Section 25.365  Director of Special Education

This endorsement shall be required for directors and assistant directors of special education beginning July 1, 2005. 

a)         Each candidate for the director of special education endorsement shall hold a master's degree awarded by a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

b)         Each candidate shall:

1)         have completed an Illinois program approved for the preparation of directors of special education pursuant to Subpart C of this Part or a comparable approved program in another state or country or hold a comparable certificate issued by another state or country (see Section 25.425 of this Part); or

2)         submit, along with the application for the endorsement and the applicable fee, a copy of a letter of approval as an administrator of special education issued by the State Board of Education at any time; or

3)         submit, along with the application for the endorsement and the applicable fee, evidence of holding an administrative certificate, and having completed 30 semester hours of coursework, distributed among all the areas listed in this subsection (b)(3).

A)        Survey of exceptional children.

B)        Special methods courses covering at least three areas of disability.

C)        Educational and psychological diagnosis and remedial techniques.

D)        Guidance and counseling.

E)         Supervision of programs for children with disabilities.

c)         Each candidate shall have two years' full-time teaching experience or school service personnel experience in a field other than school nursing in public schools, schools under the supervision of the Department of Corrections, schools under the administration of the Department of Human Services, or nonpublic schools recognized by the State Board of Education or meeting comparable out-of-state recognition standards.

d)         Each candidate shall be required to pass the applicable content-area test (see Section 25.710 of this Part), as well as the test of basic skills if its passage would be required for receipt of a subsequent certificate pursuant to Section 25.720 of this Part.

e)         Nothing in this Section is intended to preclude the issuance of a provisional certificate under Section 21-10 of the School Code.

(Source:  Amended at 30 Ill. Reg. 1835, effective January 26, 2006)