Public Act 093-0802
 
SB1550 Enrolled LRB093 03070 NHT 03087 b

    AN ACT in relation to education.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Grow
Our Own Teacher Education Act.
 
    Section 5. Purpose. The Grow Our Own Teacher preparation
programs established under this Act shall comprise a major new
statewide initiative, known as the Grow Our Own Teacher
Education Initiative, to prepare highly skilled, committed
teachers who will teach in hard-to-staff schools and
hard-to-staff teaching positions and who will remain in these
schools for substantial periods of time.
     The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall
effectively recruit and prepare parent and community leaders
and paraeducators to become effective teachers and teacher
leaders statewide in hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff
teaching positions in schools serving a substantial percentage
of low-income students. Further, the Initiative shall increase
the diversity of teachers, including diversity based on race,
ethnicity, and disability.
    The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall ensure
educational rigor by effectively preparing students in
accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, through
which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure an
Illinois standard teaching certificate.
    The goal of the Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative
is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income and other hard-to-staff
Illinois schools by 2016 with an average retention period of 7
years, as opposed to the current rate of 2.5 years for new
teachers in such areas.
 
    Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
     "Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or
regionally accredited higher education program authorized to
prepare individuals to fulfill all of the requirements to
receive an Illinois standard teaching certificate.
     "Hard-to-staff school" means an elementary or secondary
school that, based on data compiled by the State Board of
Education, ranks in the upper third of schools in this State on
a combined index measuring the percentage of the school's
teachers who are not fully certified and the percentage of the
school's teachers who leave their positions annually.
     "Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching
category (such as special education, mathematics, or science)
in which statewide data compiled by the State Board of
Education indicates a multi-year pattern of substantial
teacher shortage or that has been identified as a critical need
by the local school board.
    "Initiative" means the Grow Our Own Teacher Education
Initiative created under this Act.
    "Paraeducators" means individuals with a history of
demonstrated accomplishments in school staff positions (such
as teacher assistants, school-community liaisons, school
clerks, and security aides) in schools serving a substantial
percentage of low-income students.
    "Parent and community leaders" means individuals with a
significant history of involvement in improving schools
serving a substantial percentage of low-income students,
including membership in a community organization.
     "Community organization" means a nonprofit organization
that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and
organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that
will hold the school and the school district accountable for
achieving high academic standards; in addition to
organizations with a geographic focus, "community
organization" includes general parent organizations,
organizations of special education or bilingual education
parents, and school employee unions.
    "Program" means a Grow Our Own Teacher preparation program
established by a consortium under this Act.
    "Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
students" means schools whose percentage of students receiving
free or reduced-price lunches is at or above the
district-average percentage.
     "State Board" means the State Board of Education.
 
    Section 15. Creation of Initiative. The Grow Our Own
Teacher Education Initiative is created. The State Board shall
administer the Initiative as a grant competition to fund
consortia that will carry out Grow Our Own Teacher preparation
programs.
 
