HB5020 Update – To the Senate
As we continue to work to provide accurate and detailed updates to the field regarding HB5020 (previous updates here and here and here and here), we wanted to share that yesterday evening, Thursday, April 18, 2024, the Illinois House of Representatives overwhelmingly (and possibly unanimously) passed HB5020. It will now move to the Senate for consideration.
April 2024Announcing the Educational Coaching Network 2024-2025 Calendar
Update – May 9, 2025 – The Educational Coaching Network website has been updated for 2024-2025, and registration links are now live!
The Educational Coaching Network (ECN) is excited to announce its 2024-2025 professional learning calendar. All of these events will be held at the NIU Naperville Conference and Event Center, and workshops will be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays to help minimize the impact most schools and school districts are facing with the limited availability of substitute teachers.
Foundations of Instructional Coaching Institute
Jim Knight and the Instructional Coaching Group team return for the “Foundations of Instructional Coaching Institute” with five days of engagement for prospective or new instructional coaches as well as for instructional coaches who may not have previously engaged in an in-depth professional development experience around coaching. Jim Knight will be back to kick-off the Institute on November 13. The remaining sessions will be led by his colleague, Michelle Harris, an experienced teacher, instructional coach, administrator, and, today, a veteran presenter and the Director of Consulting for the Instructional Coaching Group.
- November 13 – Better Conversations
- February 4 – Impact Cycle Day 1
- February 5 – Impact Cycle Day 2
- March 11 – Data Matters
- March 12 – Teaching Practices
Advanced Coaching and Leadership Workshops
Each of these workshops, which can be attended as individual workshops or by registering for the entire series, takes a deep dive into specific aspects of coaching and leadership. These workshops will improve and refine the skills of coaches and educational leaders.
- February 24 – Advanced Coaching Skills – Jim Knight
- February 25 – System Design – Jim Knight
- March 18 – Coaching for Leaders Day 1 – Mary Webb
- March 19 – Coaching for Leaders Day 2 – Mary Webb
ECN Conference – April 24, 2025
Diane Sweeney will return to the Educational Coaching Network for the 2025 ECN Conference at NIU Naperville. Diane will be supporting district leaders, school leaders, and coaches with the implementation of Student-Centered Coaching, and this is a great opportunity for district and/or school teams to prepare for new or improved implementations for the 2025-2026 school year.
Registration for all of these events will open in May 2024 and be available on the Illinois P-20 Network’s Educational Coaching Network website.
April 2024HB5020 Update – Amendment 002
Update 3 – 12 PM – 17 April 2024 – This morning, the Higher Education Committee met and heard Amendment 002. HB5020 passed unanimously from the Committee, and the bill will now head to the House floor in its current form.
Update 2 – 3.45 PM – 16 April 2024 – The update below proved to be incorrect. The amendment was not able to be fully filed through General Assembly processes in time for today’s Higher Education Committee hearing. The full text of Amendment 002 is now posted on the General Assembly website. The Amendment will now be heard at a 10.30 AM Higher Education Committee hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Witness Slips specifically for Amendment 002 can be filed at this Amendment 002 Witness Slip link. For directions on how (and why) to file a Witness Slip, check out this previous HB5020 News post on the Illinois P-20 Network website.
Update – 3 PM – 15 April 2024 – As we understand it, and while it has not yet been confirmed with posting on the General Assembly’s website, the Higher Education Committee will hear Amendment 002 to HB5020 at 11 AM on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.
HB5020 is an amendment to the Illinois Dual Credit Quality Act, and throughout this legislative process, the Illinois P-20 Network remains committed to:
- Share updates to the Dual Credit Think Tank, specifically, and to the field broadly.
- Provide opportunities for practitioners from both postsecondary institutions and school districts to share their feedback on key elements of discussion that are still being considered with the next amendment to HB5020.
As stated in last week’s update following the April 3, 2024, hearing of the Higher Education Committee, work continued with key stakeholders on an additional amendment. A range of parties have agreed to updated components of the legislation (outlined below) that will be included in Amendment 002, which is currently being officially drafted by the General Assembly’s Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB). Once posted by the LRB, the bill will return to the Higher Education Committee for another hearing, which is expected to be early next week. If approved by the Committee, the bill will then be up for a floor debate in the Illinois General Assembly House of Representatives. This floor debate must also take place next week, and as a result, it is expected that the HB5020 with Amendment 002 will, once again, be called before the Higher Education Committee early next week.
As the process evolves, anyone can view updates to the status of HB5020 on the Illinois General Assembly’s website. Additionally, the Illinois P-20 Network will continue to provide updates as quickly as possible to members of the Dual Credit Think Tank as well as posting News updates on our website and communicating via the every-other-week Illinois P-20 Network Newsletter.
Amendment 002 completely replaces Amendment 001, and this is referred to as a gut and replace. As of this posting, key components of the legislation include: (Please note that items below that new or updated elements from Amendment 002 have been noted in-text.)
