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1     AN ACT concerning education.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 5. The Grow Your Own Teacher Education Act is
5 amended by changing Sections 5, 10, 20, and 25 as follows:
 
6     (110 ILCS 48/5)
7     Sec. 5. Purpose. The Grow Your Own Teacher preparation
8 programs established under this Act shall comprise a major new
9 statewide initiative, known as the Grow Your Own Teacher
10 Education Initiative, to prepare highly skilled, committed
11 teachers who will teach in hard-to-staff schools and
12 hard-to-staff teaching positions and who will remain in these
13 schools for substantial periods of time.
14      The Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative shall
15 effectively recruit and prepare parent and community leaders
16 and paraeducators to become effective teachers statewide in
17 hard-to-staff schools serving a substantial percentage of
18 low-income students and hard-to-staff teaching positions in
19 schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
20 students. Further, the Initiative shall increase the diversity
21 of teachers, including diversity based on race and , ethnicity,
22 and disability.
23     The Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative shall ensure

 

 

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1 educational rigor by effectively preparing candidates in
2 accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, through
3 which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure an
4 Illinois initial teaching certificate.
5     The goal of the Grow Your Own Teacher Education Initiative
6 is to add 1,000 teachers to low-income, hard-to-staff Illinois
7 schools by 2016 with an average retention period of 7 years, as
8 opposed to the current rate of 2.5 years for new teachers in
9 such areas.
10 (Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
 
11     (110 ILCS 48/10)
12     Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:
13     "Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or
14 regionally accredited, Illinois approved teacher education
15 higher education program authorized to prepare individuals to
16 fulfill all of the requirements to receive an Illinois initial
17 teaching certificate.
18     "Cohort" means a group of teacher education candidates who
19 are enrolled in and share experiences in the same program and
20 are linked by their desire to become Illinois teachers in
21 hard-to-staff schools and by their need for the services and
22 supports offered by the Initiative.
23     "Community organization" means a nonprofit organization
24 that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and
25 organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that

 

 

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1 will hold the school and the school district accountable for
2 achieving high academic standards; in addition to
3 organizations with a geographic focus, "community
4 organization" includes general parent organizations,
5 organizations of special education or bilingual education
6 parents, and school employee unions.
7     "Developmental classes" means classes in basic skill
8 areas, such as mathematics and language arts that are
9 prerequisite to, but not counted towards, degree requirements
10 of a teacher preparation program.
11     "Eligible school" means a public elementary, middle, or
12 secondary school in this State that serves a substantial
13 percentage of low-income students and that is either hard to
14 staff or has hard-to-staff teaching positions.
15     "Hard-to-staff school" means a public elementary, middle,
16 or secondary school in this State that, based on data compiled
17 by the State Board of Education, serves a substantial
18 percentage of low-income students, as defined by the State
19 Board ranks in the upper third among public schools of its type
20 (elementary, middle, or secondary) in terms of rate of
21 attrition of its teachers.
22     "Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching
23 category (such as special education, bilingual education,
24 mathematics, or science) in which statewide data compiled by
25 the State Board of Education indicates a multi-year pattern of
26 substantial teacher shortage or that has been identified as a

 

 

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1 critical need by the local school board.
2     "Initiative" means the Grow Your Own Teacher Education
3 Initiative created under this Act.
4     "Paraeducator" "Paraeducators" means an individual
5 individuals with a history of demonstrated accomplishments in
6 school staff positions (such as teacher assistants,
7 school-community liaisons, school clerks, and security aides)
8 in schools that meet the definition of a hard-to-staff school
9 under this Section serving a substantial percentage of
10 low-income students.
11     "Parent and community leader leaders" means an individual
12 who has or had a child enrolled in a school or schools that
13 meet the definition of a hard-to-staff school under this
14 Section and who has a history of active involvement in the
15 school or who has individuals with a history of working to
16 improve schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
17 students, including membership in a community organization.
18     "Community organization" means a nonprofit organization
19 that has a demonstrated capacity to train, develop, and
20 organize parents and community leaders into a constituency that
21 will hold the school and the school district accountable for
22 achieving high academic standards; in addition to
23 organizations with a geographic focus, "community
24 organization" includes general parent organizations,
25 organizations of special education or bilingual education
26 parents, and school employee unions.

