Full Text of HB4688 93rd General Assembly
HB4688 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004 HB4688
Introduced 02/04/04, by Marlow H. Colvin SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Creates the Grow Our Own Teacher Education Act. Establishes 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 positions and who will remain in these schools for substantial periods of time. Provides that the Board of Higher Education shall administer the Initiative as a grant competition to fund consortia that will carry out Grow Our Own Teacher preparation programs. Provides for an independent program evaluation. Effective July 1, 2004.
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| FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
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A BILL FOR
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HB4688 |
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LRB093 19197 NHT 44932 b |
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| AN ACT concerning education.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Grow | 5 |
| Our Own Teacher Education Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Purpose. The Grow Our Own Teacher preparation | 7 |
| programs established under this Act shall comprise a major new | 8 |
| statewide initiative, known as the Grow Our Own Teacher | 9 |
| Education Initiative, to prepare highly skilled, committed | 10 |
| teachers who will teach in hard-to-staff schools and | 11 |
| hard-to-staff teaching positions and who will remain in these | 12 |
| schools for substantial periods of time. These teachers shall | 13 |
| reduce costly teacher turnover. Evaluation of these programs' | 14 |
| impact shall provide the knowledge base for further expansion | 15 |
| of teacher preparation strategies that are employed in the | 16 |
| Initiative and that prove most effective. This on-going effort | 17 |
| shall create a national model for bringing about major progress | 18 |
| in placing highly qualified teachers in the classrooms of | 19 |
| schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income | 20 |
| students. | 21 |
| The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall | 22 |
| effectively
recruit and prepare parent and community leaders | 23 |
| and paraeducator leaders to
become effective teachers and | 24 |
| teacher leaders statewide in hard-to-staff schools and | 25 |
| hard-to-staff teaching positions, particularly in schools | 26 |
| serving a substantial percentage of low-income students. | 27 |
| Further, the Initiative shall increase the diversity of | 28 |
| teachers, including diversity based on race, ethnicity, and | 29 |
| disability. The Initiative shall become a national model for | 30 |
| preparing skilled dedicated teachers with a comprehensive | 31 |
| understanding of effective educational practice who will | 32 |
| remain in their teaching positions for sustained time periods. |
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| The Grow Our Own Teacher Education Initiative shall ensure
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| educational rigor by effectively preparing students in | 3 |
| accredited bachelor's degree programs in teaching, through | 4 |
| which graduates shall meet the requirements to secure an | 5 |
| Illinois standard teaching certificate. Programs carried out | 6 |
| under the Initiative shall prepare their graduates to carry a | 7 |
| comprehensive approach to elementary and secondary teaching | 8 |
| that is grounded in an understanding of the learning and | 9 |
| developmental needs and strengths of low-income students, | 10 |
| racial and ethnic minorities, English-language learners, and | 11 |
| students with disabilities. In addition, the Initiative shall | 12 |
| develop the capabilities of student participants as future | 13 |
| teacher leaders. | 14 |
| Section 10. Definitions. In this Act: | 15 |
| "Accredited teacher preparation program" means a State or | 16 |
| regionally accredited higher education program authorized to | 17 |
| prepare individuals to fulfill all of the requirements to | 18 |
| receive an Illinois standard teaching certificate. | 19 |
| "Hard-to-staff school" means an elementary or secondary | 20 |
| school that, based on data
compiled by the State Board of | 21 |
| Education, ranks in the upper third of schools in this State on | 22 |
| a combined index measuring the percentage of the school's | 23 |
| teachers who are not fully certified and the percentage of the | 24 |
| school's teachers who leave their positions
annually. | 25 |
| "Hard-to-staff teaching position" means a teaching | 26 |
| position (such as special
education, mathematics, or science) | 27 |
