August 23, 2001
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782-4648
Chicago - The State Board of Education will soon publish and seek public comment on proposed new standards aimed at helping new regular education teacheres meet the needs of special education students.
The
State Board today told staff to begin the information gathering process as a
vehicle for eventual presentation of a proposal to the Court-appointed Monitor
and parties to the Corey H. litigation. The general public will soon be
able to review and comment on the proposed new standards through the State
Board’s website, www.isbe.net.
The
State Board must present a proposal by January 1, 2002 for revising special
education-related certification requirements for regular education teachers to
the Court Monitor overseeing the Corey H. litigation
Details
of the proposal are being finalized. But essentially non-special education
teachers would be required to gain a basic understanding of special education
issues in order to serve those special education students who participate in
regular classrooms.
New
teachers would need to meet standards developed for this purpose. Current regular education teachers would be
required to dedicate 10 percent of their continuing professional development
activities to special education.
However,
teachers who have received approval of their professional development plans by
November 1, 2002 would not have to meet any extra special education
requirements in their first renewal cycle.
The
proposed standards are expected to be published in the Illinois Register
and State Board officials plan to begin soliciting public comment in early
fall.
In a related matter, State
Board staff this week posted on its website the final transition rules for
implementation of the new special education certification system.
Federal Court Judge Robert
Gettleman approved the rules August 15 and ordered them to be disseminated
statewide. Gettleman is overseeing implementation of the new certification
system as part of the 1992 Corey H. lawsuit.
The
rules are effective July 1, 2001. They will guide the transition from the existing
certification system to the new system anchored by a broad cross-categorical
certification.
That
new credential, called “Learning Behavior Specialist 1” (LBS 1) will allow
special education teachers to serve students with all disabilities except
visual, hearing, and speech/language impairments.
“We
are pleased that we have reached a conclusion on this phase of the new special
education certification system,” said State Superintendent Glenn W. McGee.
“It
has been a long and sometimes arduous process. But we believe that this new
system will ultimately serve the best interests of our special education
students who, as studies have shown, usually have more than one disability,”
McGee said.
The Corey H. lawsuit, filed in federal court in May 1992, alleged that both the Chicago Public School system and the State Board failed to ensure that disabled students were properly placed in the “least restrictive environment” as federal special education law requires.
The Chicago Public Schools settled their portion of the lawsuit immediately before trial. The State Board went to trial in October 1997, and the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in February 1998.
The
LBS 1 certification will be designated as either limited or unlimited depending
on a teacher’s current endorsements and approvals.
The
limitations on a “limited” LBS 1 credential will automatically expire after
three years for those actively teaching on the certificate, and after seven
years for those holding an LBS 1 but not actively teaching.
But
teachers can remove their limitations prior to their automatic expiration by
completing State Board-developed training; college coursework covering
“missing” characteristics and methods; passing the test of subject matter
relevant to a “missing” disability; presenting qualifications for additional
endorsements or approvals; passing the LBS 1 test of subject matter when those
tests become available; or presenting evidence of three years’ teaching
experience with students for whom they do not currently hold credentials.
A
summary of the new rules and the complete text of the new rules are posted
on the State Board’s website at http://www.isbe.state.il.us/spec-ed/coreyhupdate.htm
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