Proposed Amendments to Part 228 (Transitional Bilingual Education)
The majority of the changes proposed in Part 228 flow from P.A. 95-793, effective January 1, 2009, which clarifies the law to explicitly direct school districts to provide bilingual education services required under Article 14C of the School Code to students enrolled in preschool programs established by the districts.
Also included in the proposal is new Section 228.27, which addresses districts’ plans for continuing services for students who leave a transitional bilingual education (TBE) program or a transitional program of instruction (TPI) without having achieved English proficiency. These new provisions help to more clearly identify school district requirements under both state law and the federal mandate in the Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA). That is, Section 14C-3 of the School Code requires districts to serve students either until the student achieves English proficiency or for three years, whichever comes first, while Section 1703(f) of the EEOA requires school districts to provide services that will enable limited English proficient (LEP) students to “overcome barriers” to educational achievement. The addition of these new requirements will address an inquiry from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, which questioned whether the agency, by not specifically referencing the EEOA in its rules, was violating Section 1703(f). Legal staff do not believe the agency has violated the law. The proposed addition of Section 228.27 to the rules, however, demonstrates that, despite a state law explicitly permitting school districts to exit non-proficient students from TBE/TPI after three years, the agency expects school districts that do in fact exit non-proficient students to provide these students services in accordance with federal law.
Section 228.25 also is being amended to require statewide exit criteria. This change is the result of federal Title I monitoring conducted in 2008, in which the agency received a finding for lacking consistent, statewide criteria to exit students from the LEP subgroup for Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) purposes. The current rule allows districts to require a higher cut-score than the minimum set by the agency and/or to set additional exit criteria indicators to determine when students are no longer LEP. As a result, the parameters of the LEP subgroup vary from district to district preventing a valid comparison of the LEP subgroup across the State. The amendment to 228.25 addresses the problem by establishing an exit standard for LEP students with statewide uniformity. Under the proposed rules, districts must use only the State-established cut-score.
Other proposed amendments address the Spanish Language Arts Standards and certificate requirements for directors of bilingual programs. The Spanish Language Arts Standards (2005 version) are being incorporated by reference. These align to the existing Illinois Learning Standards for English Language Arts (set forth in rules at 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1.Appendix D). Districts will be expected to include in their bilingual education plans for the 2010-11 school year a discussion of how they plan to align instruction to the standards, which must occur in the 2011-12 school year. Beginning in 2011-12, plans also must discuss how student performance will be measured and curriculum modified, as needed.
New Section 228.35 addresses requirements for bilingual staff and administrators, as well as for ongoing professional development. This section contains requirements that were previously found in Sections 228.10 and 228.30(c). In addition to moving existing requirements under a single section, several modifications also were made: a cross-reference is proposed to the requirements for preschool teachers and noncertificated personnel found in Part 235 (Early Childhood Block Grant) and an allowance is made for preschool teachers to meet bilingual certification requirements by July 1, 2014.
Please note that a 90-day public comment period is being provided.
Initial Review by State Board of Education: October 2009