Full Text of SB2235 94th General Assembly
SB2235enr 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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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 Grow
Our Own Teacher Education Act is | 5 |
| amended by changing Sections 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 | 6 |
| as follows: | 7 |
| (110 ILCS 48/1)
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| Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Grow
Your
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| Our Own Teacher Education Act.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 11 |
| (110 ILCS 48/5)
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| Sec. 5. Purpose. The Grow Your
Our Own Teacher preparation
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| programs established under this Act shall comprise a major new
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| statewide initiative, known as the Grow Your
Our Own Teacher
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| Education Initiative, to prepare highly skilled, committed
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| teachers who will teach in hard-to-staff schools and
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| hard-to-staff teaching positions and who will remain in these
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| schools for substantial periods of time. | 19 |
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The Grow Your
Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall
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| effectively recruit and prepare parent and community leaders
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| and paraeducators to become effective teachers and
teacher | 22 |
| leaders statewide in hard-to-staff schools and
hard-to-staff | 23 |
| teaching positions in schools
serving a substantial percentage | 24 |
| of low-income students.
Further, the Initiative shall increase | 25 |
| the diversity of
teachers, including diversity based on race, | 26 |
| ethnicity, and
disability.
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| The Grow Your
Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall | 28 |
| ensure
educational rigor by effectively preparing candidates
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| students in
accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, | 30 |
| through
which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure | 31 |
| an
Illinois initial
standard teaching certificate.
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| The goal of the Grow Your
Our Own Teacher Education | 2 |
| Initiative is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income and other | 3 |
| hard-to-staff Illinois schools by 2016 with an average | 4 |
| retention period of 7 years, as opposed to the current rate of | 5 |
| 2.5 years for new teachers in such areas.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 7 |
| (110 ILCS 48/10)
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| Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act: | 9 |
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"Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or
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| regionally accredited higher education program authorized to
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| prepare individuals to fulfill all of the requirements to
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| receive an Illinois initial
standard teaching certificate. | 13 |
| "Developmental classes" means classes in basic skill | 14 |
| areas, such as mathematics and language arts that are | 15 |
| prerequisite to, but not counted towards, degree requirements | 16 |
| of a teacher preparation program.
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"Hard-to-staff school" means an elementary or secondary
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| school that, based on data compiled by the State Board of | 19 |
| Education,
ranks in the upper third of schools in this State on
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| a combined index measuring the percentage of the school's
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| teachers who are not fully certified and the percentage of the
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| school's teachers who leave their positions annually. | 23 |
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"Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching
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| category (such as special education, mathematics, or science)
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| in which statewide data compiled by the State Board of | 26 |
| Education
indicates a multi-year pattern of substantial
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| teacher shortage or that has been identified as a critical need | 28 |
| by the local school board.
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| "Initiative" means the Grow Your
Our Own Teacher Education
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| Initiative created under this Act.
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| "Paraeducators" means individuals with a history of
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| demonstrated accomplishments in school staff positions (such
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| as teacher assistants, school-community liaisons, school
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| clerks, and security aides) in schools serving a substantial
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| percentage of low-income students.
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| "Parent and community leaders" means individuals with a
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| significant history of working to improve
involvement in | 3 |
| improving schools serving a
substantial percentage of | 4 |
| low-income students, including membership in a community | 5 |
| organization. | 6 |
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"Community organization" means a nonprofit organization | 7 |
| that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and | 8 |
| organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that | 9 |
| will hold the school and the school district accountable for | 10 |
| achieving high academic standards; in addition to | 11 |
| organizations with a geographic focus, "community | 12 |
| organization" includes general parent organizations, | 13 |
| organizations of special education or bilingual education | 14 |
| parents, and school employee unions.
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| "Program" means a Grow Your
Our Own Teacher preparation | 16 |
| program
established by a consortium under this Act.