Amendment 002 defines fully-qualified instructors as instructors who either a) meet the academic credentials which are defined as a master’s degree within the discipline to be taught or any master’s degree and not more than 18 graduate hours in the discipline to be taught; or b) is a career and technical education (CTE) instructor who meets the equivalent experience that is commensurate with achievement of academic credentials, as defined by the Dual Credit Instructor Qualification Framework. This is a new addition to the legislation in Amendment 002.
Amendment 002 defines minimally qualified instructors as instructors who are enrolled in a Professional Development Plan and either (a) have a master’s degree in any discipline and have completed a minimum of 9 hours of the graduate coursework requirements of the Dual Credit Instructor Qualification Framework for the course; or, (b) are a fully licensed CTE instructor who is halfway toward meeting the required equivalent experience criteria defined by the Dual Credit Instructor Qualification Framework. This is a new addition to the legislation in Amendment 002.
Amendment 002 expands the purpose of the Dual Credit Quality Act (DCQA) to emphasize the importance of collaborative local partnerships to provide meaningful dual credit opportunities to students and close opportunity gaps.
Amendment 002 requires school districts and community colleges to each designate a liaison and begin partnership negotiations within 60 calendar days of the school district’s initial request.
Amendment 002 offers parity in Priority Career Pathway courses with Illinois Articulation Initiative course offerings to expand opportunities for students for Priority Career Pathways that already exist at the community college.
Amendment 002 uses the standards established by the Developmental Education Reform Act (DERA) for student eligibility measures that recognize a broader range of student achievement, and ICCB will begin collecting data on what multiple measures are being used.
Amendment 002 requires clear communication plans and advanced notice for students and families, so they understand opportunities for early college credit and the necessary prerequisites.
Amendment 002 stipulates that course evaluations should occur within the same school year the course is taught to maintain rigorous standards.
Amendment 002 requires community college districts to reinvest revenues received from school districts for dual credit programming back into dual credit programming.
Amendment 002 allows high schools to use their district policies to determine class size, student technology access, and student accommodations if the course is taught by high school instructors at the high school and only if these policies do not interfere with rigorous student learning outcomes. Amendment 002 does stipulate that these district policies may not interfere with rigorous student learning outcomes. The language around this provision has been updated in Amendment 002.
Amendment 002 allows high schools to coordinate with their higher learning partner to determine course length and number of sections an individual instructor may teach for courses taught by high school instructors at the high school to ensure maximum student access while maintaining rigorous student learning outcomes.
Amendment 002 empowers school districts to offer dual credit courses equal weight with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses. This is updated language in Amendment 002, in which “districts shall equally weight” from the original HB5020 text was changed to “districts may equally weight.”
Amendment 002 provides that if a community college disapproves of a course request…
- Creates a mechanism within ICCB to review instructor credential denials, which provides another avenue to resolve disputes between a high school and community college and keep more courses available through local partnerships rather than alternative providers.
- Allows high schools to engage an alternative provider for a particular course if their partnering community college disapproves of that course request.
- Permits a community college to reevaluate the course request annually to approve the course and offer the course as originally proposed.
Amendment 002 prohibits dual credit partnerships with for-profit postsecondary institutions.
Amendment 002 codifies the right of community colleges to have first refusal with local partnerships.
Amendment 002 requires all institutions (4-year, 2-year, public, private, in-state, out-of-state) offering dual credit to follow the elements of a dual credit partnership agreement established in section 16 of the Dual Credit Quality Act.
Amendment 002 further limits the use of out-of-state providers by requiring high schools to demonstrate to the IBHE that it has taken appropriate steps to use in-state institutions and must provide rationale if using an out-of-state institution.
Amendment 002 requires IBHE to publish a list of partnership agreements with both out-of-state and private institutions. The update in Amendment 002 adds private institution to this language.
Amendment 002 reconvenes the Model Partnership Agreement Committee biennially.
Amendment 002 defines “academic credentials” as master’s degree within the discipline to be taught or any master’s degree and not more than 18 graduate hours in the discipline to be taught.
Amendment 002 extends professional development plans in perpetuity to address the ongoing teacher shortage and growing student demand for dual credit coursework.
Amendment 002 strikes language allowing instructors with only a bachelor’s degree to enter a Professional Development Plan. This is a change in Amendment 002 from the previous versions of HB5020.
Amendment 002 entrusts the annual course review to the higher learning partner’s faculty department chair and the chief academic officer (or their designees).
Amendment 002 charges ICCB to conduct a study to examine the long-term and short-term outcomes for differing dual credit hour attainment. This is a new addition to HB5020 in Amendment 002.
Amendment 002 creates the Dual Credit Committee, a 29-member committee of secondary and postsecondary representatives to define two specific components: (1) the appropriate graduate coursework within disciplines covered by the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) for academically qualified and interim qualified instructors; and, (2) the equivalent experience required to be a fully qualified CTE instructor.
April 2024Career Pathways Virtual Trailheads – Schan Willis – Radon Mitigation Technician and Business Owner
Originally launched during the COVID-19 Pandemic when students could not engage in face-to-face or on-site work-based learning experiences, the Career Pathways Virtual Trailheads video series brings people from a wide range of occupations to students remotely to learn about their careers and the competencies necessary for success.
