According to the Illinois State Board of Education, about 6,000 teaching openings exist statewide, and candidates to fill them are few.
The Illinois State Board uses standards based on ACT and SAT testing for teacher candidates to enter an education program. Students must also pass the Academic Proficiency (TAP)/Basic Skills Test. Teacher candidates may submit scores for tests taken any time in the past 10 years.
State Senator Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, and Sue Rezin, R-Peru, are proposing a third option based on grade point average, citing the struggles of rural districts to hire teachers. The bill states it would use a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale in the core education curriculum classes at the universities students attend for those students to qualify for certification as teachers after graduation.
Dr. Christie Magoulias, director of the School of Education at Millikin University, said there are highly qualified candidates for teaching who just don't test well, and are barred from becoming teachers under the current requirements.
"When we see those students who are excellent in classrooms and internships and just can't reach that test score, it's really heartbreaking," Dr. Magoulias said in a recent interview with the Herald & Review. "I'm really heartened to see that this topic is alive and people are talking about this. I think the basic skills test is one of the barriers for some of our students."
Millikin University begins assessing students during their freshman year, putting them in internships and doing dispositional assessments to ensure they are good candidates for the teaching profession. They have to show competency in all subject areas, not just within the education major, because their basic courses prepare them to do well in their area of concentration classes.
Dr. Magoulias noted that a 3.0 grade point average at another university might not be equivalent to the same GPA at Millikin. A transfer student won't have a Millikin GPA immediately, and it will require at least a semester to earn one.
"The teacher shortage has a big impact on our districts right now," Dr. Magoulias said. "The proposal is worth talking about."