| in which statewide data compiled by the State Board of | 28 |
| Education indicates a multi-year pattern of substantial | 29 |
| teacher shortage. | 30 |
| "Initiative" means the Grow Our Own Teacher Education | 31 |
| Initiative created under this Act. | 32 |
| "Paraeducator leaders" means individuals with a history of | 33 |
| demonstrated accomplishments in school staff positions (such | 34 |
| as teacher assistants, school-community liaisons, school | 35 |
| clerks, and security aides) in schools serving a substantial |
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| percentage of low-income students. | 2 |
| "Parent and community leaders" means individuals with a | 3 |
| significant history of
involvement, in one or more communities, | 4 |
| in improving schools serving a substantial percentage of | 5 |
| low-income students, including involvement focused on aiding | 6 |
| one or more groups of students who are most at-risk for school | 7 |
| failure. | 8 |
| "Partner organization" means a not-for-profit organization | 9 |
| with experience (i) in
effectively organizing and assisting the | 10 |
| types of parent and community leaders
or paraeducator leaders | 11 |
| who are the target participants in a Grow Our Own Teacher | 12 |
| preparation program and (ii) in helping to improve schools that | 13 |
| enroll a substantial percentage of low-income students. These | 14 |
| organizations may include without limitation parent | 15 |
| organizations, organizations of special education and | 16 |
| bilingual education parents,
community organizations, advocacy | 17 |
| organizations for at-risk students and families, and teacher | 18 |
| unions and organizations. | 19 |
| "Program" means a Grow Our Own Teacher preparation program | 20 |
| established by a consortium under this Act. | 21 |
| "Schools serving a substantial percentage of low-income | 22 |
| students" means schools that rank in the top one-third of | 23 |
| Illinois schools in their percentage of students eligible to | 24 |
| receive free or reduced-price lunches. | 25 |
| Section 15. Creation of Initiative. The Grow Our Own | 26 |
| Teacher Education Initiative is created. The Board of Higher | 27 |
| Education shall administer the Initiative as a grant | 28 |
| competition to fund consortia that will carry out Grow Our Own | 29 |
| Teacher preparation programs. | 30 |
| Section 20. Selection of grantees. The Board of Higher | 31 |
| Education shall award grants to up to 10 qualified consortia | 32 |
| that reflect the distribution and diversity of target | 33 |
| hard-to-staff schools across this State. In awarding grants, | 34 |
| the Board shall select programs that successfully address |
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| Initiative criteria and that reflect a diversity of strategies | 2 |
| in terms of serving urban areas, serving rural areas, types of | 3 |
| partner organizations, nature of the participating | 4 |
| institutions of higher education, and nature of hard-to-staff | 5 |
| teaching positions on which a program is focused. | 6 |
| The Board of Higher Education shall use all of the | 7 |
| following criteria to evaluate the merits of program proposals | 8 |
| submitted by applicant consortia: | 9 |
| (1) A consortium shall be composed of at least one | 10 |
| 4-year institution of higher
education with an accredited | 11 |
| teacher preparation program and one or more partner
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| organizations. The consortium may also include a 2-year | 13 |
| institution of higher education if the 2-year institution | 14 |
| of higher education has an agreement with the 4-year | 15 |
| institution of higher education to ensure that courses | 16 |
| offered at one institution are fully recognized and | 17 |
| accepted for credit at the other institution, including the | 18 |
| transfer of credits from the 2-year institution to the | 19 |
| 4-year institution. | 20 |
| (2) A 4-year institution of higher education | 21 |
| participating in the consortium shall carry out a rigorous | 22 |
| program for the preparation of
teachers and shall have | 23 |
| past, demonstrated success in preparing teachers for
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| elementary or secondary schools serving a substantial | 25 |
| percentage of low-income students. | 26 |
| (3) A partner organization participating in the | 27 |
| consortium shall demonstrate experience (i) in effectively | 28 |
| organizing and assisting the types of parent and community | 29 |
| leaders or paraeducator leaders who are the target | 30 |
| participants in the program and (ii) in helping to improve | 31 |
| schools that enroll substantial percentages of low-income | 32 |
| students.