In this Career Pathways Virtual Trailheads episode, we interview we interview Schan Willis, Radon Mitigation Technician and the owner of Clean Air Radon Systems in Naperville. Schan is a graduate of (the formerly named) Wheaton Central High School, Wheaton, Illinois. In 2000, Schan graduated from Columbia College Chicago, earning a B.A. in Communications, Marketing, and Advertising.
After graduating from Columbia College, Schan worked in various fields, but in 2012, he became interested in radon mitigation. He interned with a local radon mitigation business he had previously worked for in 1994. In 2014, Schan earned his radon mitigation license, and in 2017, he launched his company, Clean Air Radon Systems. He was able to use his degree in Communications, Marketing, and Advertising to promote his business. Schan’s focus is ensuring that homeowners have a safe home free from radon while installing systems that do not take away the beauty of their homes.
In this video, Schan shares his unconventional path to becoming a Radon Mitigation Technician and owning his own business. Schan talks about the importance of effective communication, advertising, creating a referral base, and networking. He also emphasizes the importance of planning and organizing, accountability and responsibility, problem-solving, self-motivation, and adaptability. He notes that becoming a radon mitigation technician does not require a college degree but that his degree has been very valuable in running his business.
Schan’s work as a business owner is part of the Finance and Business Services Career Pathway.
To keep up-to-date as new Career Pathways Virtual Trailheads videos are released, subscribe to the P-20 Network YouTube Channel.
April 2024HB5020 Update
An update on developments with HB 5020 in Springfield today
On April 3, 2024, the Higher Education Committee held a hearing and among the bills heard was HB5020, an amendment to the Dual Credit Quality Act. Multiple people representing interest groups testified and shared their positions, and ultimately, there was a commitment to continue negotiations on an additional amendment to the legislation that is currently being drafted with additional stakeholder feedback. The Illinois P-20 Network will continue to do two things as this process moves forward:
- Share updates to the Dual Credit Think Tank, specifically, and to the field broadly.
- Provide opportunities for practitioners from both postsecondary institutions and school districts to share their feedback on key elements of discussion that are still being considered with the next amendment to HB5020.
Once the amendment in development is complete, HB5020 will come back to the Higher Education Committee for review.
As a reminder, through the legislative process, there may be changes to items listed below. This list simply captures key elements of HB5020 that have been agreed upon at this time. HB5020…
- Expands the purpose of the Dual Credit Quality Act (DCQA) to emphasize the importance of collaborative local partnerships to provide meaningful dual credit opportunities to students and close opportunity gaps.
- Requires school districts and community colleges to each designate a liaison and begin partnership negotiations within 60 calendar days of the high school’s initial request.
- Offers parity in Priority Career Pathway courses with Illinois Articulation Initiative course offerings to expand opportunities for students for Priority Career Pathways that already exist at the community college.
- Uses the standards established by the Developmental Education Reform Act (DERA) for student eligibility measures that recognize a broader range of student achievement, and ICCB will begin collecting data on what multiple measures are being used.
- Requires clear communication plans and advanced notice for students and families so they understand opportunities for early college credit and the necessary prerequisites.
- Stipulates that course evaluations should occur within the same school year the course is taught to maintain rigorous standards.
- Requires community college districts to reinvest revenues received from school districts for dual credit programming back into dual credit programming.
- Offers dual credit courses equal weight with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
- Prohibits dual credit partnerships with for-profit institutions.
- Codifies the community college’s right of first refusal.
- Requires all institutions (4-year, 2-year, public, private, in-state, out-of-state) offering dual credit to follow the elements of a dual credit partnership agreement established in section 16 of the DCQA.
- Further limits the use of out-of-state providers by requiring high schools to demonstrate to the IBHE that it has taken appropriate steps to use in-state institutions and must provide rationale if using an out-of-state institution.
- Reconvenes the Model Partnership Agreement Committee biennially.
- Defines academic credentials as master’s degree within the discipline to be taught or any master’s degree and not more than 18 graduate hours in the discipline to be taught.
- Extends professional development plans in perpetuity to address the ongoing teacher shortage and growing student demand for dual credit coursework.
- Entrusts the annual course review to the higher learning partner’s faculty department chair and the chief academic officer (or their designees).
- Creates the Dual Credit Committee, a 29-member committee of secondary and postsecondary representatives to define two specific components: (1) the appropriate graduate coursework within disciplines covered by the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) for academically qualified and interim qualified instructors; and, (2) the equivalent experience required to be a fully qualified Career and Technical Education instructor.
- If a community college disapproves of a course request…
- Creates a mechanism within ICCB to review instructor credential denials, which provides another avenue to resolve disputes between a high school and community college and keep more courses available through local partnerships rather than alternative providers.
- Allows high schools to engage an alternative provider for a particular course if their partnering community college disapproves of that course request.
- Permits a community college to reevaluate the course request annually to approve the course and offer the course as originally proposed.
In addition to the updates that are being provided by the Illinois P-20 Network, anyone can view the current text of HB5020 as well as its current status on the Illinois General Assembly website.
April 2024