Illinois BA Special Education Mild to Moderate Certification and Exam Requirements
WGU students who will apply for certification in Illinois on or after July 1, 2013 need to first license in Utah after completing their teacher preparation program; a student can then apply for a reciprocal license in Illinois. Refer to the following for specific state requirements: general Utah teacher certification requirements and general Illinois teacher certification requirements.
In Illinois, this program leads to a license with a Learning Behavior Specialist I endorsement.
1) Special Education Content Exam: Praxis 5543 Special Education: Core Knowledge and Mild to Moderate Applications.
You must pass this exam to graduate from your program and be recommended for certification. This exam also satisfies the WGU Program Requirement.
Illinois will accept the Utah Praxis exams to meet the Illinois content exam requirement.
2) Pedagogy Exam/edTPA Requirement: Students completing their Demonstration Teaching in the Fall 2015 cohort or later will complete an officially scored edTPA during their demonstration teaching, and do not need to pass the Illinois pedagogy exam. Students who completed their demonstration teaching in cohorts prior to Fall 2015 were required to pass the ILTS Assessment of Professional Teaching (APT) pedagogy exam. Due to changing rules in Illinois, WGU recommends that these students contact the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) directly to confirm whether the APT exam is required.
Visit these links for important information:
General Information About Licensing in Illinois
Registering for Praxis Exams
Submitting Exam Scores to WGU
Submitting Exam Scores to the Utah State Office of Education
Applying for your Illinois Teaching License
1/2019