 

 

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1     "Program" means a Grow Your Own Teacher preparation program
2 established by a consortium under this Act.
3     "Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income
4 students" means schools that maintain any of grades
5 pre-kindergarten through 8, in which at least 35% of the
6 students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches
7 and schools that maintain any of grades 9 through 12, in which
8 at least 25% of the students are eligible to receive free or
9 reduced price lunches.
10     "State Board" means the State Board of Education.
11 (Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
 
12     (110 ILCS 48/20)
13     Sec. 20. Selection of grantees. The State Board shall award
14 grants to qualified consortia that reflect the distribution and
15 diversity of hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff positions
16 across this State. In awarding grants, the State Board shall
17 select programs that successfully address Initiative criteria
18 and that reflect a diversity of strategies in terms of serving
19 urban areas, serving rural areas, the nature of the
20 participating institutions of higher education, and the nature
21 of hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff teaching positions
22 on which a program is focused.
23     The State Board shall select consortia that meet the
24 following requirements:
25         (1) A consortium shall be composed of at least one

 

 

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1     4-year institution of higher education with an Illinois
2     approved accredited teacher preparation program, at least
3     one school district or group of schools, and one or more
4     community organizations. The consortium membership may
5     also include a 2-year institution of higher education, or a
6     school employee union, or a regional office of education or
7     both.
8         (2) The 4-year institution of higher education
9     participating in the consortium shall have past,
10     demonstrated success in preparing teachers for elementary
11     or secondary schools serving a substantial percentage of
12     low-income students.
13         (3) The consortium shall focus on a clearly defined set
14     of eligible schools that will participate in the program.
15     The consortium shall articulate the steps that it will
16     carry out in preparing teachers for its participating
17     schools and in preparing teachers for one or more
18     hard-to-staff teaching positions in those schools.
19         (4) A candidate in a program under the Initiative must
20     hold a high school diploma or its equivalent, and must meet
21     either the definition of "parent and community leader
22     leaders" or the definition of "paraeducator"
23     "paraeducators" contained in Section 10 of this Act, must
24     not have attended college right after high school or must
25     have experienced an interruption in his or her college
26     education, and does not hold a bachelor's degree.

 

 

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1         (5) The consortium shall employ effective procedures
2     for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare
3     highly competent teachers. Professional preparation shall
4     include on-going direct experience in target schools and
5     evaluation of this experience.
6         (6) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts
7     of candidates, as defined in Section 10 of this Act, who
8     begin by moving through the program together. The program
9     shall be offered on a schedule that enables candidates to
10     work full time while participating in the program and
11     allows paraeducators to continue in their current
12     positions. In any fiscal year in which an appropriation for
13     the Initiative is made, the consortium shall guarantee that
14     support will be available to an admitted cohort for the
15     cohort's education training for that fiscal year. At the
16     beginning of the Initiative, programs that are already
17     operating and existing cohorts of candidates under this
18     model shall be eligible for funding.
19         (7) The institutions of higher education participating
20     in the consortium shall document and agree to expend the
21     same amount of funds in implementing the program that these
22     institutions spend per student on similar educational
23     programs. Grants received by the consortium shall
24     supplement and not supplant these amounts.
25         (8) The State Board shall establish additional
26     criteria for review of proposals, including criteria that

 

 

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1     address the following issues:
2             (A) Previous experience of the institutions of
3         higher education in preparing candidates for
4         hard-to-staff schools and positions and in working
5         with students with non-traditional backgrounds.
6             (B) The quality of the implementation plan,
7         including strategies for overcoming institutional
8         barriers to the progress of non-traditional
9         candidates.
10             (C) If a community college is a participant, the
11         nature and extent of existing articulation agreements
12         and guarantees between the community college and the
13         4-year institution of higher education.
14             (D) The number of candidates to be educated trained
15         in the planned cohort or cohorts and the capacity of
16         the consortium for adding cohorts in future cycles.
17             (E) Experience of the community organization or
18         organizations in organizing parents and community
19         leaders to achieve school improvement and a strong
20         relational school culture.
21             (F) The qualifications of the person or persons
22         designated by the 4-year institution of higher
23         education to be responsible for cohort support and the
24         development of a shared learning and social
25         environment among candidates.
26             (G) The consortium's plan for collective

 

 

