Bill Text: IL HB0392 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Amends the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Act. Makes changes concerning the purposes and goals of the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative, the definitions of certain terms, including adding a definition of "cohort", the composition of a consortium, candidate qualifications, a cohort's education (instead of training), collective consortium decision-making, supportive services, the program of forgivable loans, the award of grants under the Initiative, the inclusion of certain costs in program budgets, and funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)

Status: (Passed) 2009-08-07 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 96-0144 [HB0392 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB0392-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 HB0392 Introduced 2/3/2009, by Rep. Esther Golar SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
110 ILCS 48/5
110 ILCS 48/10
110 ILCS 48/20
110 ILCS 48/25
Amends the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Act. Makes changes concerning the purposes and goals of the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative, the definitions of certain terms, including adding a definition of "cohort", the composition of a consortium, candidate qualifications, a cohort's education (instead of training), collective consortium decision-making, supportive services, the program of forgivable loans, the award of grants under the Initiative, the inclusion of certain costs in program budgets, and funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning education.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Grow Your Own Teacher Education Act is
amended by changing Sections 5, 10, 20, and 25 as follows:
(110 ILCS 48/5)
Sec. 5. Purpose. The Grow Your Own Teacher preparation
programs established under this Act shall comprise a major new
statewide initiative, known as the Grow Your 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 Your Own Teacher Education Initiative shall
effectively recruit and prepare parent and community leaders
and paraeducators to become effective teachers statewide in
hard-to-staff schools serving a substantial percentage of
low-income students 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 and , ethnicity,
and disability.
The Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative shall ensure

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educational rigor by effectively preparing candidates in
accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, through
which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure an
Illinois initial teaching certificate.
The goal of the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative
is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income, 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.
(Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
(110 ILCS 48/10)
Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:
"Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or
regionally accredited, Illinois approved teacher education
higher education program authorized to prepare individuals to
fulfill all of the requirements to receive an Illinois initial
teaching certificate.
"Cohort" means a group of teacher education candidates who
are enrolled in and share experiences in the same program and
are linked by their desire to become Illinois teachers in
hard-to-staff schools and by their need for the services and
supports offered by the Initiative.
"Community organization" means a nonprofit organization
that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and
organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that

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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.
"Developmental classes" means classes in basic skill
areas, such as mathematics and language arts that are
prerequisite to, but not counted towards, degree requirements
of a teacher preparation program.
"Eligible school" means a public elementary, middle, or
secondary school in this State that serves a substantial
percentage of low-income students and that is either hard to
staff or has hard-to-staff teaching positions.
"Hard-to-staff school" means a public elementary, middle,
or secondary school in this State that, based on data compiled
by the State Board of Education, serves a substantial
percentage of low-income students, as defined by the State
Board ranks in the upper third among public schools of its type
(elementary, middle, or secondary) in terms of rate of
attrition of its teachers.
"Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching
category (such as special education, bilingual 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

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critical need by the local school board.
"Initiative" means the Grow Your Own Teacher Education
Initiative created under this Act.
"Paraeducator" "Paraeducators" means an individual
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 that meet the definition of a hard-to-staff school
under this Section serving a substantial percentage of
low-income students.
"Parent and community leader leaders" means an individual
who has or had a child enrolled in a school or schools that
meet the definition of a hard-to-staff school under this
Section and who has a history of active involvement in the
school or who has individuals with a history of working to
improve 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.

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"Program" means a Grow Your Own Teacher preparation program
established by a consortium under this Act.
"Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
students" means schools that maintain any of grades
pre-kindergarten through 8, in which at least 35% of the
students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches
and schools that maintain any of grades 9 through 12, in which
at least 25% of the students are eligible to receive free or
reduced price lunches.
"State Board" means the State Board of Education.
(Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
(110 ILCS 48/20)
Sec. 20. Selection of grantees. The State Board shall award
grants to qualified consortia that reflect the distribution and
diversity of hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff positions
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, and the nature
of hard-to-staff schools and 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

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4-year institution of higher education with an Illinois
approved accredited teacher preparation program, at least
one school district or group of schools, and one or more
community organizations. The consortium membership may
also include a 2-year institution of higher education, or a
school employee union, or a regional office of education 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 eligible schools that will participate in the program.
The consortium shall articulate the steps that it will
carry out in preparing teachers for its participating
schools and in preparing teachers for one or more
hard-to-staff teaching positions in those schools.
(4) A candidate 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 leader
leaders" or the definition of "paraeducator"
"paraeducators" contained in Section 10 of this Act, must
not have attended college right after high school or must
have experienced an interruption in his or her college
education, and does not hold a bachelor's degree.

