Council on Teacher Education
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 333-7195
The Council on Teacher Education formulates, modifies, implements,
and monitors compliance with policies related to the education of
future educators. The Council also facilitates communication and promotes
collaboration among all participants involved in the preparation and
continuing professional development of educators. The Council is the
designated unit responsible for the coordination of teacher, school
support personnel, and administrator education curricula at the Urbana
campus and serves as the liaison between the campus and state educator licensure
and program approval authorities.
Six colleges and two schools of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
offer degree programs in teacher, school support personnel, and administrator
education: the Colleges of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental
Sciences; Applied Health Sciences; Education; Fine and Applied Arts;
Liberal Arts and Sciences; and the Graduate College. The list of teacher
education curricula can be found at the end of this section.
Candidates may consult their teacher education advisers or the Council for additional information about academic regulations and other policies affecting teacher education. Consult the Executive Director of the Council for information about the Grievance Policy and Procedures for Students Enrolled in Educator Preparation Programs under the purview of the Council on Teacher Education.
Licensure requirements are subject to change without notice as a result of new mandates from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) or the Illinois General Assembly.
Requirements
Admissions
Applicants to educator preparation programs must meet the admission requirements of the colleges and departments offering the chosen curricula. State law mandates candidates pass the Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS) test of Basic Skills or the Test of Academic Proficiency before they may be admitted to an educator preparation program. With final approval from ISBE, candidates may use an ACT score of 22 or higher to meet the test of Basic Skills requirements if at the time the ACT was taken, the prospective candidate also took the writing portion of the test. See www.cote.illinois.edu/certification/documents/act_procedures_for_admission.pdf for further information.
Applicants are advised that certain felony convictions, enumerated
in Articles 10-21.9 and 21B-80 of the School Code of Illinois, prohibit
licensure or employment in public schools. Questions pertaining
to this matter should be addressed to the Council.
Continuation in Teacher Education
To be eligible for continuation in teacher education, candidates must satisfy all requirements of the applicable Common Assessment Plan (CAP), which includes maintaining University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and overall grade point averages of 2.5 (A = 4.0) or higher. In addition, candidates must meet the content area and professional education grade-point requirements specific to their programs. The full text of the three Common Assessment Plans is available on the Council website. The Council on Teacher Education reviews each candidate's academic progress after the fall and spring semesters. Candidates who do not meet the criteria of the appropriate CAP will receive a warning letter from the Council advising them that their continuation in the program, entry into student teaching, and receiving a recommendation for licensure from the University are at risk. Candidates will be directed to their college deans for more information. Candidates may be dropped from licensure programs by the Council if they fail to meet the criteria of the appropriate CAP after receiving an initial warning letter.
Teaching effectiveness is influenced not only by academic proficiency, but also by the dispositions and professional behaviors of the candidate. Therefore, faculty members take these characteristics into account as they evaluate candidates' progress in the program. Teaching effectiveness can also be influenced by the candidate's health. For this reason, the University provides counseling and medical services for all students. A candidate wishing additional information about these services may call or visit the Council office.
Because it is essential that counseling and medical services be offered as soon as the need becomes apparent, teacher education advisers and faculty members are asked to recommend for assistance or examination any candidate about whom they feel concern. A candidate who is recommended for assistance or examination will receive a written request to make an appointment to discuss the situation. It is a requirement of the Council on Teacher Education that a candidate who receives such a request must respond. Failure to do so will jeopardize the candidate's continuation in teacher education. During the appointment, the candidate will be informed of the counseling and medical services available at the University. The candidate's use of these services is usually optional. In exceptional cases, however, the Council may require a candidate to satisfactorily complete a mental health or physical examination with one of the campus services. Candidates who wish to continue in teacher education must comply with such referrals.
