|
|
Public Act 096-0689
|
| HB2675 Enrolled |
LRB096 03621 NHT 13649 b |
|
|
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 adding Section |
18-12.5 and by changing Sections 21-1a and 21-10 as follows:
|
(105 ILCS 5/18-12.5 new)
|
Sec. 18-12.5. State aid claims during health emergencies. |
After consultation with a local health department, if a school |
district closes one or more recognized school buildings, but |
not all buildings, during a public health emergency, as |
determined by the State Board of Education in consultation with |
the Illinois Department of Public Health, the district may |
claim a full day of attendance for those days based on the |
average of the 3 school days of attendance immediately |
preceding the closure of the school building. Attendance for |
those days may be claimed only if the school building was |
scheduled to be in operation on those days. The partial or no |
day of attendance and the reasons thereof shall be certified, |
as prescribed by the State Board of Education, within a month |
after the closing by the school district superintendent to the |
regional superintendent of schools for forwarding to the State |
Superintendent of Education for approval. |
This Section is applicable beginning April 1, 2009 and only |
|
if a school district closes a building or buildings, but not |
the entire district, which must be done in accordance with |
Section 18-12 of this Code.
|
(105 ILCS 5/21-1a) (from Ch. 122, par. 21-1a)
|
Sec. 21-1a. Tests required for certification and teacher |
preparation.
|
(a) After July 1, 1988, in addition to all other |
requirements, early
childhood, elementary, special, high |
school, school service personnel, or,
except as provided in |
Section 34-6, administrative certificates shall be
issued to |
persons who have satisfactorily passed a test of basic skills, |
an assessment of professional teaching, and a test of subject |
matter knowledge, provided that a person who passed another |
state's test of basic skills as a condition of certification or |
of admission to a teacher preparation program shall not be |
required to pass this State's test of basic skills and
subject |
matter knowledge.
A person who holds a valid and comparable |
out-of-state certificate, however, is not required to take a |
test of basic skills and is not required to take a test of |
subject matter knowledge, provided that the person has |
successfully passed a test of subject matter knowledge in |
another state or territory of the United States that is |
directly related in content to the specific subject area of |
certification. The tests of basic skills and subject matter
|
knowledge shall be the tests which from time to time are |
|
designated by the
State Board of Education in consultation with |
the State Teacher
Certification Board and may be tests prepared |
by an educational testing
organization or tests designed by the |
State Board of Education in
consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board. The areas to be
covered by the test of |
basic skills shall include the basic skills of
reading, |
writing, grammar and mathematics. The test of subject matter
|
knowledge shall assess content knowledge in the specific |
subject field. The
tests shall be designed to be racially |
neutral to assure that no
person in taking the tests is thereby |
discriminated against on the basis of
race, color, national |
origin or other factors unrelated to the person's
ability to |
perform as a certificated employee. The score required to pass
|
the tests of basic skills and subject matter knowledge shall be |
fixed by
the State Board of Education in consultation with the |
State Teacher
Certification Board. The tests shall be held not |
fewer than 3 times a year
at such time and place as may be |
designated by the State Board of Education
in consultation with |
the State Teacher Certification Board.
|
(b) Except as provided in Section 34-6, the provisions of |
subsection
(a) of this Section shall apply equally in any |
school district subject to
Article 34, provided that the State |
Board of Education shall determine
which certificates issued |
under Sections 34-8.1 and 34-83 prior to July 1,
1988 are |
comparable to any early childhood certificate, elementary |
school
certificate, special certificate, high school |
|
certificate, school service
personnel certificate or |
administrative certificate issued under this
Article as of July |
1, 1988.
|
(c) A person who holds an early childhood, elementary, |
special, high
school or school service personnel certificate |
issued under this Article on
or at any time before July 1, |
1988, including a person who has been
issued any such |
certificate pursuant to Section 21-11.1 or in exchange for
a |
comparable certificate theretofore issued under Section 34-8.1 |
or Section
34-83, shall not be required to take or pass the |
tests in order to
thereafter have such certificate renewed.
|
(d) The State Board of Education in consultation with the |
State Teacher
Certification Board shall conduct a pilot |
administration of the tests by
administering the test to |
students completing teacher education programs in
the 1986-87 |
school year for the purpose of determining the effect and
|
impact of testing candidates for certification.
