Section 25.100  Endorsing Teaching Certificates (2004)

 

Beginning July 1, 2004, the structure of endorsements available on Illinois certificates was changed.  Appendix E to this Part provides a list of the available endorsements, other than the endorsements in special education that are the subject of federal court orders of February 27 and August 15, 2001, in the matter of Corey H., et al., v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, et al.  Appendix E shows for each new endorsement the related endorsements that were previously issued and will be discontinued or replaced. Any semester hours of credit presented toward fulfillment of the requirements of this Section may be earned in on-line or electronically-mediated courses, provided that college credit is awarded for the coursework by a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

 

a)         Subject-area "designations" shall be required in conjunction with some endorsements, as shown in Appendix E to this Part.  Except in the case of foreign language, a certificate-holder shall be authorized to teach all the subjects encompassed by a particular endorsement, regardless of the designation or designations received in conjunction with that endorsement.  However, a certificate-holder may not teach honors courses, as these are defined by the employing district, or Advanced Placement courses in a subject for which he or she does not hold the specific designation, unless he or she holds an applicable master certificate.  For example, a secondary science teacher with a biology designation may not teach honors physics or chemistry unless he or she holds a master certificate endorsed for sciences.

 

b)         Endorsements at Time of Issuance

Pursuant to Section 21-1b of the School Code [105 ILCS 5/21-1b], all certificates initially issued under this Article…shall be specifically endorsed by the State Board of Education for each subject the holder of the certificate is legally qualified to teach.

 

1)         For each application for certification received on or before September 30, 2004, the certificate issued shall be endorsed in keeping with the program completed and the related test passed by the candidate, as well as for any additional subject in which the candidate completed the required coursework.

 

2)         For each application received on or after October 1, 2004, the certificate issued shall be endorsed in keeping with the program completed and the related content-area test or test of subject matter knowledge passed by the candidate and, except as provided in subsections (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), and (m) of this Section:

 

A)        any additional area in which the individual has completed a major area of concentration, totaling 32 semester hours or as otherwise identified by a regionally accredited institution on the individual's official transcript; and

 

B)        any additional area in which the individual presents evidence of having accumulated 24  semester hours of college credit demonstrably related to the subject area, either as a subset of an approved program at an Illinois institution or from one or more regionally accredited institutions of higher education, and has passed the applicable content-area test (or test of subject matter knowledge); and

 

C)        any additional area for which the individual has met the applicable requirements of subsection (e) of this Section.

 

3)         An individual who passes a test of subject matter knowledge prior to July 1, 2004, and applies for the related certificate no later than five years after the date on which the test was taken shall receive an endorsement valid only for the specific subjects covered under the prior system, unless the institution that offered the program completed by the candidate certifies to the State Board of Education that the candidate completed a program that met the applicable standards set forth at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 27 (Standards for Certification in Specific Teaching Fields).  An endorsement under the new structure will be issued to an individual who either passes the applicable new content-area test or completes a program based upon the applicable standards for the content area.

 

4)         To account for the differing stages of preparation attained by candidates who were already enrolled in approved programs as of July 1, 2004, each institution may, through June 30, 2006, recommend to the State Board of Education the issuance of one or more endorsements under the structure in effect prior to July 1, 2004, to a candidate who has completed the coursework required for those endorsements and, in the judgment of the institution's certification officer, did not have a sufficient opportunity to complete the requirements for the comparable new endorsements instead.

 

c)         Pursuant to Section 21-4 of the School Code [105 ILCS 5/21-4], an individual who is eligible to receive a special certificate may elect to receive both an elementary and a secondary certificate, each endorsed as the special or special preschool-age 21 certificate would have been endorsed.  An individual who elects to hold a special certificate may add endorsements to it by submitting an application pursuant to Section 21-12 of the School Code and demonstrating that he or she has met the applicable requirements of subsection (f)(3) of this Section.

 

d)         Endorsements issued under the system used prior to July 1, 2004, shall continue to be valid only for the specific subjects covered.  An individual who wishes to teach other subjects in the same field shall be required to apply for the relevant new endorsement in keeping with Section 21-12 of the School Code and meet the applicable requirements of this Section.

 

e)         Each endorsement or designation indicated by an asterisk in Appendix E to this Part has no corresponding content-area test.  The provisions of this subsection (e) shall apply to the issuance of these endorsements and designations.

 

1)         For an applicant who is receiving an Illinois teaching certificate, the institution that offered the approved program completed by the applicant shall indicate that the applicant has met the standards applicable to the endorsement or the particular designation.

 

2)         An applicant prepared out of state, or an applicant who is already certified in Illinois and is seeking to add a new endorsement or designation in one of these subjects, other than an endorsement in safety and driver education, shall:

 

A)        present verification from an institution with an approved teacher preparation program that he or she is prepared in the area covered by the endorsement or designation sought; or

 

B)        present evidence of completion of nine semester hours of coursework in the area covered by the endorsement or designation sought; or

 

C)        present evidence of at least one year's teaching experience on a valid certificate in the area covered by the endorsement or designation sought.