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| "Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
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| students" means schools that maintain any of grades | 19 |
| pre-kindergarten through 8, in which at least 35% of the | 20 |
| students are eligible to receive
whose percentage of students | 21 |
| receiving free or reduced-price lunches and schools that | 22 |
| maintain any of grades 9 through 12, in which at least 25% of | 23 |
| the students are eligible to receive free or reduced price | 24 |
| lunches
is at or above the district-average percentage . | 25 |
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"State Board" means the State Board of Education.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 27 |
| (110 ILCS 48/15)
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| Sec. 15. Creation of Initiative. The Grow Your
Our Own | 29 |
| Teacher Education Initiative is created. The State Board shall | 30 |
| administer the Initiative as a grant competition to fund | 31 |
| consortia that will carry out Grow Your
Our Own Teacher | 32 |
| preparation programs.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 34 |
| (110 ILCS 48/20)
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| Sec. 20. Selection of grantees. The State Board shall award | 2 |
| grants to up to 10 qualified consortia that reflect the | 3 |
| distribution and diversity of target hard-to-staff schools and | 4 |
| hard-to-staff positions across this State. In awarding grants, | 5 |
| the State Board shall select programs that successfully address | 6 |
| Initiative criteria and that reflect a diversity of strategies | 7 |
| in terms of serving urban areas, serving rural areas, the | 8 |
| nature of the participating institutions of higher education, | 9 |
| whether participants will be trained at the baccalaureate or | 10 |
| master's level, and the nature of hard-to-staff schools and
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| hard-to-staff teaching positions on which a program is focused.
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| The State Board shall select consortia that meet the | 13 |
| following requirements:
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| (1) A consortium shall be composed of at least one | 15 |
| 4-year institution of higher education with an accredited | 16 |
| teacher preparation program, at least one school district | 17 |
| or group of schools, and one or more community | 18 |
| organizations. The consortium may also include a 2-year | 19 |
| institution of higher education or a school employee union | 20 |
| or both.
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| (2) The 4-year institution of higher education | 22 |
| participating in the consortium shall have past, | 23 |
| demonstrated success in preparing teachers for elementary | 24 |
| or secondary schools serving a substantial percentage of | 25 |
| low-income students. | 26 |
| (3) The consortium shall focus on a clearly defined set | 27 |
| of target schools serving a substantial percentage of | 28 |
| low-income students that will be the primary focus of the | 29 |
| program. The consortium shall articulate the steps that it | 30 |
| will carry out in preparing teachers for its target | 31 |
| hard-to-staff schools and in preparing teachers for one or | 32 |
| more hard-to-staff teaching positions in its target | 33 |
| schools. | 34 |
| (4) Candidate
Student participants in a program under | 35 |
| the Initiative must hold a high school diploma or its | 36 |
| equivalent and must meet either the definition of "parent |
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| and community leaders" or the definition of | 2 |
| "paraeducators" contained in Section 10 of this Act. | 3 |
| (5) The consortium shall employ effective procedures | 4 |
| for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare | 5 |
| highly competent teachers. Professional preparation
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| Instruction shall include on-going direct experience in | 7 |
| target schools and evaluation
analysis of this experience. | 8 |
| (6) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts | 9 |
| of candidates
students who begin by moving through the | 10 |
| program together. The program shall be offered on a | 11 |
| schedule that enables candidates
students to work full time | 12 |
| while participating in the program and allows | 13 |
| paraeducators to continue in their current positions. The | 14 |
| consortium shall guarantee that support will be available | 15 |
| to an admitted cohort through the cohort's full period of | 16 |
| training. At the beginning of the Initiative, programs that | 17 |