|
Beginning with the 2002-2003 academic year, a student may |
not enroll
in a teacher preparation program at a recognized |
teacher training
institution until he or she has passed the |
basic skills test.
|
Beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of |
the 94th General Assembly, prior to completing an approved |
teacher preparation program, a preservice education candidate |
must satisfactorily pass the test of subject matter knowledge |
in the discipline in which he or she will be certified to |
|
teach. The teacher preparation program may require passage of |
the test of subject matter knowledge at any time during the |
program, including prior to student teaching.
|
(e) The rules and regulations developed to implement the |
required test
of basic skills and subject matter knowledge |
shall include the requirements
of subsections (a), (b), and (c) |
and shall include specific regulations to
govern test |
selection; test validation and determination of a passing
|
score; administration of the tests; frequency of |
administration; applicant
fees; frequency of applicants' |
taking the tests; the years for which a
score is valid; and, |
waiving certain additional tests for additional
certificates |
to individuals who have satisfactorily passed the test of
basic |
skills and subject matter knowledge as required in subsection |
(a).
The State Board of Education shall provide, by rule, |
specific policies that
assure uniformity in the difficulty |
level of each form of the basic skills
test and each subject |
matter knowledge test from test-to-test and
year-to-year. The |
State Board of Education shall also set a passing
score for the |
tests.
|
(f) The State Teacher Certification Board may issue a |
nonrenewable
temporary certificate between July 1, 1988 and |
August 31, 1988 to
individuals who have taken the tests of |
basic skills and subject matter
knowledge prescribed by this |
Section but have not received such test scores
by August 31, |
1988. Such temporary certificates shall expire on
December 31, |
|
1988.
|
(g) Beginning February 15, 2000, the State Board of
|
Education, in
consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board,
shall implement and administer a new |
system of certification for teachers in
the State of Illinois. |
The State Board of Education, in consultation with the
State |
Teacher Certification Board, shall design
and implement a |
system of examinations and various other criteria which
shall |
be required prior to the issuance of Initial Teaching |
Certificates and
Standard Teaching Certificates. These |
examinations and indicators shall be
based on national and |
State professional teaching standards,
as determined by
the |
State Board of Education, in consultation with the State |
Teacher
Certification Board. The State
Board of Education may |
adopt any and all regulations necessary to implement and
|
administer
this Section.
|
(h) The State Board of Education shall report to the |
Illinois
General Assembly and the Governor with |
recommendations for further changes and
improvements to the |
teacher certification system no later than July 1,
1999
and on |
an annual basis until July 1, 2001.
|
(Source: P.A. 93-679, eff. 6-30-04; 94-208, eff. 7-14-05.)
|
(105 ILCS 5/21-10) (from Ch. 122, par. 21-10)
|
Sec. 21-10. Provisional certificate.
|
(A) Until July 1, 1972, the
State Teacher Certification |
|
Board may issue a provisional certificate
valid for teaching in |
elementary, high school or special subject fields
subject to |
the following conditions:
|
A provisional certificate may be issued to a person who |
presents
certified evidence of having earned a bachelor's |
degree from a
recognized institution of higher learning. The |
academic and
professional courses offered as a basis of the |
provisional certificate
shall be courses approved by the State |
Board of Education in
consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board.
|
A certificate earned under this plan may be renewed at the |
end of
each two-year period upon evidence filed with the State |
Teacher
Certification Board that the holder has earned 8 |
semester hours of
credit within the period; provided the |
requirements for the certificate
of the same type issued for |
the teaching position for which the teacher
is employed shall |
be met by the end of the second renewal period. A
second |
provisional certificate shall not be issued. The credits so
|
earned must be approved by the State Board of Education in
|
consultation with the State Teacher Certification Board and |
must meet
the general pattern for a similar type of certificate |
issued on the
basis of credit. No more than 4 semester hours |
shall be chosen from
elective subjects.
