HB5020 Update – Next Steps in the Senate
At the time of this posting, HB5020 has made no movement through the Illinois Senate’s Assignments Committee or towards a floor vote in the Senate. Questions have appeared to emerge about whether this bill will move forward through the legislative process, and Illinois P-20 Network partners are asking questions about how they can impact the legislation.
As we have previously written on this topic, the Illinois P-20 Network takes no position on HB5020 itself. We do believe that well-designed dual credit coursework is one component of a high-quality and equitable approach to career and college readiness. Additionally, the Illinois P-20 Network continues to commit 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.
In a previous post, the Illinois P-20 Network has explained how to file a witness slip for a committee. In addition to that, on this or any other bill (or any topic more broadly), educators can and should contact their elected officials in the General Assembly that represent the district(s) in which their organization resides as well as the elected officials that represent their personal residence.
Phone calls and emails that detail your experience and explain the impact of potential legislation are most helpful. Included concrete and verifiable data not only provides greater veracity to your arguments, but better substantiates your expertise in the field and should improve the overall quality of the legislative debate.
Continue to check on the Illinois P-20 Network News feed for updates on HB5020.
May 2024HB5020 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 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 2024