| are already operating and existing cohorts of candidates
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| students under this model shall be eligible for funding. | 19 |
| (7) The institutions of higher education participating | 20 |
| in the consortium shall document and agree to expend the | 21 |
| same amount of funds in implementing the program that these | 22 |
| institutions spend per student on similar educational | 23 |
| programs. Grants received by the consortium shall | 24 |
| supplement and not supplant these amounts. | 25 |
| (8) The State Board shall establish additional | 26 |
| criteria for review of proposals, including criteria that | 27 |
| address the following issues: | 28 |
| (A) Previous experience of the institutions of | 29 |
| higher education in preparing candidates
students for | 30 |
| hard-to-staff schools and positions and in working | 31 |
| with students with non-traditional backgrounds. | 32 |
| (B) The quality of the implementation plan, | 33 |
| including strategies for overcoming institutional | 34 |
| barriers to the progress of non-traditional candidates
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| students . | 36 |
| (C) If a community college is a participant, the |
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| nature and extent of existing articulation agreements | 2 |
| and guarantees between the community college and the | 3 |
| 4-year institution of higher education. | 4 |
| (D) The number of candidates
participants to be | 5 |
| trained in the planned
current cohort or cohorts and | 6 |
| the capacity of the consortium for adding cohorts in | 7 |
| future cycles. | 8 |
| (E) Experience of the community organization or | 9 |
| organizations in organizing parents and community | 10 |
| leaders to achieve school improvement and a strong | 11 |
| relational school culture. | 12 |
| (F) The qualifications of the person or persons | 13 |
| designated by the 4-year institution of higher | 14 |
| education to be responsible for cohort support and the | 15 |
| development of a shared learning and social | 16 |
| environment among candidates
participants . | 17 |
| (G) The consortium's plan for collective | 18 |
| consortium decision-making, including mechanisms for | 19 |
| community and candidate
participant input. | 20 |
| (H) The consortium's plan for direct impact of the | 21 |
| program on the quality of education in the target | 22 |
| schools. | 23 |
| (I) The relevance of the curriculum to the needs of | 24 |
| targeted schools and positions, and the use in | 25 |
| curriculum and instructional planning of principles | 26 |
| for effective education for adults
adult education . | 27 |
| (J) The availability of classes under the program | 28 |
| in places and times accessible to the candidates
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| participants . | 30 |
| (K) Provision of a level of performance to be | 31 |
| maintained by candidates
participants as a condition | 32 |
| of continuing in the program. | 33 |
| (L) The plan of the 4-year institution of higher | 34 |
| education to ensure that candidates
students take | 35 |
| advantage of existing financial aid resources before | 36 |
| using the loan funds described in Section 25 of this |
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| Act. | 2 |
| (M) The availability of supportive services, | 3 |
| including counseling, tutoring, and child care. | 4 |
| (N) A plan for continued participation of | 5 |
| graduates of the program in a program of support for at | 6 |
| least 2 years, including mentoring and group meetings. | 7 |
| (O) A plan for testing and qualitative evaluation | 8 |
| of candidates'
participants' teaching skills that | 9 |
| ensures that graduates of the program are as prepared | 10 |
| for teaching as other individuals completing the | 11 |
| institution of higher education's preparation program | 12 |
| for the certificate sought
those from the conventional | 13 |
| teacher training program of the 4-year institution of | 14 |
| higher education . | 15 |
| (P) A plan for internal evaluation that provides | 16 |
| reports at least yearly on the progress of candidates
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| participants towards graduation and the impact of the | 18 |
| program on the target schools and their communities. | 19 |
| (Q) Contributions from schools, school districts, | 20 |
| and other consortia members to the program, including | 21 |
| stipends for candidates
participants during their | 22 |
| student teaching. | 23 |
| (R) Consortium commitment for sustaining the | 24 |
| program over time, as evidenced by plans for reduced | 25 |
| requirements for external funding in subsequent | 26 |
| cycles.