 

3)         An applicant prepared out of state or an applicant who is already certified in Illinois and is seeking to add a new endorsement in safety and driver education shall be subject to the requirements set forth at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.730(q).

 

f)          Addition of Endorsements to Previously Issued Certificates

Individuals seeking to endorse previously issued certificates shall apply for such endorsements, using a format specified by the State Board of Education, in accordance with the provisions of Section 21-12 of the School Code [105 ILCS 5/21-12].

 

1)         An applicant who qualifies for an endorsement shall receive a new copy of the original certificate with the endorsement and date of the endorsement affixed.

 

2)         Applications received through June 30, 2005, shall, at the request of the applicant, be reviewed against the requirements in place immediately prior to July 1, 2004, except that applications received through June 30, 2006, for endorsements in reading and library information shall be reviewed on this basis.  Deficiency statements shall be issued when an applicant does not qualify for the requested endorsements. Each deficiency statement shall be honored by the State Board of Education for a period of one year from the date of issue.  Applicants will receive the endorsements only if they remove the identified deficiencies within one year after the date of the deficiency statement.  Subsequent applications for the same endorsements shall be accompanied by another fee and shall be subject to any new requirements.

 

3)         Except as provided in subsections (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), and (m) of this Section, for applications received on or after July 1, 2005, an endorsement will be issued to each applicant who:

 

A)        has completed a major area of concentration, totaling 32 semester hours or as otherwise identified by a regionally accredited institution on the individual's official transcript; or

 

B)        presents evidence of having accumulated 24 semester hours of college credit demonstrably related to the subject area, either as a subset of an approved program at an Illinois institution or from one or more regionally accredited institutions of higher education, and has passed the applicable content-area test (or test of subject matter knowledge); or

 

C)        has met the applicable requirements of subsection (e) of this Section.

 

g)         Special provisions shall apply to the addition of endorsements in self-contained general education.  An individual who holds a secondary, special K-12, or special preschool-age 21 certificate, or an individual who holds an elementary certificate endorsed in some other field by virtue of having "split" a special or special preschool-age 21 certificate, may qualify for the endorsement in self-contained general education on that certificate only by completing an approved program for the elementary certificate in accordance with Section 25.37 of this Part and passing the elementary/middle grades test.  Fulfillment of these requirements qualifies the individual for an elementary certificate with this endorsement. However, an individual with an early childhood or a secondary certificate may choose whether to receive the elementary certificate or to add the endorsement to his or her existing certificate, thereby restricting his or her capacity for assignment to the grade levels encompassed by that certificate. An individual who elects to receive a separate certificate pursuant to this subsection (g) shall be required to pass the test of basic skills and/or the applicable assessment of professional teaching if passage of one or both of these tests would be required for receipt of a subsequent certificate as explained in Section 25.720 of this Part.

 

h)         Special provisions shall apply to the issuance of endorsements in the sciences and social sciences. The requirements of subsections (h)(1) through (h)(4) of this Section relate to endorsements and designations based on the standards found at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 27.140 through 27.260, while the requirements of subsection (h)(5) make subject-specific credentials available to out-of-state applicants whose preparation has been structured to address individual disciplines within the sciences or social sciences.

 

1)         An individual seeking to add an endorsement and a designation in either of these fields who does not already hold that endorsement with one of its other available designations shall be required to pass the content-area test for the designation sought and either:

 

A)        be recommended for the endorsement and the designation by an institution with an approved program in the subject area based on having completed coursework sufficient to address the applicable content-area standards; or

 

B)        present evidence of having accumulated 32 semester hours of college coursework in the field, from one or more regionally accredited institutions, that meets the following requirements:

 

i)          at least 12 semester hours of credit must have been earned in the subject area of the designation sought; and

 

ii)         some portion of the coursework completed must have addressed at least two additional designations within the field; and

 

iii)         in the case of the sciences, the coursework completed must have included both biological and physical science.

 

2)         The requirement stated in subsection (h)(1) of this Section shall apply whenever an individual seeks to add his or her first endorsement in one of these fields.

 

3)         An individual may receive a subsequent designation in the same field if he or she has:

 

A)        passed the applicable content-area test; or

 

B)        completed a major in the content area of the designation.

 

4)         An individual who holds an endorsement in the sciences or social sciences under the structure that was in effect prior to July 1, 2004, may receive an endorsement and a designation in that field under the new structure by passing the content-area test for the designation sought. He or she may then qualify for additional designations in the field pursuant to subsection (h)(3) of this Section.

 

5)         An out-of-state applicant who is eligible to receive an Illinois teaching certificate may receive an endorsement limited to a specific discipline among the social sciences (e.g., history) or the sciences (e.g., biology), provided that he or she presents evidence of having completed a major in that discipline.

