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How Do I Become Certified as a Teacher?
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In order to become certified as a teacher, you must obtain a degree in education for the field of study you intend to teach. Once you have completed your degree in education and a student teaching practicum, the Illinois State Board of Education requires that you pass several competency tests prior to the issuance of a certificate.
The competency tests required are determined according to the field of study.
WHAT IF I AM ALREADY CERTIFIED IN ANOTHER STATE?*
The State of Illinois is part of the Central States Teacher Exchange Agreement and NASDTEC Interstate Agreement with the following states:
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Georgia
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Washington D.C.
Educators from any of the listed member states will receive a comparable certificate, upon submission of an application for certificate and an application fee to the Regional Office of Education. You must also provide:
1. Valid, comparable teaching certificate from one of the states listed above.
2. Evidence of completing a state approved teacher education program for the certificate sought or verification of a minimum of 3 years of teaching experience on a valid teaching certificate within the last 7 years.
3. Official college/university transcripts.
A Provisional Certificate will be issued for two years, in which time applicants must successfully complete the required Illinois certification tests in the first 9 months, and fulfill any course requirements needed by the State of Illinois. Should the tests not be successfully completed in the alloted time, the Provisional Certificate will be cancelled and the teacher will not be allowed to continue teaching for the duration of the certificate.
*The Central States Teacher Exchange Agreement and the NASDTEC Interstate Agreement apply only to teaching certificates; therefore, there is NO reciprocity for school service personnel or administrative certificates.
Contact the Regional Office of Education closest to you, for questions pertaining to certification. For the Regional Office of Education in the Rockford area, click on the link below. For further information, you may also contact the Illinois State Board of Education website.
For information about testing you may go to the Illinois Certification Testing System website provided for you below.
Important Notice for Out-of-State Certification Candidates
New Law Enacted
On June 30, 2004, legislation that affects the testing requirements for certification for some out-of-state candidates was signed into law.
Public Act 93-679, provides in part:
…A person who holds a valid and comparable out-of-state certificate, however, is not required to take a test of basic skills and is not required to take a test of subject matter knowledge, provided that the person has successfully passed a test of subject matter knowledge in another state or territory of the United States that is directly related in content to the specific subject area of certification….
What does this mean?
If you hold a valid and comparable teaching, school service personnel, or administrative certificate from another state or territory and have passed a test of subject matter for issuance of that certificate, it is possible you may be exempt from taking the Illinois basic skills or subject matter knowledge tests.
Please note: All out-of-state candidates for early childhood, elementary, secondary, and special teaching certificates are still required to successfully complete the Assessment of Professional Teaching (APT) test.
When will I know if I qualify for an exemption?
The Illinois State Board of Education is currently analyzing this new law and will soon issue rules to clarify its implementation. The rules will include information about how candidates can qualify for this testing exemption.
What can I do in the meantime?
Certification candidates holding out-of-state certificates who believe that they will qualify for the testing exemption may wish to delay registering for tests until the new rules are approved. Refunds of test fees are possible only as set forth in the Illinois Certification Testing System (ICTS) Registration Bulletin (http://www.icts.nesinc.com/).
We expect that candidates seeking the testing exemption will be required to furnish official documentation verifying successful completion of another state’s tests. In anticipation of that possibility, you may wish to gather any official documents, such as test score reports, that you believe will serve that purpose.
Those candidates who hold a valid, comparable certificate from another state or territory may qualify for a provisional Illinois certificate. Provisional certificates, which are valid for a maximum of two fiscal years, allow the holder to be employed by a public school district before removing all deficiencies, including testing. All testing deficiencies, however, must be removed no later than 9 months from the issue date of the certificate, or the provisional certificate will be canceled. See www.isbe.net/teachers for additional information on provisional certificates.
How will I know when the new rules are adopted?
As soon as the new rules are adopted, announcement will be made via the Illinois State Board of Education Web site (www.isbe.net/teachers), the Illinois Certification Testing System Web site (www.icts.nesinc.com), regional offices of education, and colleges and universities with approved teacher preparation programs.
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