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Certification Procedures FAQs
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What courses are required for certification?
To apply for state certification, the student must complete all program courses required for certification as indicated on the graduate study plan (FND504, SEC502, SPE500, SEC510-524, EPS511, SEC590-A-F)
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How do I apply for certification?
Students in their last term of certification coursework (SEC 590, SEC 592, or SEC 597) will receive a certification application from their instructor. If for some reason students do not receive an application, they will need to pick one up from the NLU Certification Office on the Wheeling Campus or email Elena Mihailovich to ask her to send them an application. Students will need to fill this application out and send it back to her in Wheeling. If students have completed all of the required coursework and tests, they will receive a registered application back within two weeks (a little more at the end of Spring Term). Once students have that registered application, they may apply online for their certificate and receive a certificate number from the state immediately. Students can also walk the application in to the county certification office in Westchester. Students will receive their official state certification about a month later.
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Students will need a transcript from the undergraduate institution(s), from colleges where content area requirements were completed, and from National-Louis University. (A transcript from NLU will be provided with the approved application.) An OFFICIAL transcript bears the signature of a college or university official and is embossed with the college/university seal. Copies will not be accepted. It is suggested that students gather necessary transcripts well in advance of student teaching.
Students need to provide OFFICIAL transcripts to National-Louis University to document completion of content area requirements, to the Illinois State Board of Education when the application for certification is submitted and to the hiring district when a teaching position is obtained. Three sets of transcripts should be ordered. Transcripts submitted at the time of admission to the University cannot be released to the student.
What tests do I have to take for certification?
The State of Illinois requires all teachers seeking certification to pass the Basic Skills test, the appropriate subject-matter test, and the Assessment of Professional Teaching (APT). Applicants in science, English, social science, and mathematics must take the Type 09 (grades 6-12) APT test, while foreign language applicants must take the Type 10 (K-12) APT test. The Basic Skills test and the subject-matter tests are required for admission to National-Louis University. The subject-matter test is indicated on your transcript evaluation letter for the area in which you will be certified. It is the student’s responsibility to register for this test. Registration bulletins that provide general information and contain registration forms are available from INCLUDE, a Regional Office of Education (ROE), the Illinois State Board of Education at (217)782-2805, and at National Evaluations Systems at (413)256-2870.
Information for these tests can be found at:
Illinois Basic Skills Test (http://www.icts.nesinc.com)
Appropriate Subject-Matter Test (Contact the NLU Transcript Evaluators, MAT.Evaluators@nl.edu)
APT Test (http://www.icts.nesinc.com)
A list of content-area exams can be found here: http://www.icts.nesinc.com/IL13_testselection.asp.
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What are the dates for state tests?
You can find the dates for state tests on the ICTS website. Below is an image from the ICTS website which lists the test dates for 2007-2008. You can also find this list here.
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When should I take the state tests?
The Basic Skills test and the subject-matter tests are required for admission to the Secondary Education program at National-Louis University. You should take the APT test after taking SEC 502/FND 504, but at least a couple of months before applying for certification. Applicants in science, English, social science, and mathematics must take the Type 09 (grades 6-12) APT test, while foreign language applicants must take the Type 10 (K-12) APT test.
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How long is my certification valid?
Illinois has three tiers of certification for Secondary certificates: 1) Initial, 2) Standard and 3) Master teaching certificates. Students completing the certification portion of the MAT program are eligible to apply for their Initial certificate, which is valid for 5 years, unless there are state changes. Standard teaching certificates are issued to teachers who have more than four years of teaching experience and have completed certain professional development requirements. Master certificates are issued to those with National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. There is a program at NLU that will help students to earn this highest level of certification, the MEd/NBC Program. For more information about state certification in general, visit the Illinois State Board of Education website.
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Do I have to get an M.A.T. to be certified?
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Last modified on: 2008-10-08 14:27:54 _co-mead.nl.edu_
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