Statements Verifying Teaching Experience
The statement(s) verifying the nature and duration of
teaching experience must be submitted to the Regional
Office of Education. The statements must be on school
or district letterhead and signed by the chief school
administrator or a designee. The Regional Superintendent
cannot make a recommendation for issuance without the
verification of teaching experience.
“Four years of teaching experience” means
the equivalent of four years’ full-time employment,
i.e., eight semesters of full-time teaching on a valid
teaching certificate. Experience does not have to be
accumulated through full-time teaching. For example,
a teacher who teaches half-time for a full year can accumulate
four years over eight school years. The years are not
required to be consecutive.
To permit timely processing of applications for standard
certificates, the State Superintendent of Education may
accept applications from individuals who are at least
midway through their final semester of required teaching
experience, provided that each such individual submits
a letter that indicates that:
- the individual has completed 3 ½ years
of teaching plus the required portion of the final
semester;
and
- the representative of the employing entity knows
of no reason why the individual will not complete
four years
of teaching experience during the then-current semester.
A valid teaching certificate for this purpose is a certificate
equivalent to an Illinois Master, Standard, Initial or
Provisional early childhood, elementary, secondary, or
special certificate or a comparable certificate from
another state. (Out-of-state teaching on a comparable
certificate does count.)
Time spent teaching or substituting in public or private
schools on a valid teaching certificate counts towards
the four years of experience. Teaching in a home school
or on a substitute certificate (Type 39) or a Transitional
Bilingual (Type 29) does not count. Teaching outside
the United States does not count for this purpose unless
the teaching takes place in a possession or territory
of the United States.
Teachers may want to check their certification files
using the link to ECS at the top of www.isbe.net
to check the date of issuance of their Initial teaching
certificates
since that issue date will be used to determine years
of teaching in Illinois.
|