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| (S) The inclusion in the planned program of | 28 |
| strategies derived from community organizing that will | 29 |
| help candidates develop tools for working with parents | 30 |
| and other community members.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 32 |
| (110 ILCS 48/25)
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| Sec. 25. Expenditures under the Initiative. | 34 |
| (a) Every program under the Initiative shall implement and | 35 |
| manage a program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of |
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| tuition and direct expenses of candidates
students under the | 2 |
| program in excess of grants-in-aid and other forgivable loans | 3 |
| received. All students admitted to a cohort shall be eligible | 4 |
| for such loans. Loans shall be fully forgiven if a graduate | 5 |
| completes 5 years of service in a hard-to-staff schools
school
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| or hard-to-staff teaching positions, with partial forgiveness | 7 |
| for shorter periods of service. The State Board shall establish | 8 |
| standards for the approval of requests from programs to waive | 9 |
| this obligation for individual candidates and for deferral of | 10 |
| repayment for work interruptions after certification. The | 11 |
| State Board shall also define standards for the fiscal | 12 |
| management of these loan funds
position . | 13 |
| (b) Grants under the Initiative shall be awarded in such a | 14 |
| way as to provide the required support for a cohort of | 15 |
| candidates
students for the cohort's entire training period. | 16 |
| Program budgets must show expenditures for the entire period | 17 |
| that candidates
participants are expected to be enrolled. | 18 |
| (c) No funds under the Initiative may be used to supplant | 19 |
| the average per-capita expenditures by the institution of | 20 |
| higher education for candidates
students in regular education | 21 |
| degree programs . | 22 |
| (d) Where necessary, program budgets shall include the | 23 |
| costs of child care to permit candidates
parents to maintain a | 24 |
| full class schedule. Child care may be provided by the | 25 |
| community organization or organizations or be independently | 26 |
| contracted for. | 27 |
| (e) The institution of higher education may expend grant | 28 |
| funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator | 29 |
| and the additional costs of offering classes in community | 30 |
| settings and for tutoring services. | 31 |
| (f) The community organization or organizations may | 32 |
| receive a portion of the grant money for the expenses of | 33 |
| recruitment, community orientation, and counseling of | 34 |
| potential candidates
participants , for providing space in the | 35 |
| community, and for working with school personnel to facilitate | 36 |
| individual work experiences and support of candidates
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| participants . | 2 |
| (g) The school district or school employee union or both | 3 |
| may receive a portion of the grant money for expenses of | 4 |
| supporting the work experiences of candidates
participants and | 5 |
| providing mentors for graduates.
Notwithstanding the | 6 |
| provisions of Section 10-20.15 of the School Code, school | 7 |
| districts may also use these or other applicable public funds | 8 |
| to pay participants in programs under the Initiative for | 9 |
| student teaching required by an accredited teacher preparation | 10 |
| program. | 11 |
| (h) One member of the consortium may expend funds to cover | 12 |
| the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator. | 13 |
| (i) Grant funds may also be expended to pay directly for | 14 |
| required developmental classes for candidates beginning a | 15 |
| program.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 17 |
| (110 ILCS 48/30)
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| Sec. 30. Implementation of Initiative. The State Board | 19 |
| shall develop guidelines and application procedures for the | 20 |
| Initiative in fiscal year 2005. The State Board may, if it | 21 |
| chooses, award a small number of planning grants during any
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| fiscal year 2005 to potential consortia using existing | 23 |
| resources . Other than existing cohorts, the
The first programs | 24 |
| under the Initiative shall be awarded grants in such a way as | 25 |
| to allow candidates
participants to begin their work at the | 26 |
| beginning of the 2006-2007
2005-2006 school year.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.) | 28 |
| (110 ILCS 48/35)
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| Sec. 35. Independent program evaluation. The State Board | 30 |
| shall contract for an independent evaluation of program | 31 |
| implementation by each of its participating consortia and of | 32 |
| the impact of each program, including the extent of candidate
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| student persistence in program enrollment, acceptance as an | 34 |
| education major in a 4-year institution of higher education, |
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| completion of a bachelor's degree in teaching, obtaining a | 2 |
| teaching position in a target school or similar school, | 3 |
| subsequent effectiveness as a teacher, and persistence in | 4 |
| teaching in a target school or similar school. The evaluation | 5 |
| shall assess the Initiative's overall effectiveness and shall | 6 |
| identify particular program strategies that are especially | 7 |
| effective.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-802, eff. 1-1-05.)
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 10 |
| becoming law.
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