Chicago Teaching Fellows :: Making a difference in our city's classrooms.

Certification

Chicago Teaching Fellows will earn their Illinois State certification through a local university. Fellows will teach full-time during the day and will typically take classes one-two evenings per week for one year to earn their certification. Fellows will begin teaching with a Provisional Alternative Elementary, Secondary, or Special Certificate. Provisional alternative certificates were created by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to allow outstanding individuals from a variety of backgrounds to teach while completing coursework towards the full-status Initial Alternative Certificate. While teaching, Fellows must be continuously enrolled in their assigned university certification program to remain eligible for the Provisional Alternative Certificate. For more information about Illinois State certification, click here.

The Chicago Teaching Fellows program has partnered with Dominican University, National-Louis University and Northwestern University in the past. It is the current plan of the Chicago Teaching Fellows program to continue these partnerships for the 2010-2011 school year.

Fellows will be responsible for the cost of tuition, sometimes at a reduced rate. To offset the cost of tuition, Fellows will be eligible to apply for federal student aid.

Federal Student Aid

Fellows will be eligible to apply for federal Stafford and Perkins loans which may be forgiven after a participant has taught for a period of time in a high need school. To determine if your student loan(s) will be forgiven, you must contact your individual lender(s).

Certification for Bilingual Education Fellows

Chicago Teaching Fellows is excited to provide Fellows with a unique opportunity to become bilingual education teachers through alternate means.

This two-year program allows Fellows to teach in a bilingual classroom while working toward certification and a Master's Degree. Upon completion of the program, Bilingual Education Fellows will have earned:

Initial Alternative Elementary Certificate
Endorsement in Bilingual and ESL
Masters in Education