Section 25.85  Special Provisions for Endorsement in Foreign Language for Individuals Currently Certified

The provisions of this Section shall apply when individuals who hold Illinois certification in one or more fields wish to teach a foreign language but either lack certification appropriate to the grade level of the assignment or have not completed 20 hours of coursework as required to obtain an endorsement in the language (see 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.730(h)).

a)         The provisions of this subsection (a) shall apply to each individual who holds a certificate endorsed for a particular language but whose certification does not extend to other grade levels as needed for an available assignment.  (Example:  A holder of a secondary (6-12) certificate endorsed for French who wishes to teach French in the fourth grade.)

1)         An individual to whom this subsection (a) applies may receive an endorsement valid for teaching the specified language at the remaining grade levels by:

A)        submitting the required application for the endorsement, and

B)        passing the assessment of professional teaching relevant to the remaining grade levels.

2)         With regard to major teaching assignments in departmentalized grades 5 through 8, the requirements of 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.720 (Minimum Requirements for Teachers of Middle Grades) shall apply to any individual who has not passed an assessment of professional teaching relevant to a certificate other than the early childhood certificate.

b)         The provisions of this subsection (b) shall apply to each individual who holds an early childhood, elementary, secondary, special K-12, or special preschool-age 21 certificate and wishes to teach a language in which he or she has not completed 20 semester hours of coursework, except that the provisions of Section 25.86 of this Part shall also continue to be available to an affected individual who seeks a language endorsement after receiving an Illinois certificate.  (Example:  A holder of a secondary (6-12) certificate endorsed for mathematics who wishes to teach Korean.)

1)         In order to qualify under this subsection (b), an individual shall submit an application for an endorsement in the specified language at the grade levels of his or her certificate and shall be required to have passed the test relative to that language as listed in Section 25.710 of this Part or, if the language is not listed in that Section, another test identified by the State Board of Education.  If the language is listed more than once in that Section, the required test shall be the test not listed under "Transitional Bilingual Education".  (Example:  Spanish)

2)         An individual who has received an endorsement pursuant to this subsection (b) may receive an endorsement for other grade levels as provided in subsection (a)(1) of this Section.

(Source:  Amended at 31 Ill. Reg. 10645, effective July 16, 2007)