Student Teaching
State law mandates candidates pass the appropriate content area test prior to student teaching or final internship semester. Students who have not passed the appropriate content area test will not be permitted to student teach or begin their final internship semester. Candidates should consult with their adviser about the timing of requests for a student teaching placement. Student teaching application forms are available in the college clinical experiences office that houses each program. (Candidates may obtain referrals to the appropriate office by contacting the Council.) A candidate seeking placement in student teaching should contact the appropriate college office of clinical experiences no later than October 1 of the academic year preceding the desired placement to determine departmental deadlines and meeting dates. Departments may set earlier deadlines. Candidates who apply after their departments' deadlines cannot be guaranteed a student teaching assignment during the next academic year. A candidate who will not be on campus during the fall semester, but who expects to enroll in educational practice (student teaching) during the next school year, should secure an application form from his or her college's office of clinical experiences before leaving campus. A candidate who has submitted an application will receive a student teaching assignment pending verification that he or she has completed all requirements of the appropriate Common Assessment Plan.
Only those candidates officially registered in teacher education curricula
are eligible for student teaching placements. The Council reserves
the right to deny student teaching placement to candidates who have
not met all requirements of the appropriate Common Assessment Plan.
Candidates may also be denied a student teaching placement for health
reasons.
Candidates in teacher education should anticipate and plan for student teaching assignments. For most candidates, additional expense will be incurred during the semester in which student teaching is scheduled. Candidates cannot be guaranteed assignments in local schools. Student teaching is a full-time commitment on the part of teacher candidates. Teacher candidates should not plan to take additional coursework outside their program during student teaching, nor should they plan to be employed. School districts have the right to not accept a candidate and therefore, the Council cannot guarantee each candidate a placement. However, each program will exhaust every effort to seek a placement for each candidate.
Candidates are expected to complete all field experiences, including student teaching, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A candidate who wishes to complete student teaching through another university, yet receive a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign degree and recommendation for licensure, must secure the prior approval of his or her adviser, clinical experiences program coordinator, college, and the Council on Teacher Education via petition. The petition must be supported by verification from the other university that it will accept the candidate as a student teacher and will comply with all Council on Teacher Education requirements. Approvals of such arrangements are rare, and candidates should expect to incur additional costs. Consult the Council for additional information.
Teacher Licensure
A candidate who completes all of the coursework and other requirements in a program approved for purposes of licensure by the Illinois State Board of Education is entitled to receive the recommendation of the University for the appropriate certificate, provided the candidate has met all of the requirements of the appropriate Common Assessment Plan and has passed all licensure tests and assessments required by the State of Illinois. In addition, all professional education and content-area coursework that forms part of an application for licensure, endorsement, or approval must have been passed with a grade no lower than “C” or equivalent in order to be counted towards fulfillment of the applicable requirements. CR/NC and proficiency credit may not be used toward licensure, endorsement, or approvals. However, AP credit may be used.
In some instances a candidate may be denied a recommendation for licensure
but be granted a degree by his or her college. A candidate who believes
that the recommendation for licensure has been withheld unjustly
may seek redress through the grievance policy established by the Council
on Teacher Education.
General Education
Candidates for licensure are required to complete coursework
that includes the theoretical and practical understanding generally
expected of a liberally educated person. General education includes
developing knowledge related to the arts, communications, history,
literature, mathematics, philosophy, sciences, and the social studies
from multicultural and global perspectives. This requirement is satisfied
by the University of Illinois general education pattern incorporated
into all undergraduate teacher education programs.
Certification Tests
All candidates for licensure as teachers, school administrators, and school support personnel must pass tests mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education as a condition for licensure. Illinois law requires that applicants to all educator preparation programs pass a test in basic skills (reading, writing, grammar, and mathematics) prior to admission to a program, a separate test in their major area, and an Assessment of Professional Teaching test prior to licensure. Candidates for Learning Behavior Specialist I licensure must pass a fourth test: Special Education General Curriculum.
State law requires prospective candidates for licensure as school administrators
or school support personnel pass the Illinois Basic Skills test or the Test of Academic Proficiency, if the Illinois Test of Basic Skills was not passed previously. If one of the aforementioned basic skill tests was not already taken and passed, the Test of Academic Proficiency must be passed prior to admission to the educator preparation program. In addition, candidates must pass the appropriate content-area test prior to student teaching or final internship semester. For additional
information, contact the Council.