 

i)          Special provisions shall apply to the issuance of endorsements for reading teachers and reading specialists. A reading teacher is one whose assignment involves teaching reading to students, while a reading specialist is one whose assignment involves the provision of technical assistance and/or professional development to other teachers and may also include teaching reading to students.

 

1)         Reading Teacher

This endorsement shall not be issued as an individual's first teaching credential. An individual who holds or receives an Illinois early childhood, elementary, secondary, or special certificate shall be eligible to receive this additional endorsement on that certificate (and on any other certificate held or subsequently earned) when he or she presents evidence of:

 

A)        having passed the applicable content-area test (or test of subject matter knowledge) and having been recommended for the endorsement by virtue of completing an approved reading teacher's preparation program based on the standards set forth at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 27.110 that requires at least 24 semester hours of graduate or undergraduate coursework in reading, including a practicum, at an institution that is recognized to offer teacher preparation programs in Illinois; or

 

B)        having passed the applicable content-area test (or test of subject matter knowledge) and having completed 24 semester hours of graduate or undergraduate coursework in reading, including a practicum, at one or more regionally accredited institutions of higher education, provided that all the following areas were addressed:

 

i)          foundations of reading,

 

ii)         content-area reading,

 

iii)         assessment and diagnosis of reading problems,

 

iv)        developmental and remedial reading instruction and support,

 

v)         developmental and remedial materials and resources, and

 

vi)        literature appropriate to students across all grade ranges; or

 

C)        having completed, on or before June 30, 2006, the 18 semester hours of college coursework in reading described at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.740(a), in which case passage of the content-area test or test of subject matter knowledge shall not be required.

 

2)         Reading Specialist

The reading specialist's endorsement shall require two years of teaching experience.  An individual who holds an Illinois early childhood, elementary, secondary, or special certificate shall be eligible to receive this endorsement on that certificate or on a separate special K-12 certificate when he or she presents evidence of having completed the required teaching experience and:

 

A)        having completed a K-12 reading specialist's program approved pursuant to Subpart C of this Part that includes a practicum and leads to the issuance of a master's or higher degree; and

 

B)         having been recommended for the endorsement by the institution offering the program; and

 

C)        having passed the content-area test for reading specialist.

 

3)         An individual who elects to receive a separate special K-12 certificate pursuant to subsection (i)(2) of this Section shall be required to pass the test of basic skills and/or the applicable assessment of professional teaching if passage of one or both of these tests would be required for receipt of a subsequent certificate as explained in Section 25.720 of this Part.

 

j)          Special provisions shall apply to the addition of endorsements and designations in foreign languages.

 

1)         An endorsement and a designation for a foreign language may be added to an existing certificate when an individual has completed a major area of concentration in the language, totaling 32 semester hours or as otherwise identified by a regionally accredited institution on the individual's official transcript.

 

2)         An endorsement and a designation for a foreign language may be added to an existing certificate when an individual presents evidence of having accumulated 20 semester hours of college credit in the language, either as a subset of an approved program at an Illinois institution or from one or more regionally accredited institutions of higher education, and has passed the applicable content-area test (or test of subject matter knowledge).  The 20 semester hours may be calculated by including semester hours of study that were waived by the institution offering the coursework based on the individual's prior learning, provided that the individual presents verification issued by the institution to this effect (i.e., a statement on the official transcript or a letter signed by the certification officer identifying the number of hours involved).

 

3)         Each additional designation for a foreign language shall be subject to the requirements of this subsection (j).

 

4)         Sections 25.85 and 25.86 of this Part set forth additional provisions for certification in foreign languages under specified circumstances.

 

k)         The requirements of 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.720 (Requirements for Teachers of Middle Grades), rather than the requirements of this Section, shall apply to credentials and assignments in the middle grades, except that Section 1.720 shall be read in conjunction with this Section with respect to reading and library information specialist assignments in the middle grades.  The requirements of 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.780, 1.781, and 1.782, rather than the requirements of this Section, shall apply to credentials and assignments in the areas of bilingual education and English as a Second (New) Language.

 

l)          Each individual who is first assigned to teach a particular subject on or after July 1, 2004, based on completion of the minimum requirements for college coursework in that subject that are set forth at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.737(b), 1.745(b)(3), or 1.755(c), as applicable,  but who has not met the requirements of this Section for an endorsement in that subject area shall have three years after the date of first assignment to meet those requirements and receive the relevant endorsement.  An individual who does not do so shall become ineligible to teach the subject in question in any subsequent semester, unless he or she later receives the endorsement.

 

m)        An additional endorsement for "technology specialist" shall be issued only upon presentation of evidence that the applicant has completed at least 24 semester hours of college coursework demonstrably related to the subject area at one or more regionally accredited institutions of higher education and has passed the relevant content-area test.

 

(Source:  Amended at 30 Ill. Reg. 8494, effective April 21, 2006)