Sen. James A. DeLeo

Filed: 2/26/2010

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 3111

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 3111 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
 
4     "Section 5. The School Code is amended by changing Section
5 14-9.01 as follows:
 
6     (105 ILCS 5/14-9.01)  (from Ch. 122, par. 14-9.01)
7     Sec. 14-9.01. Qualifications of teachers, other
8 professional personnel and necessary workers. No person shall
9 be employed to teach any class or program authorized by this
10 Article who does not hold a valid teacher's certificate as
11 provided by law and unless he has had such special training as
12 the State Board of Education may require. No special
13 certificate or endorsement to a special certificate issued
14 under Section 21-4 on or after July 1, 1994, shall be valid for
15 teaching students with visual disabilities unless the person to
16 whom the certificate or endorsement is issued has attained

 

 

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1 satisfactory performance on an examination that is designed to
2 assess competency in Braille reading and writing skills
3 according to standards that the State Board of Education may
4 adopt. Evidence of successfully completing the examination of
5 Braille reading and writing skills must be submitted to the
6 State Board of Education prior to an applicant's examination of
7 the subject matter knowledge test required under Section 21-1a.
8 Beginning July 1, 1995, in addition to other requirements, a
9 candidate for a teaching certification in the area of the deaf
10 and hard of hearing granted by the Illinois State Board of
11 Education for teaching deaf and hard of hearing students in
12 grades pre-school through grade 12 must demonstrate a minimum
13 proficiency in sign language as determined by the Illinois
14 State Board of Education. All other professional personnel
15 employed in any class, service, or program authorized by this
16 Article shall hold such certificates and shall have had such
17 special training as the State Board of Education may require;
18 provided that in a school district organized under Article 34,
19 the school district may employ speech and language pathologists
20 who are licensed under the Illinois Speech-Language Pathology
21 and Audiology Practice Act but who do not hold a certificate
22 issued under the School Code if the district certifies that a
23 chronic shortage of certified personnel exists. Nothing
24 contained in this Act prohibits the school board from employing
25 necessary workers to assist the teacher with the special
26 educational facilities, except that all such necessary workers

 

 

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1 must have had such training as the State Board of Education may
2 require. The training for special education teacher assistants
3 must include, without limitation, the following:
4         (1) Training on the legal requirements of the
5     individualized education program (IEP), including access
6     to general education curriculum and access to general
7     education classrooms for students who receive special
8     education services. This should include (i) the importance
9     of confidentiality, (ii) the legal requirements for
10     individuals who are working within a school system, (iii)
11     the appropriate and least restrictive settings for
12     children with disabilities, (iv) the parents' rights under
13     the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in
14     defining the IEP agreement in collaboration with the school
15     system, and (v) understanding that developmentally
16     informed goals, objectives, and methods are the standard
17     for an appropriate education.
18         (2) Training on specific disabilities and the
19     potential impact these disabilities may have on a student's
20     ability to access the various components of their
21     education. This should include understanding children's
22     individual differences, beyond their diagnoses, regarding
23     their physical needs, academic needs, communication needs,
24     functional needs, health needs, developmentally
25     appropriate needs, social and emotional needs, and
26     cognitive needs and those specific disabilities. This

 

 

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1     training should be individualized for the teacher
2     assistant, according to their duties and students. It
3     should also include specific elements of instruction
4     related to the individual students to which that assistant
5     is assigned, and those students' needs, including the level
6     of family support with homework and other school chores.
7         (3) Training on specific curriculum needs and how that
8     curriculum might be modified for individual students. The
9     training should include an understanding of the difference
10     between accommodations that are specific to the needs of
11     students and modifications of the curriculum should be part
12     of that training. The training should provide assistants
13     with information and strategies on how to make those
14     modifications so that they are appropriate for the student
15     and meet the requirements of the teacher. Having a general
16     knowledge about the various types and formats of making
17     modifications is important to the success of that
18     assistant, and ultimately their students.
19         (4) Training on specific specialized competencies and
20     strategies that might be used with an individual student,
21     according to that student's needs. This training on
22     competencies and strategies should be specific to the
23     students with whom that assistant is assigned, and their
24     specialized needs. These strategies might be
25     implementation of academic materials and programs, social
26     and emotional strategies, behavior and developmentally

 

 

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1     appropriate strategies, or physical strategies. This
2     training should provide an emphasis on the need for
3     students to learn to solve academic, social, and emotional
4     problems, to learn to focus and be calm and attentive, to
5     communicate, and to do independent work and routines and
6     the importance of teaching students with disabilities
7     independence.
8         (5) Training on the medical needs of students as
9     needed. This might include training on the feeding,
10     positioning, lifting, and care of body needs for specific
11     students.
12         (6) Training on the elements of data collection and how
13     it is used within the individualized education program
14     process to document progress. Teacher assistants are often
15     a part of the daily contact with students and are asked to
16     provide feedback and information on progress that might be
17     connected to individualized education program goals. The
18     training on effective data collection is important for
19     teacher assistants to understand. This training should
20     include specific information related to the needs of the
21     students to which that assistant is assigned to teach.
22         (7) Training on collaboration and how the teaming
23     process and how working within a team including parents and
24     other professionals create success for the student. This
25     training should include specific information on how the
26     team functions and the expectations and roles that are

 

 

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1     defined for each individual assistant. This training
2     should include discussion on family communication goals
3     and the roles each team member has in fostering positive
4     communication.
5         (8) Training regarding collaborative practices with
6     parents that involve parents directly in making choices
7     that affect their child within the school or educational
8     environment.
9         (9) Training on developmentally appropriate
10     competencies and strategies that recognize and understand
11     the functions of behavior. Teacher assistants should
12     become familiar with basic concepts related to emotion and
13     behavior, in regards to the child they will assist and in
14     regards to their own emotions and behaviors that can assist
15     the specific child better. This training should include
16     specific information on the functional analysis of
17     emotions and behaviors and the specific strategies used for
18     the students with whom they work. Some commonly used
19     classroom management strategies and how to anticipate,
20     prevent, address, and redirect student non-compliance
21     should be part of this training.
22     No later than January 1, 1993, the State Board of Education
23 shall develop, in consultation with the Advisory Council on the
24 Education of Children with Disabilities and the Advisory
25 Council on Bilingual Education, rules governing the
26 qualifications for certification of teachers and school

 

 

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1 service personnel providing services to limited English
2 proficient students receiving special education and related
3 services.
4     The employment of any teacher in a special education
5 program provided for in Sections 14-1.01 to 14-14.01,
6 inclusive, shall be subject to the provisions of Sections 24-11
7 to 24-16, inclusive. Any teacher employed in a special
8 education program, prior to the effective date of this
9 amendatory Act of 1987, in which 2 or more districts
10 participate shall enter upon contractual continued service in
11 each of the participating districts subject to the provisions
12 of Sections 24-11 to 24-16, inclusive.
13 (Source: P.A. 92-651, eff. 7-11-02.)
 
14     Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
15 becoming law.".