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1         consortium decision-making, involving all consortium
2         members, including mechanisms for community and
3         candidate input.
4             (H) The consortium's plan for direct impact of the
5         program on the quality of education in the eligible
6         schools.
7             (I) The relevance of the curriculum to the needs of
8         the eligible schools and positions, and the use in
9         curriculum and instructional planning of principles
10         for effective education for adults.
11             (J) The availability of classes under the program
12         in places and times accessible to the candidates.
13             (K) Provision of a level of performance to be
14         maintained by candidates as a condition of continuing
15         in the program.
16             (L) The plan of the 4-year institution of higher
17         education to ensure that candidates take advantage of
18         existing financial aid resources before using the loan
19         funds described in Section 25 of this Act.
20             (M) The availability of supportive services,
21         including, but not limited to, counseling, tutoring,
22         transportation, technology and technology support, and
23         child care.
24             (N) A plan for continued participation of
25         graduates of the program in a program of support for at
26         least 2 years, including mentoring and group meetings.

 

 

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1             (O) A plan for testing and qualitative evaluation
2         of candidates' teaching skills that ensures that
3         graduates of the program are as prepared for teaching
4         as other individuals completing the institution of
5         higher education's preparation program for the
6         certificate sought.
7             (P) A plan for internal evaluation that provides
8         reports at least yearly on the progress of candidates
9         towards graduation and the impact of the program on the
10         target schools and their communities.
11             (Q) Contributions from schools, school districts,
12         and other consortia members to the program, including
13         stipends for candidates during their student teaching.
14             (R) Consortium commitment for sustaining the
15         program over time, as evidenced by plans for reduced
16         requirements for external funding, in subsequent
17         cycles.
18             (S) The inclusion in the planned program of
19         strategies derived from community organizing that will
20         help candidates develop tools for working with parents
21         and other community members.
22 (Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)
 
23     (110 ILCS 48/25)
24     Sec. 25. Expenditures under the Initiative.
25     (a) Every program under the Initiative shall implement a

 

 

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1 program of forgivable loans to cover any portion of tuition,
2 books, and fees and direct expenses of candidates under the
3 program in excess of the candidates' grants-in-aid and other
4 forgivable loans received. All students admitted to a cohort
5 shall be eligible for a forgivable student loan such loans.
6 Loans shall be fully forgiven if a graduate completes 5 years
7 of service in hard-to-staff schools or hard-to-staff teaching
8 positions, with partial forgiveness for shorter periods of
9 service. The State Board shall establish standards for the
10 approval of requests for waivers or deferrals from individuals
11 to waive of this obligation for individual candidates. The
12 State Board shall also define standards for the fiscal
13 management of these loan funds.
14     (b) The State Board shall award grants Grants under the
15 Initiative shall be awarded in such a way as to provide the
16 required support for a cohort of candidates for any fiscal year
17 in which an appropriation for the Initiative is made. Program
18 budgets must show expenditures and needed funds for the entire
19 period that candidates are expected to be enrolled.
20     (c) No funds under the Initiative may be used to supplant
21 the average per-capita expenditures by the institution of
22 higher education for candidates.
23     (d) Where necessary, program budgets shall include the
24 costs of child care and other indirect expenses, such as
25 transportation, tutoring, technology, and technology support,
26 that are necessary to permit candidates to maintain their class

 

 

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1 schedules. Grant funds may be used by any member of a
2 consortium to offset such costs, and the services may be ,
3 whether the needed services are provided by the community
4 organization or organizations, by any other are provided by
5 another member of the consortium, or by independent contractors
6 are independently contracted for.
7     (e) The institution of higher education may expend grant
8 funds to cover the additional costs of offering classes in
9 community settings and for tutoring services.
10     (f) The community organization or organizations may
11 receive a portion of the grant money for the expenses of
12 recruitment, community orientation, and counseling of
13 potential candidates, for providing space in the community, and
14 for working with school personnel to facilitate individual work
15 experiences and support of candidates.
16     (g) The school district or school employee union or both
17 may receive a portion of the grant money for expenses of
18 supporting the work experiences of candidates and providing
19 mentors for graduates. Notwithstanding the provisions of
20 Section 10-20.15 of the School Code, school districts may also
21 use these or other applicable public funds to pay participants
22 in programs under the Initiative for student teaching required
23 by an accredited teacher preparation program.
24     (h) One or more members member of the consortium may expend
25 funds to cover the salary of a site-based cohort coordinator.
26     (i) Grant funds may also be expended to pay directly for

 

 

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1 required developmental classes for candidates beginning a
2 program.
3 (Source: P.A. 94-979, eff. 6-30-06; 95-476, eff. 1-1-08.)