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(5) The consortium shall employ effective procedures
for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare
highly competent teachers. Professional preparation shall
include on-going direct experience in target schools and
evaluation of this experience.
(6) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts
of candidates, as defined in Section 10 of this Act, who
begin by moving through the program together. The program
shall be offered on a schedule that enables candidates to
work full time while participating in the program and
allows paraeducators to continue in their current
positions. In any fiscal year in which an appropriation for
the Initiative is made, the consortium shall guarantee that
support will be available to an admitted cohort for the
cohort's education training for that fiscal year. At the
beginning of the Initiative, programs that are already
operating and existing cohorts of candidates 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

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address the following issues:
(A) Previous experience of the institutions of
higher education in preparing candidates 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
candidates.
(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 candidates to be educated trained
in the planned 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 candidates.
(G) The consortium's plan for collective

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consortium decision-making, involving all consortium
members, including mechanisms for community and
candidate input.
(H) The consortium's plan for direct impact of the
program on the quality of education in the eligible
schools.
(I) The relevance of the curriculum to the needs of
the eligible schools and positions, and the use in
curriculum and instructional planning of principles
for effective education for adults.
(J) The availability of classes under the program
in places and times accessible to the candidates.
(K) Provision of a level of performance to be
maintained by candidates as a condition of continuing
in the program.
(L) The plan of the 4-year institution of higher
education to ensure that candidates 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, but not limited to, counseling, tutoring,
transportation, technology and technology support, 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.

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(O) A plan for testing and qualitative evaluation
of candidates' teaching skills that ensures that
graduates of the program are as prepared for teaching
as other individuals completing the institution of
higher education's preparation program for the
certificate sought.
(P) A plan for internal evaluation that provides
reports at least yearly on the progress of candidates
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 candidates 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.
(S) The inclusion in the planned program of
strategies derived from community organizing that will
help candidates develop tools for working with parents
and other community members.
(Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
(110 ILCS 48/25)
Sec. 25. Expenditures under the Initiative.
(a) Every program under the Initiative shall implement a

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program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of tuition,
books, and fees and direct expenses of candidates under the
program in excess of the candidates' grants-in-aid and other
forgivable loans received. All students admitted to a cohort
shall be eligible for a forgivable student loan such loans.
Loans shall be fully forgiven if a graduate completes 5 years
of service in hard-to-staff schools or hard-to-staff teaching
positions, with partial forgiveness for shorter periods of
service. The State Board shall establish standards for the
approval of requests for waivers or deferrals from individuals
to waive of this obligation for individual candidates. The
State Board shall also define standards for the fiscal
management of these loan funds.
(b) The State Board shall award grants Grants under the
Initiative shall be awarded in such a way as to provide the
required support for a cohort of candidates for any fiscal year
in which an appropriation for the Initiative is made. Program
budgets must show expenditures and needed funds for the entire
period that candidates 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 candidates.
(d) Where necessary, program budgets shall include the
costs of child care and other indirect expenses, such as
transportation, tutoring, technology, and technology support,
that are necessary to permit candidates to maintain their class

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schedules. Grant funds may be used by any member of a
consortium to offset such costs, and the services may be ,
whether the needed services are provided by the community
organization or organizations, by any other are provided by
another member of the consortium, or by independent contractors
are independently contracted for.
(e) The institution of higher education may expend grant
funds to cover 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 candidates, for providing space in the community, and
for working with school personnel to facilitate individual work
experiences and support of candidates.
(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 candidates and providing
mentors for graduates. Notwithstanding the provisions of
Section 10-20.15 of the School Code, school districts may also
use these or other applicable public funds to pay participants
in programs under the Initiative for student teaching required
by an accredited teacher preparation program.
(h) One or more members member of the consortium may expend
funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator.
(i) Grant funds may also be expended to pay directly for

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required developmental classes for candidates beginning a
program.
(Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.