus of the
20     program. The consortium shall articulate the steps that it
21     will carry out in preparing teachers for its target
22     hard-to-staff schools and in preparing teachers for one or
23     more hard-to-staff teaching positions in its target
24     schools.
25         (4) Candidate Student participants in a program under
26     the Initiative must hold a high school diploma or its
27     equivalent and must meet either the definition of "parent
28     and community leaders" or the definition of
29     "paraeducators" contained in Section 10 of this Act.
30         (5) The consortium shall employ effective procedures
31     for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare
32     highly competent teachers. Professional preparation
33     Instruction shall include on-going direct experience in
34     target schools and evaluation analysis of this experience.

 

 

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1         (6) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts
2     of candidates students who begin by moving through the
3     program together. The program shall be offered on a
4     schedule that enables candidates students to work full time
5     while participating in the program and allows
6     paraeducators to continue in their current positions. The
7     consortium shall guarantee that support will be available
8     to an admitted cohort through the cohort's full period of
9     training. At the beginning of the Initiative, programs that
10     are already operating and existing cohorts of candidates
11     students under this model shall be eligible for funding.
12         (7) The institutions of higher education participating
13     in the consortium shall document and agree to expend the
14     same amount of funds in implementing the program that these
15     institutions spend on average per candidate student on
16     similar educational programs. Grants received by the
17     consortium shall supplement and not supplant these
18     amounts.
19         (8) The State Board shall establish additional
20     criteria for review of proposals, including criteria that
21     address the following issues:
22             (A) Previous experience of the institutions of
23         higher education in preparing candidates students for
24         hard-to-staff schools and positions and in working
25         with candidates students with non-traditional
26         backgrounds.
27             (B) The quality of the implementation plan,
28         including strategies for overcoming institutional
29         barriers to the progress of non-traditional candidates
30         students.
31             (C) If a community college is a participant, the
32         nature and extent of existing articulation agreements
33         and guarantees between the community college and the
34         4-year institution of higher education.

 

 

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1             (D) The number of candidates participants to be
2         trained in the current cohort or cohorts and the
3         capacity of the consortium for adding cohorts in future
4         cycles.
5             (E) Experience of the community organization or
6         organizations in organizing parents and community
7         leaders to achieve school improvement and a strong
8         relational school culture.
9             (F) The qualifications of the person or persons
10         designated by the 4-year institution of higher
11         education to be responsible for cohort support and the
12         development of a shared learning and social
13         environment among candidates participants.
14             (G) The consortium's plan for collective
15         consortium decision-making, including mechanisms for
16         community and candidate participant input.
17             (H) The consortium's plan for direct impact of the
18         program on the quality of education in the target
19         schools.
20             (I) The relevance of the curriculum to the needs of
21         targeted schools and positions, and the use in
22         curriculum and instructional planning of principles
23         for effective education of adults adult education.
24             (J) The availability of classes under the program
25         in places and times accessible to the candidates
26         participants.
27             (K) Provision of a level of performance to be
28         maintained by candidates participants as a condition
29         of continuing in the program.
30             (L) The plan of the 4-year institution of higher
31         education to ensure that candidates students take
32         advantage of existing financial aid resources before
33         using the loan funds described in Section 25 of this
34         Act.

 

 

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1             (M) The availability of supportive services,
2         including counseling, tutoring, and child care.
3             (N) A plan for continued participation of
4         graduates of the program in a program of support for at
5         least 2 years, including mentoring and group meetings.
6             (O) A plan for testing and qualitative evaluation
7         of candidates' participants' teaching skills that
8         ensures that graduates of the program are as prepared
9         for teaching as other individuals completing the
10         institution of higher education's preparation program
11         for the certificate sought those from the conventional
12         teacher training program of the 4-year institution of
13         higher education.
14             (P) A plan for internal evaluation that provides
15         reports at least yearly on the progress of candidates
16         participants towards graduation and the impact of the
17         program on the target schools and their communities.
18             (Q) Contributions from schools, school districts,
19         and other consortia members to the program, including
20         stipends for candidates participants during their
21         student teaching.
22             (R) Consortium commitment for sustaining the
23         program over time, as evidenced by plans for reduced
24         requirements for external funding in subsequent
25         cycles.
26 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
27     (110 ILCS 48/25)
28     Sec. 25. Expenditures under the Initiative.
29     (a) Every program under the Initiative shall implement and
30 manage a program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of
31 tuition and direct expenses of candidates students under the
32 program in excess of grants-in-aid and other forgivable loans
33 received. All candidates students admitted to a cohort shall be

 

 

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1 eligible for such loans. Loans shall be fully forgiven if a
2 graduate completes 5 years of service in a hard-to-staff school
3 or hard-to-staff teaching position.
4     (b) Grants under the Initiative shall be awarded in such a
5 way as to provide the required support for a cohort of
6 candidates students for the cohort's entire training period.
7 Program budgets must show expenditures for the entire period
8 that candidates participants are expected to be enrolled.
9     (c) No funds under the Initiative may be used to supplant
10 the average per-capita expenditures by the institution of
11 higher education for candidates students in regular education
12 degree programs.
13     (d) Where necessary, program budgets shall include the
14 costs of child care to permit candidates parents to maintain a
15 full class schedule. Child care may be provided by the
16 community organization or organizations or be independently
17 contracted for.
18     (e) The institution of higher education may expend grant
19 funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator,
20 who must be housed at each cooperating institution of higher
21 education that has a program, and the additional costs of
22 offering classes in community settings and for tutoring
23 services.
24     (f) The community organization or organizations may
25 receive a portion of the grant money for the expenses of
26 recruitment, community orientation, and counseling of
27 potential candidates participants, for providing space in the
28 community, and for working with school personnel to facilitate
29 individual work experiences and support of candidates
30 participants.
31     (g) The school district or school employee union or both
32 may receive a portion of the grant money for expenses of
33 supporting the work experiences of candidates participants and
34 providing mentors for graduates. School districts may also use

 

 

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1 these or other applicable public funds to pay participants in
2 programs under the Initiative for student teaching required by
3 an accredited teacher preparation program. Nothing contained
4 in Section 10-20.15 of the School Code shall prohibit or
5 restrict any such payments.
6 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
7     (110 ILCS 48/30)
8     Sec. 30. Implementation of Initiative. The State Board
9 shall develop guidelines and application procedures for the
10 Initiative in fiscal year 2005. The State Board may, if it
11 chooses, award a small number of planning grants during fiscal
12 year 2005 to potential consortia using existing resources. The
13 first programs under the Initiative shall be awarded grants in
14 such a way as to allow candidates participants to begin their
15 work at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.
16 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
 
17     (110 ILCS 48/35)
18     Sec. 35. Independent program evaluation. The State Board
19 shall contract for an independent evaluation of program
20 implementation by each of its participating consortia and of
21 the impact of each program, including the extent of candidate
22 student persistence in program enrollment, acceptance as an
23 education major in a 4-year institution of higher education,
24 completion of a bachelor's degree in teaching, obtaining a
25 teaching position in a target school or similar school,
26 subsequent effectiveness as a teacher, and persistence in
27 teaching in a target school or similar school. The evaluation
28 shall assess the Initiative's overall effectiveness and shall
29 identify particular program strategies that are especially
30 effective.
31 (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)".