Illinois teachers may now earn a special endorsement if they teach dual credit to high school students. The availability of this endorsement will help meet the growing demand for dual credit teachers as more and more students seek to earn college credit while in high school.
Dual credit is an instructional arrangement in which an academically qualified high school student enrolls in a college-level course,and upon successful course completion, concurrently earns both college credit and high school credit. The endorsement will be available in 9 disciplines via the Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Board of Higher Education, and the Illinois Community College Board.
The endorsement will be displayed on educator’s licenses currently in need of work or may be possibly seeking a raise in their district. ISBE Director of Educator Effectiveness Emily Fox explains what the endorsement means overall: “Usually we see college instructors or professors as the individuals who are teaching these dual credit courses, so we are really excited for the opportunity of our K-12 educators to be able to display that they are also qualified to teach dual credit courses. They don’t have to hold it to teach the dual credit courses. They have to meet the same requirements regardless of if they hold the endorsement. It’s a way for teachers to display the qualification on their professional credentials along with all of their other endorsements.”
Students in the 10ththrough 12thgrades took more than165,000 dual credit courses from 2016 to 2018. Enrollment grew by more than 3,000 courses between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. ISBE anticipates seeing another record increase when 2019 data is released at the end of the month. Dual credit instruction has been a part of Illinois schools since the late 90s and was amended to eliminate the limits placed by school district on the number of dual credit courses students can take in May 2018 under the Rauner administration.