(105 ILCS 5/21-5c)
    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2015)
    Sec. 21-5c. Alternative route to teacher certification. The State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Teacher Certification Board, shall establish and implement one or more alternative route to teacher certification programs under which persons who meet the requirements of and successfully complete the programs established by this Section shall be issued an initial teaching certificate for teaching in schools in this State. The State Board of Education may approve a course of study that persons in such programs must successfully complete in order to satisfy one criterion for issuance of a certificate under this Section. The Alternative Route to Teacher Certification programs course of study must include content and skills which have been approved by the State Board of Education, in consultation with the State Teacher Certification Board, as meeting the requirement for State teacher certification.
    Programs established under this Section shall be known as Alternative Route to Teacher Certification programs. The programs may be offered by a university that offers 4-year baccalaureate and masters degree programs and that is a recognized institution as defined in Section 21B-105 of this Code, by one or more not-for-profit organizations in the State, or a combination thereof. The programs shall be comprised of the following 3 phases: (a) a course of study offered on an intensive basis in education theory, instructional methods, and practice teaching; (b) the person's assignment to a full-time teaching position for one school year, including the designation of a mentor teacher to advise and assist the person with that teaching assignment; and (c) a comprehensive assessment of the person's teaching performance by school officials and program participants and a recommendation by the program sponsor to the State Board of Education that the person be issued an initial teaching certificate. Successful completion of Alternative Route to Teacher Certification programs shall be deemed to satisfy any other practice or student teaching and subject matter requirements established by law.
    A provisional alternative teaching certificate, valid for one year of teaching in the common schools and not renewable, shall be issued under this Section 21-5c to persons who at the time of applying for the provisional alternative teaching certificate under this Section:
        (1) have graduated from an accredited college or
    
university with a bachelor's degree;
        (2) have been employed for a period of at least 5
    
years in an area requiring application of the individual's education;
        (3) have successfully completed the first phase of
    
the Alternative Teacher Certification program as provided in this Section; and
        (4) have passed the tests of basic skills and subject
    
matter knowledge required by Section 21-1a.
    An initial teaching certificate, valid for teaching in the common schools, shall be issued under Section 21-3 or 21-5 to persons who first complete the requirements for the provisional alternative teaching certificate and who at the time of applying for an initial teaching certificate have successfully completed the second and third phases of the Alternative Route to Teacher Certification program as provided in this Section.
    A person possessing a provisional alternative certificate or an initial teaching certificate earned under this Section shall be treated as a regularly certified teacher for purposes of compensation, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment afforded teachers in the school who are members of a bargaining unit represented by an exclusive bargaining representative, if any.
    The State Board of Education may adopt rules and regulations that are consistent with this Section and that the State Board deems necessary to establish and implement the program.
    No one may be admitted to an alternative certification program under this Section after September 1, 2013, and those candidates who are admitted on or before September 1, 2013 must complete the program before January 1, 2015.
    This Section is repealed on January 1, 2015.
(Source: P.A. 96-862, eff. 1-15-10; 97-607, eff. 8-26-11; 97-702, eff. 6-25-12.)