|
(B) After July 1, 1972, the State Teacher Certification |
Board may
issue a provisional certificate valid for teaching in |
early childhood,
elementary, high school or special subject |
|
fields, or for providing service as
school service personnel or |
for administering schools subject to the following
conditions: |
A provisional certificate may be issued to a person who meets |
the
requirements for a regular teaching, school service |
personnel or administrative
certificate in another State and |
who
presents certified evidence of having earned a bachelor's |
degree from a
recognized institution of higher learning. The |
academic and
professional courses offered as a basis of the |
provisional certificate
shall be courses approved by the State |
Board of Education in
consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board. A certificate
earned under this plan is |
valid for a period of 2 years and
shall not be renewed; |
however, the individual to whom this certificate is
issued |
shall have passed or shall pass the examinations
set forth by |
the State Board of Education within 9 months of the date of |
issuance
of the provisional certificate. Failure to pass the |
tests,
required in Section 21-1a, shall result in the |
cancellation of the
provisional certificate.
|
(C) The State Teacher Certification Board may also issue a
|
provisional vocational certificate and a temporary provisional
|
vocational certificate.
|
(1) The requirements for a provisional vocational |
certificate shall
be determined by the State Board of |
Education in
consultation with the State Teacher |
Certification Board; provided, the
following
minimum |
requirements are met: (a) after July 1, 1972, at least 30
|
|
semester hours of credit from a recognized institution of |
higher
learning; and (b) after July 1, 1974, at least 60 |
semester hours of
credit from a recognized institution of |
higher learning.
|
(2) The requirements for a temporary provisional |
vocational
certificate shall be determined by the State |
Board of Education in consultation
with the State Teacher |
Certification Board;
provided, the following minimum |
requirements are met: (a) after July 1,
1973, at least |
4,000 hours of work experience in the skill to be
certified |
for teaching; and (b) after July 1, 1975, at least 8,000 |
hours
of work experience in the skill to be certified for |
teaching. Any
certificate issued under the provisions of |
this paragraph shall expire
on June 30 following the date |
of issue. Renewals may be granted on a
yearly basis, but |
shall not be granted to any person who does not file
with |
the State Teacher Certification Board a transcript showing |
at least
3 semester hours of credit earned during the |
previous year in a
recognized institution of learning. No |
such certificate shall be issued
except upon certification |
by the employing board, subject to the
approval of the |
regional superintendent of schools, that no qualified
|
teacher holding a regular certificate or a provisional |
vocational
certificate is available and that actual |
circumstances and need require
such issuance.
|
The courses or work experience offered as a basis for the |
|
issuance of
the provisional vocational certificate or the |
temporary provisional
vocational certificate shall be approved |
by the State Board of Education
in consultation with the State |
Teacher
Certification Board.
|
(D) Until July 1, 1972, the State Teacher Certification |
Board may
also issue a provisional foreign language certificate |
valid for 4 years
for teaching the foreign language named |
therein in all grades of the
common schools and shall be issued |
to persons who have graduated from a
recognized institution of |
higher learning with not fewer than 120
semester hours of |
credit and who have met other requirements as
determined by the |
State Board of Education in consultation
with the State Teacher |
Certification Board. If the holder of a
provisional foreign |
language certificate is not a citizen of the United
States |
within 6 years of the date of issuance of the original
|
certificate, such certificate shall be suspended by the |
regional
superintendent of schools of the region in which the |
holder is engaged
to teach and shall not be reinstated until |
the holder is a citizen of
the United States.
|
(E) Notwithstanding anything in this Act to the contrary, |
the State
Teacher Certification Board shall issue part-time |
provisional certificates to
eligible individuals who are |
professionals and craftsmen.
|
The requirements for a part-time provisional teachers |
certificate shall be
determined by the State Board of Education |
in consultation with the State
Teacher Certification Board, |
|
provided the following minimum
requirements are met: 60 |
semester hours of credit from a recognized
institution of |
higher learning or 4000
hours of work experience in the skill |
to be certified for teaching.
|
A part-time provisional certificate may be issued for |
teaching no more than 2
courses of study for grades 6 through |
12.
|
A part-time provisional teachers certificate shall be |
valid for 2 years and
may be renewed at the end of each 2 year |
period.
|
(Source: P.A. 90-548, eff. 1-1-98; 91-357, eff. 7-29-99.)
|
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, |
2009. |