Patience for Change

After at least two years of conversations with ISBE staff to address shortages in School Support Personnel (SSP) disciplines, and after providing testimonies to legislators at subcommittee hearings, a happy, welcomed change has occurred.  I almost want to say that it’s a miracle!!!  It’s as if it took planting the seed of a rare flower and waiting, ever so patiently, for it to bloom.   

On August 1st, 2025, yes, this month, the governor signed into law Senate Bill 1947 which is now Public Act 104-0128.  What was SB 1947 you ask?  It was the bill that, if passed in both the House and the Senate, would exempt all those who want to work in schools as School Support Personnel from having to take the dreaded content area test for obtaining a Professional Educator License.  ISHA members planted that seed during a conversation with ISBE staff two years ago, when we asked if the Praxis test could be accepted in place of the content area test.  ISBE’s response at the time was that it would be impossible.  That seed was further nurtured after testimonies were provided at a House Committee on Secondary and Elementary Education Policy subject matter hearing.  After the first hearing, Representative Michelle Mussman wrote a bill that eliminated the edTPA (for those of us who have been around a while, it was called the Basic Skills test) until this month.  Now, as part of SB 1947, the edTPA elimination has been extended another year, until 8/31/2026.   

The seed was given warm considerations and experienced rainy frustrations (for having to deal with complaints about the content area test), yet, despite the weeds, it took root and began to grow.  ISBE was ready to show its ability to bloom beautifully!  A bill was submitted by Senator Meg Loughran Cappel on February 6, 2025.  It only took a few doses of fertilizer (a.k.a. amendments) and the bill passed through the General Assembly on May 31, 2025…just in time!   

I’ve learned so much from my colleagues in the schools, but also from my journey as ASHA State Education Leader for IL.  Being the SEAL has been an amazing, interesting, and extraordinary journey.  I am in awe of those who work not only in our professions, but also in education and law.  If you really want to understand what’s going on, get into the garden—yes, dig up the dirt and work to make it better for your flowers and vegetables!  I continue to learn much about “gardening” from ISHA’s lobbyist!  Here’s what I learned with the passing of this bill into law:   

“There is a law ondetermining the effective date of a bill. When a bill like SB 1947 does not state an effective date and passes both Houses of the Legislature on or before May 31st, this law establishes the effective date as the following January 1st.”  

Hence, the law exempting new Masters-level SLP graduates from having to take the content area test becomes effective on January 1, 2026. 

New Masters level SLPs who want to work in schools need only pass the Praxis and apply for a temporary IDFPR license which allows them to work in a school setting to complete the 9 months of supervised professional experience (a.k.a. The Clinical Fellowship Year) without a PEL.  After completing the supervised professional experience (CFY), the candidate must apply for the permanent IDFPR license and the PEL.  

Eliminating the content area test requirement and accepting Praxis results for our discipline is a beautiful change for our garden, one that took extraordinary patience, and one that will hopefully result in encouraging new graduates to work in the school setting.  For your convenience, the specific section in Public Act 104-0128 follows:

    (d) All applicants seeking a State license shall be required to pass a test of content area knowledge for each area of endorsement for which there is an applicable test. There shall be no exception to this requirement except for an applicant seeking a school support personnel endorsement who holds an active and valid professional license issued by the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation in the same subject matter as the endorsement sought, as specified by rule by the State Board, or as provided under subparagraph (P) of paragraph (1) of Section 21B-20.