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 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 2009-2010 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 benefit from one or more of the following options:

CPS Interest-Free Payroll Deductions

Fellows will pay for tuition through CPS interest-free payroll deductions over a period of four years. This allows Fellows to complete their certification coursework in one to two years, but pay the associated tuition amount over the course of four years. If a Fellow leaves CPS before teaching in the district for four years (including the year of certification) that individual will be responsible for repaying the remainder of her or his unpaid tuition and could be charged a penalty fee in the amount of $1,500.

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.

Certification for Special Education Fellows

Chicago Teaching Fellows is excited to provide Fellows with a unique opportunity to become special education teachers through alternate means. Currently, the State of Illinois does not have any approved special education alternative certification programs that allow participants to teach special education during their first year of teaching. However, in order to increase the number of highly qualified special education teachers in Chicago’s high need schools, CTF has designed a program so that Fellows will be able meet state requirements for teaching special education in their second year of teaching.

This two-year program requires that teachers first earn their Initial Alternative Elementary Certificate by taking elementary coursework and teaching in a general elementary classroom during their first year of teaching. In their second year of teaching, special education Fellows will earn an endorsement in special education and will teach special education in an elementary school.