Offered in: Roosevelt Online

This certificate program is intended for licensed teachers or candidates for teacher licensure who wish to receive state approval to teach bilingual and/or English as a second language students at their approved grade level. The certificate prepares teachers and teacher candidates to instruct linguistically diverse learners and leads to the addition of a bilingual and/or ESL endorsement on an Illinois Professional Educator License.

ADMISSION

Licensed teachers can enroll in this certificate program at any time by providing evidence of a teaching license. If desired, the certificate courses can be applied toward the requirements for a graduate degree in Second Language Special Education or Literacy Leadership. Please see a professional advisor in the Department of Education for more information.

Graduate candidates for teacher licensure can enroll in this certificate program at any time, provided that they have met the Illinois requirements for admission into a teacher licensure program. Please see a professional advisor in the Department of Education for more information.

All six courses (18 credit hours) below are required to earn the certificate and a state endorsement.  The elective requirement can be satisfied through degree program coursework or similar course from undergraduate or another graduate transcript.  Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA, and no grade below a C is acceptable. To earn a state endorsement, students also must complete 100 clinical hours in bilingual or ESL classroom settings. In addition, students seeking the bilingual endorsement must pass a state language examination. Visit the Illinois Licensure website http://www.icts.nesinc.com/  (Target Language Proficiency assessment) for more information. The ESL endorsement does not require a language test.