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| (4) The consortium shall focus on a clearly defined set | 34 |
| of target schools serving a substantial percentage of | 35 |
| low-income students that will be the primary focus of the | 36 |
| program. The consortium shall articulate the steps that it |
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| will carry out in preparing teachers for its target | 2 |
| hard-to-staff schools and in preparing teachers for one or | 3 |
| more hard-to-staff teaching positions in its target | 4 |
| schools. | 5 |
| (5) Members of the consortium shall jointly | 6 |
| conceptualize and facilitate the
implementation of the | 7 |
| program, and consortium plans shall be judged, in part,
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| based on the integration of the efforts of all partners. | 9 |
| (6) The consortium shall employ effective procedures | 10 |
| for recruiting students for the program, as well as for | 11 |
| providing these students with social and academic support | 12 |
| during the duration of their educational experience. | 13 |
| Student participants must demonstrate the qualities | 14 |
| identified in the definitions of "parent and community | 15 |
| leaders" and "paraeducator leaders" in Section 10 of this | 16 |
| Act. Student participants must hold a high school diploma | 17 |
| or its equivalent. | 18 |
| (7) The consortium shall employ effective procedures | 19 |
| for teaching the skills and knowledge needed to prepare | 20 |
| highly competent teachers. Instruction for
mastering | 21 |
| critical skills and knowledge shall be tailored to the | 22 |
| program's target
student body and to the particular | 23 |
| characteristics of target schools. Instruction
shall | 24 |
| include on-going direct experience in target schools and | 25 |
| analysis of this
experience. Further, the consortium shall | 26 |
| teach skills and knowledge to prepare its
students to | 27 |
| become effective teacher leaders. | 28 |
| (8) The consortium shall employ procedures for | 29 |
| effective integration of coursework across specific | 30 |
| courses (including course content and methods), as well as | 31 |
| for the integration of the academic studies, work | 32 |
| experience, and social support activities carried out by | 33 |
| the consortium to help ensure the student participants' | 34 |
| success. The program shall incorporate principles for | 35 |
| effective adult education. | 36 |
| (9) The consortium shall help student participants |
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| continue or initiate relevant work experiences in target | 2 |
| schools for the entire period during which the students | 3 |
| participate in the program, shall provide on-site field | 4 |
| support at students' work sites, and shall coordinate the | 5 |
| curriculum to link the analysis of work experiences with | 6 |
| academic experiences.
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| (10) The consortium shall offer the program to cohorts | 8 |
| of students who begin by
moving through the program | 9 |
| together. The program shall be offered on a
schedule that | 10 |
| enables students to work full time while participating in | 11 |
| the program. | 12 |
| (11) The institutions of higher education | 13 |
| participating in the consortium shall expend the amount of
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| funds in implementing the program that these institutions | 15 |
| spend per student on
similar educational programs. Grants | 16 |
| received by the consortium shall
supplement and not | 17 |
| supplant these amounts. Proposed budgets and related | 18 |
| budget
narratives shall specify how program funds will be | 19 |
| employed to implement priority program elements. | 20 |
| (12) The institutions of higher education | 21 |
| participating in the consortium shall specify
how they will | 22 |
| offer their participating students financial aid packages | 23 |
| that will maximize their
opportunity to complete the | 24 |
| program. | 25 |
| (13) The consortium shall specify processes for | 26 |
| conducting its own on-going
evaluation of program | 27 |
| implementation and impact and for participating in the
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| independent program evaluation under Section 30 of this | 29 |
| Act. | 30 |
| (14) The consortium shall aid program graduates in | 31 |
| securing employment as teachers in the
program's target | 32 |
| schools and shall provide support for graduates in making a
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| successful transition to teaching. | 34 |
| Section 25. Implementation of program. Approved consortia | 35 |
| shall receive start-up grants for the period from January 2005
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| through June 2005. Each consortium shall enroll 2 cohorts of | 2 |
| approximately 50
students to begin their instructional program | 3 |
| in the fall of 2005 and shall expand
to 8 cohorts of | 4 |
| approximately 200 students on a schedule specified by the
Board | 5 |
| of Higher Education. | 6 |
| Section 30. Independent program evaluation. The Board of | 7 |
| Higher Education shall contract for an independent evaluation | 8 |
| of program implementation by each of its
participating | 9 |
| consortia and of the impact of each program, including the | 10 |
| extent of student persistence in program enrollment, | 11 |
| acceptance as an education major in a 4-year institution of | 12 |
| higher education, completion of a bachelor's degree in | 13 |
| teaching, obtaining a teaching position in a target school or | 14 |
| similar school, subsequent effectiveness as a teacher, and | 15 |
| persistence in teaching in a target school or similar school. | 16 |
| The evaluation shall assess the Initiative's overall | 17 |
| effectiveness and shall identify particular program strategies | 18 |
| that are especially effective. | 19 |
| Section 35. Funding. The Board of Higher Education shall | 20 |
| request an appropriation of $1,200,000 for operation of the | 21 |
| Initiative in fiscal year 2005, $2,200,000 for fiscal year | 22 |
| 2006, $3,200,000 for fiscal year 2007, $3,200,000 for fiscal | 23 |
| year 2008, and $3,200,00 for fiscal year 2009. $200,000 of the | 24 |
| amount appropriated each fiscal year shall be allocated to | 25 |
| carry out the independent program evaluation under Section 30 | 26 |
| of this Act, and the remainder shall be allocated to | 27 |
| participating consortia. | 28 |
| Section 40. Rules. The State Board of Education and the | 29 |
| Board of Higher Education may adopt any rules necessary to | 30 |
| carry out its responsibilities under this Act.
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| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect July 1, | 32 |
| 2004.
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