    Section 20. Selection of grantees. The State Board shall
award grants to up to 10 qualified consortia that reflect the
distribution and diversity of target hard-to-staff schools
across this State. In awarding grants, the State Board shall
select programs that successfully address Initiative criteria
and that reflect a diversity of strategies in terms of serving
urban areas, serving rural areas, the nature of the
participating institutions of higher education, whether
participants will be trained at the baccalaureate or master's
level, and the nature of hard-to-staff teaching positions on
which a program is focused.
    The State Board shall select consortia that meet the
following requirements:
        (1) A consortium shall be composed of at least one
    4-year institution of higher education with an accredited
    teacher preparation program, at least one school district
    or group of schools, and one or more community
    organizations. The consortium may also include a 2-year
    institution of higher education or a school employee union
    or both.
        (2) The 4-year institution of higher education
    participating in the consortium shall have past,
    demonstrated success in preparing teachers for elementary
    or secondary schools serving a substantial percentage of
    low-income students.
        (3) The consortium shall focus on a clearly defined set
    of target schools serving a substantial percentage of
    low-income students that will be the primary focus of the
    program. The consortium shall articulate the steps that it
    will carry out in preparing teachers for its target
    hard-to-staff schools and in preparing teachers for one or
    more hard-to-staff teaching positions in its target
    schools.
        (4) Student participants in a program under the
    Initiative must hold a high school diploma or its
    equivalent and must meet either the definition of "parent
    and community leaders" or the definition of
    "paraeducators" contained in Section 10 of this Act.
        (5) The consortium shall employ effective procedures
    for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare
    highly competent teachers. Instruction shall include
    on-going direct experience in target schools and analysis
    of this experience.
        (6) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts
    of students who begin by moving through the program
    together. The program shall be offered on a schedule that
    enables students to work full time while participating in
    the program and allows paraeducators to continue in their
    current positions. The consortium shall guarantee that
    support will be available to an admitted cohort through the
    cohort's full period of training. At the beginning of the
    Initiative, programs that are already operating and
    existing cohorts of students under this model shall be
    eligible for funding.
        (7) The institutions of higher education participating
    in the consortium shall document and agree to expend the
    same amount of funds in implementing the program that these
    institutions spend per student on similar educational
    programs. Grants received by the consortium shall
    supplement and not supplant these amounts.
        (8) The State Board shall establish additional
    criteria for review of proposals, including criteria that
    address the following issues:
            (A) Previous experience of the institutions of
        higher education in preparing students for
        hard-to-staff schools and positions and in working
        with students with non-traditional backgrounds.
            (B) The quality of the implementation plan,
        including strategies for overcoming institutional
        barriers to the progress of non-traditional students.
            (C) If a community college is a participant, the
        nature and extent of existing articulation agreements
        and guarantees between the community college and the
        4-year institution of higher education.
            (D) The number of participants to be trained in the
        current cohort or cohorts and the capacity of the
        consortium for adding cohorts in future cycles.
            (E) Experience of the community organization or
        organizations in organizing parents and community
        leaders to achieve school improvement and a strong
        relational school culture.
            (F) The qualifications of the person or persons
        designated by the 4-year institution of higher
        education to be responsible for cohort support and the
        development of a shared learning and social
        environment among participants.
            (G) The consortium's plan for collective
        consortium decision-making, including mechanisms for
        community and participant input.
            (H) The consortium's plan for direct impact of the
        program on the quality of education in the target
        schools.
            (I) The relevance of the curriculum to the needs of
        targeted schools and positions, and the use in
        curriculum and instructional planning of principles
        for effective adult education.
            (J) The availability of classes under the program
        in places and times accessible to the participants.
            (K) Provision of a level of performance to be
        maintained by participants as a condition of
        continuing in the program.
            (L) The plan of the 4-year institution of higher
        education to ensure that students take advantage of
        existing financial aid resources before using the loan
        funds described in Section 25 of this Act.
            (M) The availability of supportive services,
        including counseling, tutoring, and child care.
            (N) A plan for continued participation of
        graduates of the program in a program of support for at
        least 2 years, including mentoring and group meetings.
            (O) A plan for testing and qualitative evaluation
        of participants' teaching skills that ensures that
        graduates of the program are as prepared for teaching
        as those from the conventional teacher training
        program of the 4-year institution of higher education.
            (P) A plan for internal evaluation that provides
        reports at least yearly on the progress of participants
        towards graduation and the impact of the program on the
        target schools and their communities.
            (Q) Contributions from schools, school districts,
        and other consortia members to the program, including
        stipends for participants during their student
        teaching.
            (R) Consortium commitment for sustaining the
        program over time, as evidenced by plans for reduced
        requirements for external funding in subsequent
        cycles.
 
    Section 25. Expenditures under the Initiative.
    (a) Every program under the Initiative shall implement and
manage a program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of
tuition and direct expenses of students under the program in
excess of grants-in-aid and other forgivable loans received.
All students admitted to a cohort shall be eligible for such
loans. Loans shall be fully forgiven if a graduate completes 5
years of service in a hard-to-staff school or hard-to-staff
teaching position.
    (b) Grants under the Initiative shall be awarded in such a
way as to provide the required support for a cohort of students
for the cohort's entire training period. Program budgets must
show expenditures for the entire period that participants are
expected to be enrolled.
    (c) No funds under the Initiative may be used to supplant
the average per-capita expenditures by the institution of
higher education for students in regular education degree
programs.
    (d) Where necessary, program budgets shall include the
costs of child care to permit parents to maintain a full class
schedule. Child care may be provided by the community
organization or organizations or be independently contracted
for.
    (e) The institution of higher education may expend grant
funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator
and the additional costs of offering classes in community
settings and for tutoring services.
    (f) The community organization or organizations may
receive a portion of the grant money for the expenses of
recruitment, community orientation, and counseling of
potential participants, for providing space in the community,
and for working with school personnel to facilitate individual
work experiences and support of participants.
    (g) The school district or school employee union or both
may receive a portion of the grant money for expenses of
supporting the work experiences of participants and providing
mentors for graduates.
 
    Section 30. Implementation of Initiative. The State Board
shall develop guidelines and application procedures for the
Initiative in fiscal year 2005. The State Board may, if it
chooses, award a small number of planning grants during fiscal
year 2005 to potential consortia using existing resources. The
first programs under the Initiative shall be awarded grants in
such a way as to allow participants to begin their work at the
beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.
 
    Section 35. Independent program evaluation. The State
Board shall contract for an independent evaluation of program
implementation by each of its participating consortia and of
the impact of each program, including the extent of student
persistence in program enrollment, acceptance as an education
major in a 4-year institution of higher education, completion
of a bachelor's degree in teaching, obtaining a teaching
position in a target school or similar school, subsequent
effectiveness as a teacher, and persistence in teaching in a
target school or similar school. The evaluation shall assess
the Initiative's overall effectiveness and shall identify
particular program strategies that are especially effective.
 
    Section 40. Funding. Funding of the Initiative is subject
to appropriation.
 
    Section 90. Rules. The State Board may adopt any rules
necessary to carry out its responsibilities under this Act.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
1, 2005.

Effective Date: 1/1/2005