Time Limit on Licensure
Because licensure requirements are subject to change at any time as a result
of new mandates from the Illinois State Board of Education and the
Illinois General Assembly, the University is unable to guarantee a
recommendation for licensure to anyone who does not apply for licensure immediately upon completion of licensure requirements. A candidate
completing an approved program is strongly encouraged to apply for licensure
during his or her last term on campus and claim said license on the Illinois Licensure System once it has been entitled. Applications for licensure
are available on the candidate's student portal or in the Council office. Failure to claim a license through the Illinois Licensure System once it has been entitled could result in additional requirements should candidate seek to claim license at a later date.
Background Investigation of Applicants for Field Placement and Employment
State law mandates that all candidates for public school licensure in programs under the
purview of the Council on Teacher Education complete a criminal background check and checks of the Statewide Sex Offender Database and Statewide Child Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Database before they may be placed in schools. Candidates are responsible for all fees connected with this procedure.
Final decisions regarding the placement of candidates in schools are made in agreement between the relevant department/college/program and the school/district.
The criminal background check is typically conducted at the time
a candidate enters the program and before student teaching or internship.
Each applicant for employment in a school district in Illinois is
required to authorize the employing school district to initiate a
criminal background check which will include a request for fingerprints.
A school district may employ a person only after a background check
has been initiated and may not knowingly employ a person who has been
convicted of a felony or of attempting to commit certain offenses
enumerated in The School Code of Illinois. This criminal background
check is in addition to that required for field placements at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Curricula
A candidate seeking licensure must complete the requirements of
both his or her chosen curriculum and the Council on Teacher Education.
Teacher education, school support personnel, and administrator curricula
and the colleges and departments that offer them are listed below.
All curricula have been approved by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Candidates are advised that licensure requirements may be altered
at any time by the Illinois State Board of Education or the legislature.
In such cases, candidates may be compelled to satisfy the new requirements
to qualify for the University's recommendation for licensure.
College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
- Agriculture*
College of Applied Health Sciences
- Physical Education*
College of Education
- Early Childhood Education (Includes Early Childhood Special Education Approval)
- Elementary Education*
- Learning Behavior Specialist I*
- Teacher Education Minor in Secondary School Teaching**
College of Fine and Applied Arts
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- English Language Arts
- Foreign Language: Chinese (Mandarin)*
- Foreign Language: French*
- Foreign Language: German*
- Foreign Language: Japanese*
- Foreign Language: Latin*
- Foreign Language: Spanish*
- Mathematics
- Science: Biology
- Science: Chemistry
- Science: Earth and Space Science
- Science: Physics
- Social Science: History
Graduate College
Graduate-level licensure programs are offered in the areas listed below. For additional information, contact the Council on Teacher Education or departmental office indicated.
Agricultural Education*
- College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Science Office of Academic Programs
Director of Special Education
- Department of Special Education
Early Childhood Education
- Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Elementary Education*
- Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Foreign Language: Latin*
- Department of Classics
Foreign Language: Spanish*
- Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
Principal
- Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
Learning Behavior Specialist I*
- Department of Special Education
Learning Behavior Specialist II*
- (Options: Curriculum Adaptation, Behavior Interventions, Multiple Disabilities, Transition Specialist)
- Department of Special Education
Library Information Specialist *
- Graduate School of Library and Information Science
Music*
- School of Music
School Social Worker
- School of Social Work
Secondary Education (English Language Arts, Mathematics, Sciences, Social Science: History)
- Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Speech-Language Pathologist: Nonteaching
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science
Superintendent
- Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership
**This minor is a required component of the teaching option within the following Science and Letters majors in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: biology, chemistry, English, geology, history, mathematics, and physics. It is available only to students registered in these programs.
Teacher Education Minors
- English as a second language
- Mathematics: Grades 6-8
- Mathematics: Grades 9-12
Candidates should be aware that the state recognizes teaching fields that are not listed above. Candidates may obtain teaching endorsements for any fields for which they satisfy the state minimum requirements. Contact the Council on Teacher Education for additional information regarding the endorsement fields available and the qualifications for each. Endorsement requirements are also listed on the Council on Teacher Education Web site.